What is "the soul of a nation"? Do any of us know the fate of empires or nations? I stopped my last blog because it went from knives to politics. I don't want that to happen again. Either we will survive as a republic or we will collapse under Socialism. At this point I do not want to wager which way it might go. Suffice it to say that last weekend I sighted in one of my carbines and tested all of my magazines for functionality. I am locked and loaded hoping for sanity to return. 

This hard time has been coming for years. My wife says these are the days I have been predicting since we first dated. We have been married now for 50 years and those days of chaos are approaching. One cannot rush history, one can only hope to enjoy the good days and survive the bad ones. 

All I know is i am sick of turning on the TV each morning to the latest covid report and the most recent case of fraudulent votes being recounted, again, and again. Somewhere in the world there must me more important news than watching suspect numbers of NEW covid cases and the rise of anarchy. I teach at a small college and daily we wait breathlessly to know whether we are going to be shutdown by the latest exposure to someone who might have tested positive, falsely or not. Somehow I am supposed to provide additional material and training remotely to students who live in rural Pennsylvania hills where the WiFi does not work and cable has not found its way into the hills and valleys. 

Life has become a miasma of contradictions of whether masks work or don't work, whether 6 feet is socially acceptable, lecturing to students through a mask where neither of us can hear the other, and communications just trail off into silence. Who would have thought that one political party would try to slay the other using the politics of germ warfare, both parties supposedly American. Damn politics, parties, and "medical experts." Damn the people who dabble in creating viruses and loosing them on the world. I guess some people could not stand the fact that life was good and constantly improving and their solution was to crash the economy , rape the culture, destroy the equanimity of life in general through violence,  looting and arson. How is it that we the majority stand hopelessly by while an evil minority destroys one of the greatest nations in the world? 

I bought two knives from a dealer in Wisconsin.  He is reputable and I have bought from him before. I expect the knives to show up in maybe five days. The tracking show them arriving in Rochester, NY. They sit there for a day are scanned four times and then I am shocked to find they have travelled to Long Island, NY. This is 350 miles east, far beyond where I live. I assume someone didn't load them in the right truck but surely they would be arriving soon as tracking showed they had left the Long Island Post Office. I could not have bbeen more wrong. Imagine my surprise and displeasure to find thy had just landed in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is over 800 miles south of me. The package is scanned 4 times before leaving for Rochester, NY. Well now we're getting somewhere. SIX DAYS LATE THE TRCKING SAYS IT IS OUT FOR DELIVERY. The mailman drops my mail but no package. I nearly attack him wanting to know where the hell my $800+ package is. He says "it was too heavy so I left it on the truck." I'll drop it off in 40 minutes on my way back through. over an hour and a half later he does return with my "too heavy" package weighing in at 1 1/2 pounds. When I ask the dealer/seller about this he says oh that is not unusual. I've had packages show up 35 days late!! What the heck is going on? And we are supposed to trust our votes for president of the US to these buffoons? 

Well I got an email from the publisher agreeing to make changes to the contract that are more amenable. Looks like we might have a deal and I am happy about that. Book will probably be ready sometime in the beginning of 2021! This is the one that will have all of the images of my Clandestine knives collectiona nd more than are shown on this website. As things develop i will keep you posted. Fingers crossed. The publisher said that it should be a "splendid book.'  

Well, the publisher has approved my book, but. I just got a sample contract from them and it is not good. As I read it, (and confirmed by two other people) my royalties would be 7.5 to 10% max. Now I am not a greedy man but holy crap! I have spent literally years collecting information, researching and buying knives for 7.5%? Ebooks return even less money.

 I am wide open to publishing suggestions, again. If you have had a good (or bad) experience with a publisher contact me. The book is 160 pages long 8 x 11, 40,000 words, about 300 full color photos in high resolution, with drawings and notes. 

