Mike Brewer

Hey all,
I have a good friend who's birthday is coming up and I really want to find him a particular antique knife. It's an antique from World War II, issued by the British SOE from about 1935 - 1945 (I'm pretty sure), and it was designed for saboteurs. It's a pocket knife-type with two blades; one regular jack-knife blade and the other a little claw that was used for slashing tires or for cutting wire. There is another knife floating aroud out there called a saboteur's knife that's basically just a leatherman type of deal, but that's not the one I'm after. The correct knife should have dark brown scales and a lanyard loop at one end, and they generally have a subdued blade. Overall closed length is around 4", and I believe the blade is around 3.5" with the little claw being somewhere in the neighborhood of an inch.

It's far from being a fighting knife, but it's an interesting piece of history, and something I'd really like to find. If anyone knows of one, can find one, or has a source for such things, I'd appreciate the info. Thanks.

DickHardman

is this the knife you are talking about? this is the british army clasp knife. there are some floating around out there.

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Mike Brewer

No, but that's close. The one I want has a slight cutaway in the handle that drops down to make it easier to open the blade, and the "saboteur" blade is a lot like a linoleum knife; just an abrupt cat's claw-shaped blade about an inch long. It was in service from 1939 to 1944 (I had to look it up) but I have not been able to find a single picture on Google. The one we saw that he liked is in a museum out here, but it was a standard issue piece. Often, an "escape knife" called the M-19 was also issued. The M-19 features a set of wire clippers and several hacksaw type blades and would be a cool historical piece, but I really want to find the saboteur knife for him.

eXcessiveForce

You aren't talking about this are you?

http://www.museumofworldwarii.com/Im...Cutterslge.gif

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

eXcessiveForce

How about this Mike

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-BRITISH-ARMY...sid=p1638.m122

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

eXcessiveForce

or this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-1940-british...ayphotohosting

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

eXcessiveForce

I think this may be like what you are looking for.


One of these has a single cat claw type blade
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-DIFFERENT-WW2-...QQcmdZViewItem

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

Mike Brewer

The first one is the escape knife I was talking about, but the others are incorrect. The one I'm looking for doesn't have a marlinspike, nor does it have the split bottle/can-opener side. I'm having a tough time describing the "cat's claw" blade, apparently. It's literally a flat hook. Picture a very short kerambit blade that opens in the opposite direction as the main blade. The main blade is a slight clip point - like a miniature Bowie style blade.

I truly, truly appreciate the help guys. Please keep it up, and maybe I'll be able to find this thing yet.

TTEscrima

Those were made by JOSEPH FENTON & SONS Sykes Works, Eyre St., Sheffield and are rare.

The knife features both a conventional lock-blade, and a special "Hawk-bill" slashing blade. When closed, the knife, with its Bakelite handles, appears to be only a common utility knife.

The knife and its special blade is intended to give an agent ready access to a weapon designed to quickly disable motor vehicles. The leverage provided by the small "Hawk-bill" blade allows the agent to cut vehicle tires using a carving motion to the sidewall, (tires that have been slashed in the sidewalls are not repairable)."

Mike Brewer

That's the one. Any idea where a fella could procure one?

TTEscrima

That's a good one. The majority of items like this are either in the hands of collectors who live vicariously through their collections or are family heirlooms.
If you have something else a collector wants you might be able to make a trade, got an SOE Rat Bomb or San Toy mission knife you want to part with?
You might try wehrmacht-awards.com or a member of the wolfpack as a starting point. Good luck you're going to need it.

Mike Brewer

Thanks,
I just got an invitation to an upcoming auction at the International Spy Museum, which is where I saw the first knife. There's a good chance they'll have something similar. I'm going to go and see. Who knows? Maybe the search is over!

Mike Brewer

TTEscrima,
I assumed in your post that you meant the "Son Tay" mission knife? From the Son Tay raid? I didn't realize there was a particular knife issued for those raiders. I once saw a kit list and all it said was "1 each, knife, 6" blade" and "1 each, machete" in terms of what the men carried. If you have pictures of the knife you're talking about I'd love to see 'em! I like the historical stuff, and it's good to have someone on the boards with some background. I am certainly lacking in that area, so anything you can do to further my education, I'm your humble apprentice!

Thanks in advance.

P.S.
Did you know they also did donkey shit bombs? Actually shipped donkey shit back to the States and London so they could formulate the right colors and textures to get it to look right.

And as a sidebar - I'm sure you alredy know this one, but to anyone else reading - can you guess what the solution that both the Allies and their enemies came up with for keeping predators and scavengers from running off with their rat bomb carcasses was? Hint: It was the same solution later used during the Cold War when they used dead rats for deal letter drops between spies.

Winner gets a rep point.

TTEscrima

I didn't notice I transposed the letters, yes the Son Tay mission. No I don't have a picture, they were all supposed to have been destroyed but several were "unaccounted for" after the raid. There is one on display at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB.