<![CDATA[The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knives - Blog]]>

<![CDATA[The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knives - Blog]]>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:53:27 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Daggers Photo]]>Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:30:53 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/daggers-photo

I said Photos would follow. This is a quick photo of four of my daggers. Left to right they are: WW-II J. Clark and Sons second pattern, the new HDG Hydra, a Parkinson/Decker Chisel-tip first pattern, Channing Watson's HN-9 Havocworx dagger. They are illustrated with their corresponding sheaths. Note that the WW-II F/S blade has been retipped during its life due to breakage. The sheath is obviouly worn and tired but intact (except the retaining strap is missing). The HDG sheath is compact with a stout retaining strap. Its method of mounting it on gear or a belt is lackluster. The sheath for the chisel-tip is beautiful, high-quality leather. Retention is by friction in the sheath. Carry is limited to straight forward belt mounting. The Watson dagger has a perfectly fitted, minimalist kydex sheath with a rubber belt loop. It is designed for IWB discreet carry (Inside the waistband). Knife retention is by molded friction fit. Watson's dagger blade exhibits the same grind concept as the Hydra (of being six sided to the very tip) for added rigidity.

The least rugged dagger of the bunch, by far, is the Clark WW-II original. The least satisfactory sheath is the one from HDG. If I were going into combat and could take only one of these daggers, it would be the Channing Watson Havocworx dagger/sheath combo, without question. I think the Hydra and the Parkinson/Decker chisel-tip daggers are of equal functional value but neither sheath is as suitable for combat carry as the Watson sheath.

]]><![CDATA[HYDRA Dagger review (photos will follow later)]]>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:51:33 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/hydra-dagger-review-photos-will-follow-laterWell, shortly after the new year my highly anticipated Hydra arrived from Hamilton Daggers Glasgow. This is one of several joint ventures between Peter Parkinson of New Zealand and John Hamilton of Glasgow, Scotland. As many of you know I have been a fan of Peter’s work for many years. At last count I have twelve of Peter's F-S recreations. This includes three that are of my specific design. I am less familiar with Mr. Hamilton’s work but he has been providing some splendid traditional F-S daggers as well.

The Hydra is one of their collaborative designs in a tactical series. These are knives based on tradition designs, tweaked a bit here and there to produce a better “mousetrap.” There are a number of knifemakers today attempting to do the same thing. The Hydra is the second in the line of three projected daggers. The first one was the Kraken and draws its inspiration from the Iconic Case V-42 FSSF Dagger. The Hydra has several quickly notable differences compared to a traditional P-2. As you are probably aware the Second Pattern (P-2) was originally produced with a carbon steel double-edged blade about 6 ¾ inches long. The blade thickness varied depending on the maker and forging/grinding process. The grip was finely checkered brass in the famous “bowling pin” configuration. It had a lozenge shaped mild steel guard. Blade, guard and grip were held together by a steel top-nut which was peened in place. A high-quality leather sheath with a metal chape was provided. The sheath’s major flaw was the elastic retaining strap, which quickly stretched out or snapped. So how successful is this new iteration of a Second Pattern dagger?

The Hydra has a blade which is the same length but is visibly stouter! One of the weakness’ of the original P-2s was a thin cross section at the tip. This sometimes led to snapping or bending of the tip. The Hydra’s blade has a broad central flat that extends nearly to the tip. So, although it it a double-edged blade, for the majority of its length it is six sided in cross-section. This grind is similar one used on some rapiers centuries ago to increase stiffness. On the ricasso there are a series of cross grooves on both sides of the blade. They extend about 7/8ths of an inch down the central flat. The blade is ceracoated™ flat black. I love the blade. The grip is some sort of ferrous (magnetic) material, steel I presume. The grip is Ceracoated™ a flat earth color. The grip maintains the graceful profile and length of the P-2s but is a larger diameter, with a larger pommel, similar to the “Fatman” of WW-II. The most obvious difference is the checkering is replaced by eight evenly spaced o-rings set into grooves. This provides one of the most user friendly grips of any F-S ever made. Bare hands or gloved, wet or dry, I guarantee your hand will not slip. The steel guard has been widened a little to work with gloved hands but it is still proportionally pleasing.