Since my last post I think the world has descended even further into the jaws of hell. The United States is divided as never before, probably not since the 1860s and the war over States Rights VS Federal power. BUT I don't want to talk about this or the damned Corona virus. I am sick of hearing excuses for destroying our economy and freedoms under the guise of a virus. So something positive is the best medicine i can think of.

I am in solid contact with a major publisher who is seriously interested in publishing my book on Clandestine Knives. I just got a contract to review. This is about 6 months after I had started communications and then talks went dead while the publisher was readjusting to the pandemic too. But it looks very promising, if I agree to the contract. I have yet to read it all the way through. I wanted to share this information with you though so you knew I was still actively searching for a publisher to get this material in print. My other two volumes will be my next focus. The volume on the early years is about 75% but I have to rewrite the Shanghai section since coming into contact with more of the knives including my own purchase. That story in itself is worthy of a movie! It has all the twists and turns of a dime store detective novel. 
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No, you are not experiencing double vision. That's what I first thought, but there are slight differences. The workmanship and detail are incredible. They are priceless links in the Commando knife story but for various reason they are not  well suited for a combat role. I believe that Fairbairn was fully aware of their shortcomings as a fighting knife and had the temerity to rethink what changes were needed to best meet the commando's needs. In my other manuscript on the early years I go into detail on this process change and the missing links between the SMP daggers and the First Pattern daggers.

I apologize for the watermark but i know some people cannot resist copying my stuff and using it in their book so it ruins it for everyone else who just wants a copy for themselves.

Since establishing this website I have answered thousands of questions. Now I have a question and I am going to ask all of you to see if you can find an answer. I am now the owner of an original Shanghai SMP dagger. Several of them had the motto "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" inlaid into the blades. NOW I know it means thus pass the glories of the world. I also have found out it was sometimes used during Papal coronations. 

What I am looking for is any sort of link between it and the officers stationed in Shanghai, China. For example was it something of a fraternal order, or was it just a "neat"saying? I think there was more to it because it would not have been easy to inlet it into the bayonet blades. I want to see if anything can be found, to include in my book. If one of you finds an answer I'll credit you in the book. So, all of you Googlers get your googlefu working and see what you can find. 

The view out of the front of an LCT as it drops its precious load of men at Omaha Beach on D-Day. For  many young men  this was their last view of life. This Memorial Day please remember those who have served, fought and died for the freedoms we so precariously hold onto right now. 

It seems like every so often I have someone compelled to email me to "straighten me out" about some error in my thinking. Happened again about a week ago. I was excited to see I had an email from a friend and fellow collector. It came from this website contact page. As I opened it and started to read I was really disappointed. Obviously the man did not know who he was addressing, that we had communicated for years, and that I had bought some pretty expensive knives from him. The beauty and the curse of such communications is the anonymity it provides. You can be blunt, rude, chastising, just as easy as you can be friendly. I would rate this recent email as blunt. If you have read anything I have written you know my dislike of experts. You also know I have stated that every time I think I know the answer to a question on F-S knives another anomaly comes out of the woodwork. Here is the ricasso of a knife purchased from a seller in Australia.

His email to me started out like many others: "Since you seem to be an expert", or "you ought to know better", or how about...."I cannot believe you really think these knives are legitimate", etc, etc. Then follows: "I hate to be the one to tell you that your (Pick anyone of my bayonet conversions) is a fake but someone has to tell you the difference between reality and your fantasy world". I suppose I should feel honored that such friendly advice is offered so freely. It is so rewarding to have someone advise me that the $2,500 knife he is talking about is a fake. Of course this news is always followed by their validation of: "I have been collecting these knives for 30 or 40 years." This is one way of saying: "Therefore I know better than you."  I bought my first F-S in 1978 and you know what, I am still finding unique knives and prototypes, which according to these other people, are simply more fakes.

Smooth Handled Fatman knife. Never existed according to the experts.

A trinity of legitimate Yeaton Shanghai Daggers. The one on the right is soon to be mine by a trade.