Submariners knives

[James Y]

Actually, it's neither.

The handles on these knives are what Case calls 'Staminawood', which is their trade name for jigged laminated wood. By 'laminated', that means it's in very thin layers sandwiched together like plywood and impregnated with a resin. Makes them extremely durable and essentially waterproof. They are frequently mistaken for jigged bone, and often advertised as such on the 'auction site' and other places. The resin in the laminate tends to fill up the grain that would otherwise make it more recognizable as wood, and it takes on a shinier finish, almost (but not quite) as smooth & shiny as polished bone.

BTW, Case DID handle some older Folding Hunters in bone, especially back in the 1940-'64 era and earlier. Pretty sure none of these Mariner Set knives were done with it, as they've all featured the 'standard' knife with the Staminawood handles.


David

Wow, thanks, David! I had not known about that! It certainly makes sense, and would certainly make the knife more practical in environments that may be damp or wet, and as you say, it's very durable.

Jim

 

[unimogbert]

I was on a sub from '79 to '83. Electricians had the TL-29 previously shown and many of the other sailors of all rates carried a Buck 110 in a belt sheath (self-purchased from the NEX). Only time it was a problem was when they'd wear the Buck on liberty and the Norfolk police would bring them back to the ship. (Where I, the Duty Officer, would tell the sailor to take it off, put it in his bunk then get back out there on liberty.)

Multi-tools hadn't become popular yet.

And as previously mentioned, NO METAL in the battery well. Including wedding rings, necklaces, belt buckles, etc. There were special insulated tools if needed for work there.

 

[mnblade]

The all steel scout knives were a common trade item with civilians in Vietnam.

It fascinates me to think some of those old demo knives that got traded to locals could be still in use, fixing scooters, cutting up bait, opening bottles of beer, scraping spark plugs, and so forth. Sounds like the premise of an as-yet-to-be-written jackknife tale!

-- Mark

 

[jackknife]

It fascinates me to think some of those old demo knives that got traded to locals could be still in use, fixing scooters, cutting up bait, opening bottles of beer, scraping spark plugs, and so forth. Sounds like the premise of an as-yet-to-be-written jackknife tale!

-- Mark

Be careful what you wish for! You got my mind mulling that over.

 

[mnblade]

Be careful what you wish for! You got my mind mulling that over.

Okay guys: You're welcome!

-- Mark

 

[zzyzzogeton]

I agree with that totally.

When I was in the army, the supply room had boxes of TL-29's, and to a lesser degree the MIL-K knife, and handed them out like lollypops at the doctors office. If you treated it like an idiot and broke it, you just handed in the pieces and they gave you a new one. If you were buds with the clerk, you got extras to trade in town. The all steel scout knives were a common trade item with civilians in Vietnam.

But in all my time in the army, what I saw was most soldiers just took whatever was issued to them. They didn't really care. I think the military dislike the population in general; most are not knife people. Most people will like whatever they get for free from the supply room. A few, that want something they perceive as 'better' may spend the money at the PX for a Buck or whatever.

Times hasn't changed much as I checked with out niece who has just got out of the Navy. She was a electricians mate and served on the U.S.S. Blue Ridge. She was issued a tool kit that had among other things, a Gerber multitool. Some got the Gerber, some got the Leatherman. Luck of the draw. Ally didn't really care, and she said she just used the Gerber. She still carries the Gerber in her glove box.

I was Ship's Navigator on the Blue Ridge from 1982 to 1984. The BMs (Boatswain's Mates) in Deck Department belt-sheath carried either a Buck 110 or a Schrade LB7. My QMs (Quartermasters) and the SMs (Signalmen) generally carried TL-29s snitched from or traded for from Electricians.

 

[MadMaximus]

I got of my boat in 2013, and as for us bubble heads, the days of issuing stuff like that are pretty much over. We have to either buy our own multitools or if your lucky enough to finagle it and convince supply to get you authority to open purchase stuff (like I was often able to do, being in charge of my small Divisions supply, the rest of engineering hated us for that....choose your rate, choose your fate!). With those open purchase $$ we could pretty much buy anything as long as supply could somehow track it down: catalogs, websites, etc. You filled out the form and they would order it and you'd have to go pick it up at SERVMART (a sort of supply store for open purchasing stuff). That got us Leatherman tools, Benchmades, S&W knives (cheap but surprisingly sturdy), Pelican flashlights (which were crap) and the occasional Surefire, and a few others. Not a whole lot of traditional knives anymore other than the occasional SAK. I carried a relatively early (circa 2009) GEC but that was claimed by Davy Jones years ago.

Ships swimmers and topsiders while transiting on surface get the MK3 dive knife (Ontario) but the boat owns those and keeps a tight leash on them.

Multitools are really where its at now, a few guys (myself included) carried a knife paired with a Leatherman of some sort...typically a wave for me.

 

[leghog]

I carried a relatively early (circa 2009) GEC but that was claimed by Davy Jones years ago.

I once met Davey Jones. Even got his autograph. Not any Army Soldiers have. If I had known of your knife's fate, I'd have asked him for it.

Odd, before embarking we were told we couldn't bring knives aboard. USS Blue Ridge though. Not a sub.