WWII Cattaraugus 225Q in the wild.

BladeScout

BladeScout

Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
9,347


I brought the old trooper (the knife, not the missus) for a spin in the woods this weekend. In spite of a couple of days of damp conditions and the occasional rain shower, it was great fun.

Though having been made during WWII, the old knife kept up fine But then it is a quality knife being born out of a need for a utility knife (its not a quartermaster knife).

The crud on the blade is decades old corrosion, dents and some wood sap. None of which impairs the use of the knife in any way. I could remove most of the wear marks on the blade but Im not a fan of putting these old blades on a wheel and making the blade shiny (as Ive seen some do) - Id rather leave the old knives with some individuality. This is my knife, so I can do, as I choose. To each his own.

I have more modern 'bushcraft' knives but I certainly didnt feel 'undergunned' mainly using the old knife on occasion. Ive given the handle a bit of leather oil and a dab of Sno-seal, so it should be good for further decades of use.

The edge on this one (I have several of these Cattaraugus knives) is good. It came with practically no nicks and wasnt abused too badly (in light of it being an old knife brought home from WWII and used for decades after). Ive sharpened it, the edge is just fine now and it works well.

The handle with leather washers is tight on this one. On some of my other 225Qs, there is a bit of 'guard rattle' and some washers can move back and forth a bit. Most times the solution is to revitalize the leather washers and in general offer the old knife some TLC. Washers shrink if not cared for/dried out over the decades and this will lead to the handle not being so 'tight' as when the knife was made during the War.

I dont baton with this one. The batoning fad wasnt much in vogue back then. Marines on Iwo didnt have a lot of use for that, neither did the guys in Bastogne. I used the Cat for whittling, light chopping and food prep. Pretty much some of the tasks it would have been asked to do in decades gone by.

Very happy with this one. Ill bring it along again.

 
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Beautiful and functional and rugged knife! A legend, better than USMC KaBar (of the same era) according to many opinions.
 
hunter55 said:
Beautiful and functional and rugged knife! A legend, better than USMC KaBar (of the same era) according to many opinions.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%.
I have both these and old KaBars.
I like some vintage and modern KaBars but when compared side by side, the WWII era KaBar is flimsy next to the Cat225Q.
The KaBar is a nice knife but for my use, I prefer the Cat. IMO it is not only the better designed knife, its also more pleasing to the eye.
Again, just my opinion. YMMV.
If anybody prefers the KaBar, I wont hold it against them:)
 
Say Heah Everybody, Yeah, I like Those kind of Vintage Knives, But sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time to get one. I was lucky with two Vintage but not military knives, I got a Western 49 Bowie made fir Coleman, The steel is prolly the sane, Back then they used alot of 0170-6C which is now called 1095 CroVan, I also have a Schrade Deerslayer, Both are in very nice shape. But I really got lucky, I was the last to buy the Limited Edition from a seller that sell's alot of Ka-Bar's which is a modified copy of a knife that were used by the Marines in the Phillipeans . Infact it was refered to the mountainous region the Bundok's, so the knife is called the BK-20 Bundok. It dwarf's my BK-9. I alway's wanted a Cold Steel TrailMaster in the CarbonV, But getting my BK-20 Bundok sort of curbed my appitite for one,, But I do have a vintage model of it in San Mai 3 that has a different ricaso then the new ones, Even the line of demarcation is much lower sort of like the Fallkniven's I think it makes the blade stronger. But yeah, That's a fine looking knife, Congrat's. I wouldn't mind having one myself. I recently got on a stainless steel kick. Just like the weather, I wanted to increase some of my wet and snowy weather conditions knives. I like good military knives for the bush. I feel a good tactical designed knife is the way for me to go, since I use mine hard, but with love if you know what I mean. I always wanted a Fox Parang Bushcraft Jungle Knife. But I got side tract with the Fox Hitam Golok because I like a good chopper. So I finally got my Fox Parang, I plan to use it as a One Tool Option and it come's with a nice survival kit that attaches to the sheath for a nice looking package. But some habit's are hard to break, so I'll prolly team it up with a C. S. Master Hunter in 3V. I bet my Navy issue MK-1 would go great with your Catteragus, Geez I hope I spelled that right, But anyhow, Congrat's.,,.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
 
paul'ie said:
Yeah, I like Those kind of Vintage Knives, But sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time to get one. I was lucky with two Vintage but not military knives
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The Cattaraugus 225Q is easily available on the 'bay though prices have gone up. There are also some chancers demanding even more silly prices for the 225Q. Avoid those. I got most of mine for prices in the 40-55 dollars range.

Flea markets, estate sales and gun shows etc are the best bet for a good deal on a Cat 225Q.

I bought my first Cat at a gun show for peanuts.

