Stiletto: The Favored Knife!

[Billy02]

Hi all, here is an article on stiletto and its history, if you have interest in stiletto's you would love reading it

[Bumpy]

Didn't know they were favored in trenches. My first thought would have been bayonets. Silent but deadly.

[ChiefPlumber]

Didn't know they were favored in trenches. My first thought would have been bayonets. Silent but deadly.

Kinda tuff to wear heals in the mud...I'll stick with the bayonet...least I might catch me some bayo's. ;-p

[ricco]

My guess, people would use whatever they could get their hands on

Nothing special about the stiletto, other than it being easy to make

Without training, edges serve little purpose in a close quarters fight as we would see in trench fighting

Given heavy uniforms and gloves the only real target for an edge is the neck

This why we see the dagger being the weapon of choice, a thin blade with a very sharp point such as the Fairbarin-Sykes knife

While the F/S has edges they are secondary, their use primarily being for a specific type of sentry removal

[Jim Macklin]

Back during the Vietnam war I was working in The Sportsman's Center in Springfield, IL. Sold a ton of these to service men or their parents. I wonder how many are still in te VN jungles?


I had one, a very nice knife but 50 years ago a dagger was illegal in many states. It wasn't much good for slicing watermelon. The first models were built with a 5 degree angle between te handle and blade to maximize penetration when stabbing. It could slash but it was primarily a stabber. Can't remember what I did with it. Might have sold it in Iowa to help get the money for the move to Kansas. They still make them but w/o the bend.

The USMC KaBar is a more versatile knife because such knives are better for making a shelter, slicing bacon and pretty good in combat.

Lots of daggers are weak and not designed to do more than slip in and back out.

[deerhunter]

good read. the original gerbers above had a "cats tongue" finish on handle. Made it kinda more grippy, like a cats tongue.

[Jim Macklin]

Yes, the Gerber dagger was a stronger version of the Fairbane. It was designed for fighting.

[deerhunter]

I think I read gerbers had a rats tang, not a full tang but more a wire like tang.

[Jim Macklin]

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/...#post-14527824



This is a Gerber MK II stick tang blade.

They've been made like this for 49 years. The aluminum handle surrounds the tiny stick and the wider tang up to a line 1/16" below the stamp.

Has anyone EVER heard of or seen one of these blades break inside the handle?

I would put money on the answer being "no". The handle imparts too much strength to the tang to allow it to move far enough to bend or break.

Back in the 60s the MK I knife had a longer tang the extended into the skull crusher.

[ricco]

For a dagger the tang isn't as important as with other types of knives

The tang tends to break because of repeated shocks that causes the tang to loosen

This is the reason we seen pinned tangs or if the tang it long enough it is typically peened, I would guess the Gerber MkII tang is glued into the handle

A dagger wouldn't be used as a chopping or prying instrument such as a Ka Bar

[Jim Macklin]

Boker Magnum

[deerhunter]

Boker Magnum

I always like using magnum anything for protection.