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Realistic Imitation Knives....... (dummy Fairbairn-Sykes)

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(@woodlander)
Posts: 219
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Thought I'd share something that has taken (wasted? :oops: :roll: ) an inordinate amount of time and money...... an imitation Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife in the style of one of the 1943 onwards mass produced versions.

Why? Pre-VCRA and before I got invloved in re-enactment I started thinking about WW2-themed airsoft and started to put together an SAS kit which needed an FS Knife. The knife was for appearances sake rather than gameplay but, still, I didn't want to carry a real steel.

So, three years or ago I bought a black leather FS sheaf from SOF and a martial arts wooden training knife. The knife didn't cut it ( :lol: ) and so I carved it about and ended up with just the handle.... Ultimately and overtime I have also acquired a couple of FS parts - the brass top nut and the steel hilt - and cut a blade and tang 'spine' from mild steel bar, and then assembled the lot with copious amounts of araldite and epoxy filler (Unibond repair express power putty).

The knife and sheaf (WW2 = brown not black leather [EDIT: but see posts below]) were then painted up with acrylics and sealed with a matt varnish.........

Three years or so from start to finish, the end result =

The 'blade' is 1/2" shorter than it should be but the full length resulted in too much of a point. I'm not particularly happy with my 'diamond-cut' grip to the hilt but I guess it'll pass the "at a glance" test.

I'm not planning to use this in game play, just carry it as part of the rig, and wonder what others think.

Steve (woodlander)

EDIT: Just to make it entirely clear, this isn't a knife but a prop.... the fake blade comprises a piece of flat mild steel with the FS shape built up and around it using plastic drinking straws, araldite and epoxy filler.... the fake blade doesn't have either a conventional point or edge.

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:08 pm
(@scaleyback)
Posts: 3578
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ww2 scabbards are black too,,,,,,,,,,,,, my nan worked at the little mesters where they were made during the war, ( just off bramall lane for the footy fans) the leather came in all colours, black , brown , yellow, even blue. my grandad had a lovely collection, rogers, neville , coopers, all the makers. so dont get too hung up on the colour of the sheaths.( i remember my grand parents having a garden fork made from F/S blades welded to a steel strip with a wooden handle, ) after they died i argued that the colection should stay together, sadly i was over ruled and it was split between us, i got 2 F/S knives, one RN , one army, both dated 1945 . the army one is in a raw leather scabbard, now brown with age but originally plane un dyed leather.

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:17 pm
(@woodlander)
Posts: 219
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ww2 scabbards are black too,,,,,,,,,,,,, my nan worked at the little mesters where they were made during the war, ( just off bramall lane for the footy fans) the leather came in all coulours, black , brown , yellow, even blue. my grandad had a lovely collection, rogers, neville , coopers, all the makers. so dont get too hung up on the colour of the sheaths.

That's fascinating... never seen a WW2 in black.... can't remember where I read "no black" but just goes to show. No loss though as I prefer the brown.

EDIT: I like the sound of the garden fork - post-war ingenuity at its best!

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:25 pm
(@scaleyback)
Posts: 3578
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i will phone my brother,,, i think there was an experimental metal bayonet type scabbard that was never issued , ( probhably too expensive or time consuming) but i believe they do exist. shame you couldnt see the collection, it numbered about 30 -40 F/S knives, all derivatives . must have been worth a mint. i heard a rumour that a couple of my grandads knives emded up in sheffields weston park museum.

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:31 pm
(@woodlander)
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shame you couldnt see the collection....

Sure is! :D

The image shows the most WW2 I've seen at any one time (this was taken at the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon, Essex):

Doesn't compare to your family collection of 30 or 40 whichmust have been something to behold :shock:

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:45 pm
(@scaleyback)
Posts: 3578
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ljust heared from my brother,,,, he doesnt have the pig sticker type bayonet scabbard but does remember seeing it ( he is 14 years older than me so he spent more time at nans) . he says as he remembers it, they were polished with black boot polish, so they may have been more brown ones but got " blacked " over time. also, a lot of the sheaths were made in canada and other comonwealth countries and shipped in. he agrees that we could both be driving mercs now if the collection had stayed together,,,,,,,, lol

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 6:50 pm
(@scaleyback)
Posts: 3578
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by the way mate ,,, got carried away with the family history and forgot to say, THAT LOOKS GOOD lol lol lolo lol

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 7:00 pm
(@woodlander)
Posts: 219
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Nah you wouldn't be driving mercs you'd be cherishing your collection!

More fascinating stuff. I guess for our purposes it doesn't really matter if a sheaf was orginally black or was actually brown leather stained or painted black, as the end result was black. Personally though, little snippets like this are what interest me and so I much appreciate the extra info so thanks for sharing your family history. Cheers! :good:

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 7:03 pm
(@scaleyback)
Posts: 3578
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my 2 knives are are not worth much, but the thought that my grandmother might have made them is , well, priceless to me.one of the reasons the german bombing of sheffield didnt harm the industry is due to the fact that, instead of massive german type armament factories, sheffield had hundreds if not thousands of tiny factories ( sometimes 2up 2 down houses ) employing 10-12 people at a time , a few got hit, but it didnt slow the amount of materiel produced. 600 tiny factories all making a small amount of bullets / bayonets makes the same as a massive factory in brum employing 3000 people. there was a factory rifeling enfield barrels that only had 5 staff, but the amount of gun barrels thay made over 5 years was staggering. england at her best. sheffield and proud of it. steel city lol .

 
Posted : 25/07/2008 7:14 pm
Harborne Blue
(@harborne-blue)
Posts: 631
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Mine is the second on the left in that pic - exactly the same. Except it's still got all the original finish (so dark it's almost black) and I have all the history with it as well.

Original F/S are worth quite a few quid BTW so look after them!

 
Posted : 28/07/2008 9:23 pm
(@anonymous)
Posts: 8795
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shame you couldnt see the collection....

Sure is! :D

The image shows the most WW2 I've seen at any one time (this was taken at the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon, Essex):

Doesn't compare to your family collection of 30 or 40 whichmust have been something to behold :shock:

Wow I really like the designs of these knives. FANTASTIC!!!

 
Posted : 17/12/2010 2:57 am
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