Ontario air force survial knife

[R.c.s]

[ . .

 

[Tallahassee]

One reason authenticity questions come up in so many threads is because Rothco sells on Amazon a fairly close knockoff of the USAF leather ASEK at around $20; Rothco also sells the genuine Ontario knife on Amazon at $>40 without naming 'Ontario' in the Amazon listing. You have to read the cheaper Rothco knockoff listing VERY closely to discover it's a knockoff. Rothco sells a puzzling mix of genuine and junk, and I avoid buying from them because their descriptions are so often misleading. Beware Rothco terms like 'genuine GI US Army Style'. 'GI Style' and US Army Type' = 'knockoff' at best, garbage at worst.
I have two genuine USAF pilot survival knives, one from 1986 and the other from 2011 (Ontario seems to run these in batches so yours should have a numeric month/year date on the side of one of the edges of the hexagonal hammer pommel).
For comparison, the older knife is stamped "CAMILLUS N.Y./3-1985" and the newer is stamped (so faintly I had to use a mag glass in strong light to find it) "ONTARIO 3-11".
Neither the 1985 Camillus nor the 2011 Ontario have any stampings on the blade, only on the pommel. Neither says "USA" anywhere, only the maker's name and the date. Neither has any stampings on the sheath.

Both knives are basically identical in design, and that's consistent with all the USAF/ASEK survival knives I've seen, regardless of maker (same GI contract specs for all). The newer Ontario has a more pronounced phosphate treatment 'powder texture' on both pommel and blade. The newer 2011 Ontario also has the traditional sharpened swedge. The 1985 knife's sheath is all leather, the 2011 sheath is identical but with the addition of a thin (aluminum?) black metal cap riveted over the sheath tip, supposedly to protect air crew from cuts when ejecting the aircraft. Both sheaths have identical sharpening stones. The very good leather on the 1985 sheath looks maybe 2 years old, not 29 years old.

Comparing the photo of the Rothco knockoff to the Ontario original, the Rothco sheath does not have the black aluminum tip guard, the leather appears more pale in color than the caramel-colored Ontario sheath, and the knockoff leather grip is straight as a pipe, and skinny. The genuine Ontario has a thicker grip and visibly 'rounded' in the middle to fit the palm of the hand.
These are surprisingly good little knives. The blade steel specs are intentionally soft, but you could do lots worse for a general purpose outdoors/camping knife.

 

[Scouter124]

Its a bit off topic but do you or anyone else here know what is up with Rothco? Are they an actual manufacturer of the knives or do they just market stuff. I see them selling all sorts of military type gear on that site but the knives look to me like Ontario.

I did a Google image search for "ontario air force survival knife" & the ones I see have no markings on the blade tang but have "Ontario" & what looks like a date on the pommel nut.

Aside from the Spec Plus knives, the only Ontario knives I have are the M3 Trench knife & the fancy, polished stainless version of the Mark II ("Ka-Bar") USMC combat knife. The M3 says "US M3 Ontario 1943" on one side & nothing on the other. The gussied up Mark II combat knife says "US Ontario" on one side & "Combat USMC" on the other. I'll be buying an Ontario AFSK soon & I'll try to remember to post what mine is like.

Rothco is listed as a limited distributor on the Ontario website as a seller to retailers. If it is the same Rothco, they also make their own tactical gear (molle stuff), but I haven't found their marketing to be all that trustworthy. (e.g. labeling a glorified boo-boo kit a "trauma kit," putting it in a molle pouch, and charging $70 for it).

I haven't bought anything from them, and I do not know if they also make their own knives, or just distribute for other manufacturers. It seems however that their selling Ontario products is endorsed or licensed by Ontario.

 

[Scouter124]

Sorry to repeat some of what Tallahassee said.

 

[GIRLYmann]

One can assume that rothco markets "g.i. style" stuff because there is an ever ready market for folks who are unable or unwilling to pay for genuine mil. spec. material.
Like the rothco aviators survival knife...

Obviously, most of these lower cost material will never meet, let alone exceed the list of government specifications.
But, these stuff somehow exist because the demand is there from folks who should have known better.
An original item is just built way better for its intended requirements. Hence the features on an ontario jet pilots survival knife will work unlike an imported "replica".