I think the knife design is a clear success. There are only two things that I would change on the knife. First, I would eliminate the grooves on the ricasso as unnecessary work for little to no gain in function. Secondly, and I think more importantly, I would change the grip material from steel to aluminum to reduce weight and also improve the balance. The knife is very grip heavy for a dagger of its size. Spec-Ops people are very conscious of every ounce of weight they have to carry. Now, my grandmother always said, if you cannot say something nice don’t say anything at all. I’m going to break that rule a little bit. And I have already expressed my opinion on this to the makers. I would replace the sheath with something better. This is a very expensive dagger, and the sheath is not up to standard. I have already ordered a replacement sheath for my Hydra. That’s all I am going to say about it.

I have very strong opinions on fighting knives and some might question by what authority or legitimacy. I have been collecting fighting knives for over 60 years. Yes, that’s right, more than sixty years. My collection is broad and numbers over 500 examples. I have trained for many of those 60 years in the use of fighting knives and swords. In addition, I have designed several fighting knives myself. I also have an extensive library containing almost every book in print on knife fighting, and, I have written two books on how to use edged weapons. So I can claim some sort of familiarity with the subject. In conclusion, I am very excited about the Hydra dagger and I hope the makers will come up with a better solution on a sheath.

Home | Hamilton Daggers Glasgow - Fairbairn Sykes - Commando Dagger - FS Fighting Knife - 1st Pattern FS - 2nd Pattern FS - 3rd Pattern FS

]]><![CDATA[MANNERS]]>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 16:34:19 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/incentiveEvery once in a while I get an idea from a visitor on what to write a blog about. This time it is about manners. Yes good old fashioned manners. I had an inquiry from a visitor wanting to buy a Bowie I have for sale. I responded within about 24 hours and confirmed it was still available and asked how he wanted to pay for it. No answer. I waited a couple days and sent a follow-up email, because people sometimes forget to check their junk mail. No answer. Not wanting him to think I just blew off his inquiry I placed a header on my home page. Maybe some of you saw it. No answer. I sent a third email. Mind you the price of the knife is below what I paid so it wasn't going to make or break me financially. I finally got an answer today 12/29/2025. The answer was "NOPE". Wow I guess he was too busy to say no thank you, or I changed my mind, just NOPE, in capital letters. My mental response is not one I woulld print here.

Now, out of hundreds of thousands of visitors and hundreds of wonderful interchanges i should consider myself lucky, even blessed by my visitors. All it takes is one JERK (capital letters) to give you a bad taste. What would make a man so ignorant that he could not respond considerately? Was it his upbringing? Did his parents act this way too, or just permit him to grow up a JERK? Many times people have told me I should charge for all of the emails I have written helping people dertemine what type of knife they have and its value. I'm not in this for the money. That should be obvious. My sales pages are just a clearing house of knives I have lost interest in, not an investment for profit. I have spent ten times the price of that one bowie on X-daggers and the sale of this knife was of no consequence in the larger scheme of things. I hope that someday this man will learn the value of good manners, even if its the hard way.

To the rest of you, readers and visitors alike, I wish you all a VERY HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEARS. And as my grandma used to say "mind your manners."

]]><![CDATA[Daggers, what else?]]>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:16:33 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/daggers-what-elseI have posted before about different types of knives that I enjoy, other than F/S. Here are some of my latest purchases from Tod Cutler in England. I am no longer doing reenactments but I still enjoy daggers from other eras. Tod Cutler's work has become one of my favorite sources for quality medieval cutlery. Tod Cutler - Handmade Historical Reproduction Knives, Daggers

My first purchase was a Landsnecht dagger with Green leather sheath. It is a splendid fighting knife somewhat larger than a fairbairn but with a nicely ground double-edged 10 inch blade. The hilt is nicely cast from brass and fits my hand perfectly. It might be a little short if you have really large hands. The balance is excellent. It included a leather sheath of double thickness dyed a nice shade of green perfectly fitted to the blade and has some nice decorative tooling.

