British War Department Sheffield blades

I wanted to share my British army pocket knives collection with you.







1) The first model is the bigger WW1 Model . Besides the larger size it had a copper ring and the rim is metal. My model manufacture sid A. LEVITT (spelling?)

 

2) the second model is an early WW2 manufacturing . It is in fact a minituarised model of the WW1 knife with still a metal rim and a copper ring.



The maker is Wade and Butcher. It is not dated.

 

3) is a 1940 one. This wartime model has aconomy features to save metal. The copper rim was remplaced by a metal one and the rim around the grip no longer exists.
It still has three blades, but they are smaller too.





The maker is Wostenhom and it's dated 1940.

 

4) is a later war dated one. This one had even less metal and was made wit two blades only . It is dated 1943.

 

Nice collection,Skip.

 

Tres bien.

 

I'm left wondering why there was not such a shortage of metals in WW1, that affected the production.

 

Those were the times when the U-Boote threatened the supplies from overseas, so many factories recycled and were asked to find ways to use less metal. Germany faced even worse problems. Weight was another aspect. When you take one object it may seem insignificant, but take the example of the bayonet and you'd be happy to have a few 100 ounces less when you carry your entire gear for miles. A third point would be cost . less copper meant lcheaper knives .

Thanks for your kind comments.

Poppy do you know the rarest ones are those made for the Canadians?

 

I did not. Do tell...how many were sent to Canada and which one?...I work with a lot of olds, maybe they could point me to one.

 

Well there should be some in Canada

Here is a great site with more info about them

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=9829

 

Surely, I've seen those knifes kicking around. Remember wondering what the pointy part was- thought it was a leather punch, and the knife was a specialty tradesman tool. Very interesting. Will keep my eyes open now.
Cheers.

 

Let me know whehter you find one. I'm sure they show up at garage sales from time to time. Remember to check for the broad arrow symbol with circle , which is specific for Canada .