Welcome!

This site is dedicated primarily to exploring the history of the iconic Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife (commonly known as the British Commando knife), the many variants of that weapon, and the brave men and women who trained with it, carried it, and whose valor made it famous.

A couple of housekeeping notes:
1) I keep getting offers from website builders to make my website better. Please stop wasting your time and my time. I am ok with the way it is.
2) I keep getting bitchy emails from melanie, meilissa, etc. etc. accusing me of using their photos and threatening law suits. Please piss off I am tired of your scam and again wasting my time. I don't know what you want but I am not about to follow your links. All photos are mine or properly credited. My apology to others for my rant. I am still getting these annoying emails, two this week. Don't people have better things to do with their life?
Ben Carroll if you see this please email me. I have been trying to contact you. 
UPDATE: I am currently not shippimg to overseas locations due to the very high postage fees and the difficult and confusing customs and import regulations; Sorry!
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO GO TO MY KNIFE SALES. NOTE: It is increasingly difficult to ship double edged knives to many foreign countries. Check your laws before you ask about buying one to prevent unhappy situations. My Post Office is very strict about respecting the weapons laws of other countries.
Also good news. I am back in contact with my friend in CA. So The sales are open again for his remaining F-S knives on the sales page.
Below: I have become quite enamoured of these minimalist weapons used by members of the SAS, SOE, and OSS. If you have any for sale or trade please contact me. I have plenty of other knives to sell, including some very exotic modern fighting knives.
.Just click the button to go to my Blog.

My Philosophy: I realize that despite my best efforts I may not get everything right here the first time. That is why there is a contact page for your input and questions. My website is a continual work in progress, a journey in search of truth through the dim pages of a World War long past and fading history.

You will find this is a "visitor friendly" site! I am NOT going to ridicule you for not knowing something about F-S fighting knives (or any other type of knife). After all that's why I'm here, to share my knowledge with you, and to listen to what you have to offer in return. I'm here to share photos and stories and grow together. You will not find me trashing you on some other website or forum, or using your photos or text without your knowledge or your permission. Seems to me like the way all people and forums ought to treat each other. Thanks for stopping by!

I am constantly amazed by the numbers of people who visit here and take the time to contact me about a knife or knives they own. Thank you one and all!

Note: I have frequent requests from visitors to give an appraisal of the value of their Commando knives. I do appreciate the interest and questions but I can only give you approximate values because there are so many variables, such as condition, model, maker, etc. So please feel free to ask me but I apologize in advance for not being able to give you exact values. Also, you may see knives like yours on an online auction site listed at much higher values than I quote. The question you must ask yourself is, are they selling them for those inflated prices? Many of these same knives have been on auction for several months or years with out selling. How do I know? Because I track them almost daily looking for knives to buy. If they weren't so overpriced I would have already bought them.