My next purchase was the Pitts River Stiletto with red leather sheath. The all steel hilt is very decorative and beautifully formed. My wife said it was like male jewelry but I think women would love it as well. I have looked at many stiletto over the years but none that pleased me as much as this one. Its detailing in terrrific! The 8.5 inch long blade is superbly ground, three sided, with artistic shaping filed into to the ricasso.

My most recent, but probably not my last dagger, is the awesome 17th Century Bollock hilted Scottish dirk. Being of Scottish ancestry I am partial to dirks. If this one looks overwhelmed by the 15 inch, single edged blade, you have to remember how the dirk was used in conjunction with the targe. The dirk was held in reverse grip by the hand holding the targe. The blade extended beyond the rim of the targe and was used to parry or stab with. It was common for long blades to have short hilts like this. It is a simple ringed grip of a warm colored wood with a round pommel. The pommel is topped by a large brass cap with decorative heart shaped cutouts. There is a nice brass bolster at the bottom of the grip similar to those found on bollock daggers. I love his dirk!

I also bought one of Tod's leather medieval style belts in a dark green leather. It has very traditional brass buckle and decorative tip. The quality is much better than a similar belt I bought from another source. Tod's leather work is of the highest quality. I should mention that that his prices are very reasonable, especially when one considers each weapon is accompanied by a proper, form-fitted sheath. Whenever I have emailed Tod I have received a personal response in a very short time. Service is great, shipping times are excellent, and his product's quality speaks dedication to customer satisfaction and traditional styling. Go to his website and buy something, don't take my word for it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU

]]><![CDATA[Has it Been That Long? Veterans Day]]>Tue, 11 Nov 2025 14:26:00 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/has-it-been-that-long-veterans-dayI cannot believe how long it has been since I posted on here. People will think I have been abducted by Aliens. (Space aliens not Guatamalans) Lets honor our Veterans on this day. God knows how many brave Americans have died to protect our way of life and our ideals. They deserve our deepest respect. If you look on the stories pages you wil find a little bit about my own families service.

I have not acquired very many new F-S recently. The prices are shocking. My last purchase was a Second Pattern on Ebay. It is in near mint condition but I paid about $500 for it. I know, inflation is everywhere, So is greed. I have talked about this before. It is inherent in the capitalist system that you must always profit from investments. I get it, even if I disagree with the ridiculously high profits some dealers are making. Eventually you kill the market and the prices will settle back down. I am seeing people hesitating now at buying overpriced daggers. Maybe they will decide to buy reproductions or just spend their money on bitcoins. Never buy when the market price is up whether it is gold and silver or stocks.

Most of my time lately has been spent writing about things other than Commando Daggers. I guess that is due to my age and wanting to record things for posterity, ie my daughter and grandson. I apologize for the hiatus on getting my books published. I lost momentum when my printer went out of business and I have been trying to decide on a way forward. Being retired, cash flow is something I have to take more seriously than before. Finding a reliable, affordable printer or going with someone like Amazon is the conundrum i am facing. This has been going on for about a year and I need to forge ahead somehow. A friend has supplied me with a lot of new information about John Paisley that I need to sort through and write an addendum for inclusion in volume two.

So anyway I am alive and kicking. I welcome suggestions on getting my books in print. I started once with Amazon and it got complicated and I backed out. Maybe I should write a smaller book just to get the hang of going with amazon instead of this 200+ page tome. What do you think?

Tiny Wilkinson Sword dagger.

]]><![CDATA[Busyness,]]>Sat, 07 Jun 2025 02:41:55 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/busyness
I may have written about this before. It is something that really bugs me.
“I was going to respond to your email, but I’ve been too busy. I was going to call you but I had stuff to do. I was going to stop over and see how you’re doing but time got away from me. Let’s schedule a time to get together, when I have time, later. I’ll let you know when I am available. It would be great to get together, sometime.” I was going to write a new blog but I got busy doing stuff.

