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Shanghai Daggers: from my book

8/7/2018

2 Comments

 
Walnut Handled Dagger: Our second Shanghai Dagger, with the walnut handle, came from the collection of Bill Windrum via Pete Hooker. Pete expressed a desire for his knife to go to a “good collection” and he gave me a price that made it possible. Thanks Pete!    

According to Dr. Windrum, Kelly Yeaton identified this exact same knife as matching, in size, one he owned.  Kelly referred to his as “an early prototype,” sent to him from Shanghai in 1934. (This turned out to be the knife known as the “Pilot Model.”) Our dagger is stamped on the tang as being made in 1933 and has a nicely turned walnut handle. Unlike later Shanghai daggers the handle profile is a full round in cross-section, not a flattened oval shape.

Our Walnut handled knife is the exact same knife illustrated in Windrum’s book “The Earliest Commando Knives,” page 23. A better photo of it can be found in the book “Military Knives: A Reference Book.”[1] However, despite believing it to be a legitimate knife Dr. Windrum candidly states: “there is nothing about it to link it to a bayonet blade.” I am not sure what prompted Dr. Windrum to say this. I laid Pete‘s Shanghai dagger on top of an original, unaltered, 1888 Lee-Metford bayonet and the two are absolutely identical to within a hair’s breadth. It is my opinion that a skilled craftsman may have simply ground the blade a little thinner and in the process erased the hollow grinds and flat spot on the central spine of the original bayonet blade. I have proof of this happening in several of the half-converted knives I own. Of course it is also possible the maker simply traced the tip of a bayonet blade onto a blank piece of steel, using it as a pattern for this blade and others.


[1] “Military Knives: A  Reference Book” Knife world publications, page 80
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2 Comments
Travis
8/8/2018 06:03:28 pm

I believe it does have the qualities of a bayonet blade and being an early prototype would be further evidence. I have a soft spot for wooden handles as they change the feel and look of a knife, especially in cold weather. For discreet use in the 30's and 40's you couldn't go wrong. Great knife!

Reply
david
8/10/2018 08:05:58 am

Yes wood does offer a nicer touch in especially hot or cold climates. A lot of men preferred the wood or leather washer handles. The only down side is wood shrinks and cracks and leather dries out or rots. As a man who has played with F-S knives for over 60 years now, the metal handles provide added mass, giving them a certain "feel" lacking in lighter materials.

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    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.

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