Fairbairn-Sykes?

[dcollector]

I collect WW2 Fairbairn Sykes variations.
I love them as antiquities for what they represent as a historical statement and for whom they were associated.

I started with 3rd patterns, then second, then first.
A couple of wood handled variations.
Have to be careful collecting these there are lots of variables, and pitfalls, and fakes, and oddities and "aged" modern reproductions.

I carry a penknife as my EDC, but, if I were in an occupation that required a killing knife, (I am not,) I would buy a modern fighting knives with non-metallic handle and a blade made from modern steel.
Fairbairn himself didn't like the 3rd pattern, and was explicit in his criticism of the cheapness of it.


The US made Fairbairn Smatchet is in the middle.

Machine ground 3rd pattern blades (all wartime)
Notice the thickness of the guards on the wartime 3rd patterns.
The post war 3rd patterns usually have a distinctively wafer edged and thin stamped guard.


Hand ground (drawn) blades 2nd + 3rd pattern (all wartime)


A really nice "all black" 2nd pattern on Fairbairn's book "Get tough" - the drawing is of a 1st pattern.


A selection of 2nd and 3rd pattern wartime blades.


A wood handled RAF dagger (not 3rd pattern) (wartime)


A nice salty first pattern blade showing the distinctive ricasso and S shaped guard.