It goes on and on! The busyness factor that lets you know where you stand in the pecking order. Right at the bottom. Now, I have a number of people who ask for my counsel on cultural and theological subjects. They have asked some insightful questions, and I feel like maybe we have some sharing and learning going on. But busyness gets in the way. They ask a “meaning of life question” and I take the time to write a thoughtful reply. What do I get in return? “I haven’t read your email yet, but I plan to.” (it was more than a 6-8 sentence text message so requires too much effort on their part.) Wow! Thanks for gracing me with a short moment of your precious time. Luckily, I didn’t have anything better to do with MY time.

Mind you, these are not usually strangers, but people whom I have known most of their lives. How many people do you know who will suck up your time only as their needs require and then blow you off when they have other “stuff” to do? Growing up, I tried to never ask my elders useless questions on things of no value. Because I have always valued the time people spent helping me, answering questions, offering guidance, I was often taken under the wing of wiser people.

Here on my blog I often get questions on knives, what type are they and what are they worth? Sometimes the questions are nicely put. Other times they are demanding and rude. The thing is, I don’t think those people even know how their communications come across. We are a people inundated with communications beyond imagination and yet fail to understand how to properly inquire or request information in a civil manner. The more advanced our technology gets, the more primitive we become as a culture. In fact I question whether we have any culture left at all. Don’t fall victim to the culture of busyness and forget to make time for friends and relatives.

]]><![CDATA[A Polish Conundrum]]>Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:01:50 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/a-conundrumThis knife, rather than answering my questions, created a conundrum. One of the down-sides of having created my website is the exposure of so many rare knives to the general public. The majority of visitors to the site are content to just look at the knives. Some people have abused my site to create fakes. Most of these copies are being made in Pakistan, as I have previously written. This knife came from Poland. The seller said it was purchased at a flea market, and he believed it was British made for OSS agents. You will note that my website intentionally does not give any specific dimensions of these knives. The reason is to make it harder for counterfeiters. Had I realized the size of this knife I probably would not have bought it. For about $160 it was worth taking a chance.

As you can see, it is clearly oversized for an Agents dagger. So, what do I have? Is it a clumsy reproduction based on one of the originals shown on my website? Is it a reproduction made during WW-II, in Poland or France? I will never know for sure. It is well made. The blade is professionally ground, although of too thin stock to be a British piece. The steel guard is perfectly symmetrical and of heavy gauge steel. It has several bumps and dents that could indicate use over time. Most often forgers use thin metal for the guards to make it easier to cut the slot for the tang. One of the things I was basing my purchase on was the “R” stamped into the guard. It is deeply and cleanly stamped, probably before assembly. The grip is turned and nicely knurled brass. There is no top nut, so the tang is likely threaded into the brass itself.

Either the sheath is quite old, or it is cleverly made from old leather. It has the smell and patina of old leather. The knurling of the knife’s grip has left its imprint in the leather frog. If I had found this knife anywhere else, I might have thought it originated from India. Who knows the truth, maybe only the seller. Is it truly from a flea market, or a forger’s workshop? As a final note. The mini in my collection, with an “R” stamped into guard, is one I have ascribed to the Polish forces based on its grip shape. Your thoughts?

]]><![CDATA[follow-up]]>Wed, 26 Mar 2025 13:47:48 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/follow-upI had just commented in my last blog that I had never asked for a refund on a book, and now I have. I ordered a used book from Amazon. It arrived within two days. As I removed it from the envelope my first impression was how filthy it was! Second impression was that it was curled up like it had been in riding someone's back pocket. The pages were battered and dozens of then half-folded down. There were marginal notes and underlining. This is a small pocketsize book and the seller charged me $38 for it. Some pages even displayed damage from either sweat or water. I immediately applied for a refund, and Amazon just as quickly approved it. So I cannot fault Amazon except maybe they need to review this sellers account to see how many other trashed books he has sold. Ninety percent of the charges on my Visa card are to Amazon so I am a pretty reliabe repeat customer.

