Theatre Knives

BG42EDGE

BG42EDGE

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Although they're not Bucks......they're interesting.

And, the handles are similar to the old Bucks.

My dad put these together when he was on Okinawa in 1944 and my brother just gave them to me yesterday. I was happy to get them.

The material for the handles came from crashed Japanese aircraft. One blade is a Ka-Bar and the other is unmarked.

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I wonder if they should be cleaned up or left as is?
 
Interesting and cool pieces or history. The bottom one reminds me alittle of an M4 bayonet.
 
Clean them just to the extent that you are preventing/eliminating rust and corrosion, but no further.
 
Thanks.

He was in the Sea Bees (CB for Construction Battalion) and they had tools from shop tools to bulldozers, so they apparently made some knives in between building and patching holes in aircraft runways.

There was another Theatre knife that vanished at some point over the years. It had a four-inch clip-point blade and was red and black like the dagger above and had a better guard. It was the best of the three and all I have is black and white pictures of myself wearing it as a kid. I used it for years, but when I left home it stayed. I last saw it about 35 years ago.

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BG thanx for sharing those very nice pieces of history. The top one reminds me of a dog and the bottom one a bear (the pommels). Would that have any significance you are aware of ? I agree with wolfdog wholeheartedly...only preserve...maybe a good rub with gun oil and a rag to load the patina with oil...
thanx again for sharing :thumbup:


Duane
 
Don't touch those knives. Other than for preservation purposes, I would not touch them. I have a 225Q that someone had someone apparently put wax on the blade, but I know how to get that off. The patina is excellent on yours though. If they could only talk!
 
Thanks to all. I already gave them a Rem-Oil bath. I may do some very light and gentle and fine steel wool on the black spots, but I'll be careful. I don't want to get light spots in the patina.

That one looks like a bear or maybe even a pit bull. The other looks a bit dog-like......maybe it was never finished. It ended up with a pleasing shape, though.

I'll see if I can get a couple of close-ups later.
 
I'm lost in thought looking at these, and imagining the banter that must have gone on while those men were fashioning their enemies downed aircraft into handle materials for their knives.....
 
Dont clean them... Just oil them. Theatre knives are very cool and collectable. Only 4 or 5 American knife companies made the majority of the knives for our boys in the war. The handles were customized during the long boat rides from the US down the the Pacific Theater. Materials used were common things found in the machine shops aboard ships such as aluminum and like BG said the shields from downed aircrafts. I found a few Theater knives and had them appraised by Levine, and was given great information on these knives. The problem with them is exactly what makes them unique. When the handles are customized it lowers the value of just the knife in original condition that was used in the Pacific Theater. What ever the value these are great pieces of history and nice to look at.

Great knives Bg, Thanks for sharing...
 
Thanks MBJ and others......maybe I won't touch any steel wool to them at all.

As far as value goes, I'd rather have a knife that had been fixed up by one of our guys than an original. But I suppose the dedicated collector wants the original.

Was it Al Buck that started making handles out of plastic like this? Do we know if he got that idea after seeing Theatre knives come home?
 
The second closeup with the "ears" sure makes me think of a bear when I look at it. Those really are some pretty special pieces.
 
Thanks.

It does look like a bear. For some reason I always just assumed it was a dog. I wish I'd asked a question about it.

The other one (sorry I blew the focus and don't have time for another pic today) is a totally unique shape--but a good-looking and artful pommel.

The sheath on the green handled one is marked "Boyt" with a "43" below it.
 
BG42EDGE said:
Thanks.

It does look like a bear. For some reason I always just assumed it was a dog. I wish I'd asked a question about it.

The other one (sorry I blew the focus and don't have time for another pic today) is a totally unique shape--but a good-looking and artful pommel.

The sheath on the green handled one is marked "Boyt" with a "43" below it.
Click to expand...

Boyt 43 is the marking for the Navy MK 2 sheath

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/boyt43.htm

I think Boyt made a lot of leather goods for the military and 43 is the year/date mark. Since he was a SeaBee a Navy sheath makes sense.

That top knife looks to be a Mark 2 combat knife.

http://arms2armor.com/Knives/usmk2.htm
 
BG42EDGE, those are some cool knives! Others have covered the "Don't over clean these" so I'll move on to other stuff. The butt of the Mark II reminds me of a Dog and the butt of the Dagger looks like a Bear, At least to me. Thanks for sharing them with us!
 
Bg, This is the knife I had Levine appraise. The knives with the dates on the blades were some of the earlier knives made, and deemed more valueable. Although the knife was one of the aformentioned it still only appraised for a top # of $175, and thats what I sold it for.


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And I aggree with the other Post that 43 was the year of manufacture, as you can tell that the year mark on my knife was 1943 as well.
 
Thanks, all.

MBJ, interesting knife you had. The cool part is that they are all unique and individual (and done by guys fighting in a war).

A very special and unique American art form. I can see why people collect them.

:)
 
I blew the focus on the previous close-up on this one.

Maybe it started out to be another dog, but the time constraints and concerns of the moment dictated it stop at this point.

We were left with a unique and artfully pleasing shape anyway.

:)

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BTW.....he said that the black material came from the instrument/radio panels in the cockpit. I always assumed the rest came from the canopy, but I don't know for sure.
 
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