Fine that you got some non-military knives. All knives welcome in this thread - vintage military or just vintage. Basically any old user or non-user:) Pls post pics.



paul'ie said:
I bet my Navy issue MK-1 would go great with your Catteragus, Geez I hope I spelled that right, But anyhow, Congrat's.,,.
Click to expand...
You missed a 'u' but it doesnt matter - we know, what you meant:)

Sounds like you have some nice knives. Any pics? Ive always liked the MKI knife...
 
Thanx You my new friend, Nice to meet you. My name is Paul, but my Friend's calle'me Paul'ie. The 4X = Forex a market I trade, no I don't brag heh heh heh for my size.,,.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
 
I had one of these and I am not sure what became of it. Sure do miss it and this post reminds that I need to get another one. =)
 
Nice post. I rarely post but was so glad to see a old leather stacked knife big fan of this model. My favourite is the western L36.

Sent from my LGLS620 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks.
Gotta love leather stacked handles.
It doesnt get any more classic vintage than the Western L36.
Im a fan of the L88 as well for some reason and would dearly like to hunt one down.
 
Thomas Carey said:
I had one of these and I am not sure what became of it. Sure do miss it and this post reminds that I need to get another one. =)
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Bummer.

Fortunately there are more out there.

Though the prices and claims for some of the 225Q on the 'bay are silly (jungle commando tactical killing knife $300). Go flea markets, gun shows and estate sales.

Hope you locate the one you had.
 
BladeScout said:


I brought the old trooper (the knife, not the missus) for a spin in the woods this weekend. In spite of a couple of days of damp conditions and the occasional rain shower, it was great fun.

Though having been made during WWII, the old knife kept up fine But then it is a quality knife being born out of a need for a utility knife (its not a quartermaster knife).

The crud on the blade is decades old corrosion, dents and some wood sap. None of which impairs the use of the knife in any way. I could remove most of the wear marks on the blade but Im not a fan of putting these old blades on a wheel and making the blade shiny (as Ive seen some do) - Id rather leave the old knives with some individuality. This is my knife, so I can do, as I choose. To each his own.

I have more modern 'bushcraft' knives but I certainly didnt feel 'undergunned' mainly using the old knife on occasion. Ive given the handle a bit of leather oil and a dab of Sno-seal, so it should be good for further decades of use.

The edge on this one (I have several of these Cattaraugus knives) is good. It came with practically no nicks and wasnt abused too badly (in light of it being an old knife brought home from WWII and used for decades after). Ive sharpened it, the edge is just fine now and it works well.

The handle with leather washers is tight on this one. On some of my other 225Qs, there is a bit of 'guard rattle' and some washers can move back and forth a bit. Most times the solution is to revitalize the leather washers and in general offer the old knife some TLC. Washers shrink if not cared for/dried out over the decades and this will lead to the handle not being so 'tight' as when the knife was made during the War.

I dont baton with this one. The batoning fad wasnt much in vogue back then. Marines on Iwo didnt have a lot of use for that, neither did the guys in Bastogne. I used the Cat for whittling, light chopping and food prep. Pretty much some of the tasks it would have been asked to do in decades gone by.

Very happy with this one. Ill bring it along again.

Click to expand...

My grandpa was there in bastogne with the US Army 4th armored division ( the only one on ww2 without a formerly adopted nickname ) and while I don't know what kind of knife he was issued I'm sure he didn't baton with it, not then and certainly not while running a bar in France during the war.
There were always axes on the sides of jeeps, they had shovels they could sharpen to chop with if need be, and I believe there were cans of Sterno at their disposal , so there's no reason one would've ever needed to baton with their field knife.
Nice knife BTW, I always loved the stout rugged look of the cattaraugus.
 
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I was thinking about picking up a schrade h15 soon, but then I had to stumble onto your ramblings of the 225Q.
Decisions decisions...
I don't really need such a large knife, but man those things look sweet!
 
SadSappySucker said:
I was thinking about picking up a schrade h15 soon, but then I had to stumble onto your ramblings of the 225Q.
Decisions decisions...
I don't really need such a large knife, but man those things look sweet!
Click to expand...
The H15 is a great knife. The profile of the stacked leather handle is excellent.
 
Hickory n steel said:
My grandpa was there in bastogne with the US Army 4th armored division ( the only one on ww2 without a formerly adopted nickname ) and while I don't know what kind of knife he was issued I'm sure he didn't baton with it, not then and certainly not while running a bar in France during the war.
There were always axes on the sides of jeeps, they had shovels they could sharpen to chop with if need be, and I believe there were cans of Sterno at their disposal , so there's no reason one would've ever needed to baton with their field knife.
Nice knife BTW, I always loved the stout rugged look of the cattaraugus.
Click to expand...

Yep, with axes theres no need for batoning.
 
SadSappySucker said:
I was thinking about picking up a schrade h15 soon, but then I had to stumble onto your ramblings of the 225Q.
Decisions decisions...
I don't really need such a large knife, but man those things look sweet!
Click to expand...
Indeed they do:D


Here a few more of my 225Qs

 
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