Now, regarding the book I issued a refund for. It arrived back looking as if it had not even been looked through. I'm glad it was undamaged but I am still dissappioiinted that it did not satisfy the customer. He never responded as to why it did not. With all the humility I can muster, it is the premier book on the topic on the market. The title "Clandestine Knives of WW-II" could not be more descriptive of the contents. The buyer never bothered to explain his change of mind, or even acknowledge my refund. As I said before, there is one i every crowd.

]]><![CDATA[One in Every Bunch]]>Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:11:52 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/one-in-every-bunchThere’s one in every bunch. I just got an email from an unsatisfied customer. It was a pretty terse and snotty email which said the book; “didn’t suit his collecting interests.” Seems to me the write up and illustrations on my website are pretty descriptive. Of course this man is a lawyer, and he implied some sort of consequences with a veiled threat if I did not give him a “refund in full ASAP”. I don’t have any refund/return policy on my website, I am not Amazon. But, I want people to be happy with their purchase. Over the years I have bought many books that didn’t quite fit what I was looking for, but I never blamed the author for my poor choice. If a book was defective or had a broken binding etc that would be different. When my daughter was growing up I told her to marry whomever she liked, as long as it wasn't a lawyer or an insurance salesman!

This is only the second negative response the book has gotten so I guess I shouldn’t let it bother me too much. Many of you have sent warm responses regarding my book and even carried the heavy overseas postage costs with grace. Thank You! Now, here is a man who could most easily afford the book and who squawks the loudest about getting his money back. Of course, I inscribed the book to Jim thanking him for his purchase, which makes it a little awkward. I really wonder what is behind his dissatisfaction with the book. Looking at the possible causes I am reminded of the only very nasty review it got. I am not going to name Ron but maybe there is a connection here and that is why the lawyer decided to return the book. He probably won't have the gumption to tell me the truth. C'est la vie. See if you can find another book anywhere that has so many beautiful full color photos of very rare knives.

PS I have a WW-II Agents dagger coming from Poland that will reinforce the legitimacy of these tiny knives. Hopefully it will be here in a week or two. Check back for a review of the knife.]]><![CDATA[Publishing]]>Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:50:21 GMThttps://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/blog/publishingI want to thank all of you who are patiently (or not so patiently :) waiting for my next book. I have been trying to find a suitable publisher and it is a minefield out there. Having looked on numerous websites I was assailed by unending phone calls from hungry publishers. It got so bad I had to change my phone message and stop answering their calls. I felt like I was chum in shark infested waters!

Many of these so-called "Amazon Publishers" are in reality third party companies who do publish works for posting on Amazon. Almost all of them have people working the phones who are of eastern extraction, and with my poor hearing, are uninitelligable to me. So I backed off until I can establish whom to trust with my work. I do not want to turn over years worth of manuscript writing and hundreds of photos to some disreputable publisher. I had quotes for publishing each of my manuscript ranging from $299 to $1800! That's their charge for a work already formatted, edited photos embedded and cover art ready to go. Do you know how many books I would have to sell just to cover their work! Then, depending on the company, I was quoted anywhere from 5% to 60% royalties. They both cannot be right. Someone is losing money or someone is scamming me.

Self-publishing is still an option but unfortunately my printer of choice went out of business. It was so easy to work with them, and since they were only 90 miles away, I could drive there and pick up my books, saving hundreds of dollars in shipping costs. I also have had patrons come out of the woodwork, only to disappear just as unpredictably?? I am not sure what they have been all about or why they just stopped answering emails. So, what I am saying is things are pretty frustrating. As I have said before, writing a book is easy. Getting a book printed and distributed profitably is difficult. I guess I just need advice from someone who is successfully doing this. Anyone out there want to give me a shout??? ghdave2@hotmail.com

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