Fairbairn Sykes ID Now With Photos

[browningautorifle]

Here's a site that we looked at earlier during one of these discussions...maybe it'll help. Unless you've already looked at it. Rarest of Them All - The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knives

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[Aragorn243]

Here's a site that we looked at earlier during one of these discussions...maybe it'll help. Unless you've already looked at it. Rarest of Them All - The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knives

Yes, I checked thst out. For as collectible as these things are and the high prices they get , the public information on them really sucks. With 167,000 of these sent to the US, you would think there would be a better explanation on this batch at least. I get that there are hundreds of different manufacturers and many individual one offs of the first two patterns but the third? It’s frustrating.

[RCS]

As I said befoe, I am far from an expert on these Fairbairn Sykes knifes but notice the rings on your handle don't match up.

Like the handle was cast in two separate parts, I checked my knifle (second posting) and the handle is one piece and the rings
are perfect. Also the stamp ENGLAND is very faint.

[Aragorn243]

You probably have a Wilkenson knife. These were not made in two pieces, but they were made in two-piece molds. Most manufacturers didn't take the extra step to polish out the mold line, Wilkenson did.

[Flying10uk]

These were not made in two pieces, but they were made in two-piece molds.

They have to be cast in 2 piece moulds otherwise there would be no means of extracting the cast handle from the mould once the cast alloy handle had cooled down. Unlike "sand casting" where the mould is used only once and then "broken away" from the object that has been cast, in "die-casting" the mould is reused multiple times.

There is nothing wrong with the quality of the handle casting seen in the pics because casting is not a precision process. If precision is required for a cast part then it is machined or if the finish is important then finishing processes are carried out, such as, grinding, sanding and polishing.