Yes I know I am about a day late on this one! I've been busy trust me. I am reading at least four books, working on the Covert Daggers book, doing a major revision of my Gas Engine book for the college, creating a new curriculum for the Spring 2020 semester, preparing for the students finals next week. Sometimes I don't even feel like booting up the computer. On the good news side the first pattern I have been paying on was finally paid off and arrived. It is a real beauty. Then we had a setback on my book when my daughter's computer crashed. Its not unrecoverable but we lost a lot of recent work she had done on it. So in a week my load will lighten up and I'll try to write a more valuable blog. So thanks for your patience and stop back next week.

This Veterans Day take time to reflect on the sacrifices made by men and women across the world who have served in the cause of freedom. Not only our own service men and women but those of our allies and all who gave time and lives to protect our liberty. It has become cliche', but freedom is not free. There are those in our own government and neighborhoods, who would deny us our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. May our enemies, foreign and domestic, be rooted out and  eradicated, so that liberty washes once again across our land. God Bless America.

Next time you see a veteran thank him for his service and mean it. Remember that they have been away from their families so that you can be at home safely with yours.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.   George Orwell

Thank God these "Rough Men" are ours. God bless them.

It seems impossible to me that some greedy sellers are asking upwards of $300 - 400 for plain jane 3rd pattern knives. Even more incredible is some people are paying those prices. Now I expect the values of knives I bought 20 years ago to rise but seriously! I'd call it price gouging. Remember folks the combined manufacturer output of   WW-II 3rd pattern knives was nearly a quarter million. Most of those made since the war have ranged in quality from Wilkinson's excellent war-time models to the absolutely awful ones out of Pakistan and China. Some post war years (and into the Korean war era) saw the production of a few well made knives. But, even the last production out of Wilkinson Sword was very marginal, with non-traditional shaped handles (said to me made in China) and blades buffed out like tableware or letter openers.

Beware, because many sellers are describing their knives (3rd pattern) as Wilkinson commando knives when there is no justification. They could be made by one of a dozen makers of varying quality. If it doesn't say "Wilkinson", it most likely is NOT a Wilkinson. If it has a coarsely ground blade and thin, flimsy guard you can be sure it is not a Wilkinson. Personally I would prefer a raggedy second pattern dagger any day to a pristine 3rd pattern. Its all a matter of preference but just don't get taken by some unscrupulous dealer on the famous auction site and pay twice what a knife is worth. Then there are out-and-out fakes like this one. I bought it just to get it off the market.