What was the most popular and common Boy Scout knife in the 1940's,

MerryMadMonk said:
Cate, I don't know about popularity or production numbers, but here's some info on Official Boy Scouts Knives (extracted from Official Scout Blades, by Ed Holbrook):

New York Knife Company - 1911-1931
Remington - 1923-1939
Ulster (Dwight Divine & Sons) - 1923-1940
Landers, Frary & Clark - 1931-1939
Cattaraugus - 1933-1940
PAL Blade Co - 1940-1942
Camillus - 1946-2007
Imperial - 1949-2004
Ulster USA - 1963-1985 (after 1972, I'm not sure who made the Ulster brand, Camillus? Imperial?)
Schrade Walden - 1962-1972 (pen knife), re-introduced in 1992
Wenger - 1992-????
Click to expand...

I was council historian for a number of years and the official knives were always a challenge to chronicle. In the postwar periods- say, 1920-30 and 1945-55, as well as during Vietnam- surplus knives were so cheap that many carried those instead of the officials. Of course, the official ones from the 50s were nothing to write home about, with a plastic faux-wood handle and a formed "carved" 1st Class badge. Good knives, ugly scales.

Those who carried fixed blades carried what they wanted. My father carried my grandfather's patent 1916 Marble's, instead of the official one for his era. The Western 66 was the official one, but a lot of troops just carried what you normally used out hunting.
 
Sword and Shield said:
I was council historian for a number of years and the official knives were always a challenge to chronicle. In the postwar periods- say, 1920-30 and 1945-55, as well as during Vietnam- surplus knives were so cheap that many carried those instead of the officials. Of course, the official ones from the 50s were nothing to write home about, with a plastic faux-wood handle and a formed "carved" 1st Class badge. Good knives, ugly scales.

Those who carried fixed blades carried what they wanted. My father carried my grandfather's patent 1916 Marble's, instead of the official one for his era. The Western 66 was the official one, but a lot of troops just carried what you normally used out hunting.
Click to expand...

The L66 was just one of the "official" BSA fixed blades made by Western. The L28, L48A, 648A, L48B, 648, L66, 666 and L46-5 models (L for leather and 6 for plastic handles) all came with the 1st class badge stamped into the blade. I always found that the B&T sizes, i.e., the 28, and 48As/Bs, were the most useful.

When y'all say to the "skinner" model, I'm assuming y'all mean the L66 with it's "slightly upturned nose" appearance, as I don't recall ever seeing either of Western's "true skinners", i.e., the 39 and 40 patterns, coming with the BSA device.
 
"Trailing point" says skinner to me. But I bought it because it was so very cool, the consensus view.
 
In Finnish, Partio - Scout (Finnish is not a Scandinavian language and they are not Scandinavian.)

These are Scandinavian:
In Danish, "Spejder" = Scout
In Norway, "Speider" = Scout. Helle Speiderkniven - Scoutknife.
In Sweden, one word for Scout is "Speider."
 
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