Posted 10 years ago
cindyjune
(232 items)
While cleaning out at Mom's house I came across this knife in the back of a shelf. I am guessing the handle is Lucite, it has circular designs on it. It locks, unlocks and extends to an 11 1/2" knife. The blade is 6" long. I can't find any marks and most of the metal in the handle is brass. Dad was a fisherman, occasional hunter and was in WW2. I would love to know more about this if anyone could help. Thanks!
This is commonly called a butterfly knife. If it has another name I have no idea what it may have been. If you Google butterfly knife you will get lots of images to compare it to.
Thanks fhrjr2, I will try that!
Did Mum have a secret life? LOL
It's right up there with switchblade. I think they are illegal to carry in California. But you can own one.
Thanks blunderbuss2 and fortapache for your comments. I don't think mum had a secret life, she is still here with me at 98. But dad? That's another story!
There are tutorials on Youtube as to how to swing these things around. Looks a little West Side Story to me!
Hi Cindyjune
It is a Butterfly knife. It looks like a WW2 era knife. Was your father in the Pacific Theater. If he many have picked up. Many came back from the Philippines but also items were traded back and forth. My guess is a WW2 bringback. I have one that is 42 inches long. It was the display knife that the owner of the shop used to show what he could make. Your knife may have come out of the same shop as the blade grinds are very close. Do not put it in a display case that has sunshine hit it as it could make the handle deteriorate. I lost one that way, in fact do not keep it in a case with other knives as the handle gives of a gas that can rust steel . These knives are pretty collectible, but it is probably worth more to you as it was your dads.
Dennis aka nifman
42"s nifman! Was it used as a sign in front of the shop? The usual Civil War sabre usually has a 36" blade. I'm curious about the composition of the handle as I don't want to keep anything around my items that causes rust. Bakelite? Do formaldehyde fumes cause steel to rust? Curious as I've never heard of that phenomenon. Could be good to know!
The large knife was hung on the wall kind of to show off what the maker could do.
The large knife has horn and stag on the scales. It has 2 1/2 inch aluminum bolsters,
5 1/4 inch horn then 5 1/4 inches of stag with another 5 1/4 horn then 1 3/4 aluminum back bolster. Now any knife with celluloid will put off fumes that will rust knives. I have not had a problem with the WW2 butterflies I think they had plexiglass a material that was around in scrap items, sometime from aircraft with foil under it for decoration.. I used to collect picture handled knives they are fun knives and not real hard to find. The good ones are made very well Ariel cutlery made some very nice ones and Canton cutlery made good ones also. The first knives I started collecting were Aerial, they were made from the turn of the century into the 40's
But a hoard of parts were found in the 60's and someone put them together. Most of those knives were the lower end knives. In the same time period someone found a bunch of switchblade kits, with a lever release, they can be found either marked Aerial or Jager Brothers. There is one on ebay right now. Olsen Knife company from Howard City Mich ended up with a bunch of them. Kabar made a very similar knife in the 20's and I think the Aerials were kind of a knock off. They are easy to spot as the lever is checkered and is different than the old knives. But I got sidetracked most of the picture knives will gas and rust any knives in a closed container. Most of them are rusty at the exposed part of the blade, with the art of the blade that fits inside the frame when the knife is closed will not be as bad.
that sticks above
Hummm. Have to do a little research on how to tell celluloid from other materials. Thanks.
My son recently acquired this knife to add to his wonderful collection of WW2 items.
Hi Cindyjune
I think that is a good place for the knife. It is almost impossible to know if it came back after WW2 with a soldier, most collectors will accept as a WW2 bringback. Many of my knives I was lucky to buy them from the soldiers that brought them back, but your knife has all the characteristics of a WW2 knife. What else does he have?
All the best
Dennis aka nifman