The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knives
  • Home Page
    • The Beginning
    • Modern Warrior
    • End of an Era?
    • Fighting Knives For Sale
    • commando knives for sale
    • Recommended Reading
  • WW-II Commando Knives
    • Rarest of Them All
    • X-Daggers
    • First Pattern >
      • Examples
    • Second Pattern >
      • Standard P-2
      • Nickle, Silver, & Gold
      • Beaded & Ribbed
      • Fatman Knives
      • Named Knives
    • Third Pattern >
      • Nickle plated P-3
      • Wilkinson P-3
      • FR693
    • French Commando Knives
    • Variants >
      • knuckle knives
      • Wood Hilted Knives
      • Leather Hilted
      • Stag Hilted
      • Cast & Alloy Hilts
      • Cutlery Handles
    • Australian Knives
  • Derivative knives
    • Odds N Ends
    • USMC & OSS Stiletto
    • Geber & Randall
    • EK Knives
    • Case V-42
    • Post WW-II Versions
    • Custom F~S Knives
    • Commemoratives
  • Agent's Daggers
    • Smatchets & Kukri
    • Thumb Daggers etc.
    • Capt. Peter Mason
    • Shanghai daggers
  • The Stories
    • Our Family Stories
  • Minutiae
    • Sheaths >
      • Field Expedient
      • Sheath Minutae
    • Inspection Stamps
    • Blade Etches
    • Top nuts
  • Contact Us & Links
    • Combined Military Services Museum
    • What is it? Who made it?
    • About Us
  • Blog

Research & Records

7/13/2018

0 Comments

 
Here is a short bit from my book. It was an email to me from a good friend and historian, Clive MacPherson. Clive passed away and it was a terrible loss for he was well respected by his friends at the CMSM Museum in Maldon England. For me it was also a loss of a valuable source of information and contacts. A lot of the most valuable information in my book came from Clive and another source I'll just call Fred.

 To a casual reader it would seem a simple task to search archives and compile records into an historical publication on something as common as the production of more than a quarter of a million commando knives. But the researcher often finds there is a disappointing dearth of information available and many dead ends. As Clive MacPherson once advised me:

“I always tell people who are researching Britain in the early days of the war not to rely too much on documentation. Much was destroyed during the Blitz, nearly every major city was hit at one time or another and huge swathes of records were destroyed. There was a lot of improvisation and private purchase taking place. An example of this is one of the |Commando units made their badge from melted down canteen spoons.  It is possible that S.O.E. had daggers of various patterns privately made,( each S.O.E. Section was conducting a campaign against other S.O.E. and each section had a great degree of latitude) this latitude would probably cover a lot of the smaller "agent" daggers. It is important to remember that all of these companies were privately owned. For instance, we know there was a Polish dagger but we don't know who manufactured it. Did the Poles order it themselves? If they did there would be no British record of it being produced.  It is possible that some of the more exotic Special Forces units during the war ordered their own knives. There were a plethora of these units, some of them very small. 
As with anything to do with SF, then and now, is a matter of conjecture rather than hard fact. Some of our wartime records remain sealed and will do so until 2045. I have a tendency to tell people who believe themselves to be stone cold certain of a fact to prove it, which they invariably cannot.”  Clive MacPherson

0 Comments

July 07th, 2018

7/7/2018

0 Comments

 
August H. Hubert
SMALL ARMS INSTRUCTOR, FEBRUARY 1943 THROUGH DECEMBER 11, 1945.
This is the third time i have written this blog and had it disappear for some reason. Frustrating day on the computer! Research can be frustrating or rewarding too depending on how your luck goes. Many of the genealogical website are now membership only, making it very hard to get any information. This is not very much information for all of the hours spent searching. The hard part was deciphering the man's name that was ink stamped on the sheath. Luckily he stamped it three times and between the three I finally managed to figure out his full name.

Picture
Sergeant Hubert's knife is a very cool dagger and sheath combination. I wonder if he taught knife as well as small arms? Sales of my knives on this website helps me continue to grow the collection in a focused direction and as I do I share the new pieces with you. Eventually all of the really unusual knives will find their way into one of the volumes I am writing. Thanks to all of you for your visits to my site.
0 Comments

July 4th

7/4/2018

0 Comments

 
I wish all of you a safe and fun July fourth holiday. God bless our veterans and those currently serving in all branches of the military.
Picture
0 Comments

Overwhelming

7/2/2018

0 Comments

 
I know people are wondering what is taking so long with my book. I thought I had it all ready to go to a printer. But I started seeing holes in the manuscript that needed addressed. I took a moment today to stop editing and put together an outline of the topics that will be covered. I think you will see that the volume of material is almost overwhelming. It will be worth it in the end. I told Leroy Thompson it might turn into an encyclopedia and rather than laugh at the idea he said one was really needed because the whole story had never been covered in depth. That's coming from a man who has authored 3-4 books on the subject and done a damned good job! So here is a list of the topics I am writing on. The first three to four portions nearly kicked my butt sorting out the real story. And as a famous author once said I have; "Miles to go before I sleep."
Picture
So altogether there are over 400 pages, and I am not finished writing. The size may require dividing it into two or even three volumes. So put on your thinking caps and help me find a way to get it printed (at an affordable cost to you) while I continue to write and edit. It seems like daily I find new versions and previously unknown types of F-S knives. Thank you  for your patience and visiting my site.
0 Comments

    Author:

    You can find out more about me on the "Stories" pages. My hobbies have included training in Japanese martial arts, including Kenjutsu, many forms of knife fighting, long range rifles and tactical firearms. I have written several self published books on muzzle-loading firearms, knife-fighting and textbooks on gas engines and compressors. I am working diligently on my 400+ page F-S book.

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.