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.