Yes I am always interested in buying and adding new knives to our collection, so you are welcome to contact me using the form on the bottom of the "contact us" page for that purpose or to just say hello. I will do my best to make you a fair offer although sometimes you must understand my cash flow is limited. I am also open to trading a modern fighting knife for your F-S knife. I have some very exotic and classic fighting knives in my other collection. I generally do NOT trade or sell any of my F-S or miniature knives
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Above: Not every discovery has to be a magnificent specimen for it to become part of a collection. I got this knife from ebay for $268 and with a little cleaning it will make a nice addition to the variants I own. Based on the blade, brass guard and the top nut I believe this was originally a wood handled knife. The wood is prone to shrinking and splitting near the guard. Or, maybe the owner just wanted something different. I don't know what the story behind it I am just saying you don't have to spend a million bucks to get started collecting. Sometimes the really unusual knives are the ones you can get the cheapest by looking around and taking a chance.
Just for variety's sake. I do like fighting knives of many types. This one was custom made at my request. I had seen one by the maker and of course had to have one. The blade is hand forged and clay tempered in the shape of a Kopis. because of the shape, it handles very differently than any of my other "Bowie" knives. The workmanship is exquisite! It was made by one of the "Forged in Fire" champions.
The handle looks like stone but it it stabilized Elder burl.
SO WHATS NEW?
As I add new photos, information, or acquire new knives I'll tell you about it right here first.
Below:  This knife has been for sale on this site for a long time. No one expressed an interest in it so I bought it. Silver plated cutlery hilt knives were often sold through retailers or men's tailor shops to customers wanting something different. This one is particularly stunning because of the lovely temper blued, hand forged blade. It comes with its original custom heavy leather sheath.
Below: A modified 3rd pattern. The ribs have been lathed off and the alloy hilt knurled like a second pattern. It looks to have been pretty well done, but I won't know for sure until it arrives. I have never liked the feel of the 3rd pattern grip and evidently the original owner didn't either. Knives moified like this do not bring a high price, so if you have one and think you should change it up, file serrations in the blade or other brilliant ideas, you might want to rethink that!
Interesting theater conversion. The original hilt was probably a 3rd pattern. The new one is a once popular change, using a .50 caliber brass casing. The wide brass guard is stamped with the owners name and unit. A 1943 coin was adapted as a spacer between the guard and grip. The commercial style sheath is correct for the time period. 
NEW: Known as the "Earl of Suffolk" dagger. The story goes that this miniature once belonged to Charles Howard the 20th Earl of Suffolk. It and others may have been made by Wilkinson or other cutlers or jewelers according to the late William Windrum.
"Charles Henry George Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk, 13th Earl of Berkshire, was an English bomb disposal expert who was also an earl in the Peerage of England, belonging to the ancient Howard family. He was styled Viscount Andover until 1917."​Wikipedia  Howard was killed while attempting to defuse his 35th bomb. Howard had several of these daggers made and distributed them to friends within the military. This was his personal dagger and is deeply engraved with "Suffolk." It is considered by some to be a fake. So those of you who do, don't feel you need to email and "educate me" because I already know it could be a fake. The original sheath is missing. 
They're Here! A new recreation of an X-Dagger by my friend in Australia. Watch for it right here. Yup I bought the set! Great work as usual from Travis. Travis borrowed the handle idea from an original third pattern I own with this type of cord wrapping. This dagger is made from a file not a bayonet. It is one sweet X-dagger and the thumb dagger is potentially lethal too. 
Below: Here is a knife that was made by Paul MacDonald of Edinburgh, Scotland. He made this in response to the outlandish comments on some forums that it was impossible to make a fighting knife from a Lee- Metford bayonet. The thumb dagger is made from the tip, just as they were during the war. I am very pleased to come into possession of this knife from a friend I met through this website. Thank you Henk! Paul is also making for sale very close copies of the original Shanghai daggers. Contact him if you are interested at MacDonald Armouries in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photos below
Push dagger by Travis Evan:     travtek88@hotmail.com 
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From these raw materials came the above dagger. It takes great skill and an ability to conceptualize, creating form from formlessness to produce such work.  Thanks Travis for the beautiful work.
Paul MacDonald Shanghai Daggers. As close as you can get short of paying tens of thousands of dollars. Very Nice work Paul. 
Below: I am always looking for bayonet coversions like these or in any other format. 
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WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO VIEW MY F-S WEBSITE?

DO NOT forget to click on the Main Headers i.e WW-II Commando  knives, as well as the sub-headers i.e Second Pattern, and even more details under the individual categories i.e. Nickel plated, as these pop out to the right. Otherwise you will miss a lot of information and photos.
All images and written materials on this site are copyrighted as are the images in the banner at the top of the page which are courtesy of the Imperial  War Museum. Materials on this website are (C)  copyrighted 2013. As a courtesy, please contact us for permission to use them, as we have asked permission ourselves to use many of the photographs which are the personal property of the veterans or their heirs. Please do not ask, we do not provide exact measurements of the rarer original WW-II knives to prevent people making counterfeits of the models in our possession. That is why you do not find detailed descriptions with specific measurements.  
 Dear Visitors the old counter disappeared after recording over 140,000 visitors, and getting lots of great communications from all of you. We are starting out with a new counter on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23rd, 2017. Wow you folks are great. We are NOW OVER 224,000 visits total!