First knife in a long time

[Brad]

I found a technical drawing online for a Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife from WW 2. After looking at it for a while I had to try to make one. The handle and guard are mild steel (a worn-out loader pin) the blade is 5160. My first try at a parkerized finish.

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[blacksmithden]

I was looking at those online not that long ago. I absolutely love the design. You did an awesome job on that bud. Well done.

[RangeBob]

I thought I'd seen that somewhere's afore.

May 6 2023 - Parkerizing

Here are the results. I haven't finished the knife yet but it came out ok. A modern take on a classic WWII commando knife.

[Dewey Cox]

That's great.

[Brad]

Thanks guys.

[M1917 Enfield]

You did a real good job on making that knife or I should say dagger, maybe you might want to make a more correct one (much more pointy or an actually stiletto) like the original one.






The original was specially designed very pointy to pass easily through the ribs of a thick great coat wearing sentry and not get stuck between the ribs if it was too wide in the tip.


A stiletto (Italian: [stiˈletto]) is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a stabbing weapon.

The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated (tapering gradually to a sharp point) tip reduce friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply. Some consider the stiletto a form of dagger, but most stilettos are specialized thrusting/stabbing weapons not designed for cutting or slashing, even with edged examples.

First developed in Italy, the stiletto dates from the late 15th century, and is thought to be a development of the rondel dagger or misericordia, a needle-pointed weapon with a narrow blade designed primarily for thrusting, though possessing cutting edges.[6][7] Early stilettos normally used a one-piece cast-metal handle which was shaped and turned on a lathe. The stiletto blade was usually hammer-forged into a dense rod with a narrow, triangular cross-section, without any sharpened edges. However, other examples of the period have emerged bearing round, square, or diamond cross-sections.

The Italian word "stiletto" comes from the Latin stilus, the thin pointed Roman writing instrument used to engrave wax or clay tablets in ancient times. The stiletto began to gain fame during the late Middle Ages, when it was the secondary weapon of knights.

Originally designed as a purely offensive weapon, the stiletto was used to finish off a fallen or severely wounded heavily armored opponent. The needle-like blade could, if used with sufficient force, penetrate most mail or find its way through gaps in a knight's plate armor, and was narrow enough to pass through the eye slits of the helmeted knight.

A severely wounded opponent who was not expected to survive would be given a "mercy strike" (French coup de grâce), hence the name miséricorde. Later, the Gunner's Stiletto became a tool for clearing cannon-fuse touch holes; used in the manner of an automotive oil dipstick, they were often inscribed with marks indicating levels of powder charges for ranging distance.

The stiletto was later adopted throughout Italy as the favored offensive thrusting knife (arma manesca) of the medieval assassin, so much so that it was invariably prohibited as a treacherous weapon (arma insidiosa) by the authorities of the day. The stiletto was preferred by assassins as it was silent, easily concealed inside a sleeve or jacket, and featured a blade capable of easily penetrating the heavy leather and fabric clothing of the day, while inflicting mortal wounds that tended to bleed less than those made by other types of knives.

The stiletto remained a popular weapon of criminals or political assassins from the 16th through the end of the 19th century, particularly in France, Corsica, and Italy.

While still used as a weapon of surprise and assassination, the use of stiletto in preference to the dagger in close combat confrontations between adversaries became widespread throughout Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica. The continued popularity of the stiletto in the Kingdom of Sicily resulted in the development of the scherma di stiletto siciliano (Sicilian school of stiletto fighting). A person skilled in the use of a stiletto would thrust the knife deep into the victim, then twist the blade sharply in various directions before retracting it, causing the sharp point to inflict severe internal damage not readily apparent when examining the entrance wound.

The stiletto followed the first wave of Italian diaspora to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana during the mid-19th century, where the knife became a popular weapon of gamblers, gang members, and assorted assassins. The stiletto was involved in so many stabbings and murders in New Orleans that the city passed an ordinance in 1879 outlawing the sale or exhibition for sale of any stiletto within the city limits. Italian immigrants to America frequently purchased or made such knives for self-defense, and the stiletto was used by anarchists as well as by members of various Black Hand organizations to assassinate Italian-Americans and others who either opposed the Black Hand or ignored its demands for blackmail. The Black Hand even established schools for training its members in the use of the stiletto.

Stiletto bladed thrusting swords also became popular for a time and led to the development of the Rapier. They came about after a move away from large and heavy slashing and cutting swords.

A Rapier (/ˈreɪpiər/) or espada ropera is a type of sword with a slender and sharply pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

The term rapier comes from the french term "rapière" and appears both in English and German, near-simultaneously, in the mid-16th century, for a light, long, pointed two-edged thrusting sword.

Classical fencing schools claim to have inherited aspects of rapier forms in their systems. In 1885, fencing scholar Egerton Castle wrote "there is little doubt that the French system of fencing can be traced, at its origin, to the ancient Italian swordsmanship; the modern Italian school being of course derived in an uninterrupted manner from the same source." Castle went on to note that "the Italians have preserved the rapier form, with cup, pas d'ane, and quillons, but with a slender quadrangular blade."

The Rapier is still used today but only in fencing schools and sport.

World War II saw a resurgence of the pointy stiletto in the form of combat knives for commando raiding forces and other troops who needed a weapon for silent killing. In late 1940, the famed British hand-to-hand combat instructors William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes designed the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife, a double-edged stiletto with a long and narrow point designed to optimize the blade for thrusting, though it was also capable of slashing strokes if the cutting edges were sharpened.

Other variations of the F-S knife soon emerged, including the United States Marine Raider Stiletto, which was based upon the Fairbairn–Sykes knife, and the U.S. V-42 stiletto, designed from the outset to emphasize thrusting over cutting.



A Dagger is a robust fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. Daggers have been used throughout human history for close combat confrontations, and many cultures have used adorned daggers in ritual and ceremonial contexts. The distinctive shape and historic usage of the dagger have made it iconic and symbolic. A dagger in the modern sense is a weapon designed for close-proximity combat or self-defense; due to its use in historic weapon assemblages, it has associations with assassination and murders. Double-edged knives, however, play different sorts of roles in different social contexts.

A wide variety of thrusting knives have been described as daggers, including knives that feature only a single cutting edge, such as the European rondel dagger or the Afghan pesh-kabz, or, in some instances, no cutting edge at all, such as with the stiletto of the Renaissance. However, in the last hundred years or so, in most contexts, a dagger has certain definable characteristics, including a shorter blade with a sharply tapered point, a central spine or fuller, and usually two cutting edges sharpened the full length of the blade, or nearly so. Most daggers also feature a full crossguard to keep the hand from riding forwards onto the sharpened blade edges.

Daggers are primarily weapons, so knife legislation in many places restricts their manufacture, sale, possession, transport, or use.

The earliest daggers were made of materials such as flint, ivory or bone in Neolithic times.

Copper daggers appeared first in the early Bronze Age, in the 3rd millennium BC, and copper daggers of Early Minoan III (2400–2000 BC) were recovered at Knossos.

In ancient Egypt, daggers were usually made of copper or bronze, while royalty had gold weapons. At least since pre-dynastic Egypt, (c. 3100 BC) daggers were adorned as ceremonial objects with golden hilts and later even more ornate and varied construction. One early silver dagger was recovered with midrib design.

The 1924 opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun revealed two daggers, one with a gold blade, and one of smelted iron. It is held that mummies of the Eleventh Dynasty were buried with bronze sabres; and there is a bronze dagger of Thut-mes III. (Eighteenth Dynasty), circa B.C. 1600, and bronze armour, swords and daggers of Mene-ptah II. of the (Nineteenth Dynasty) circa B.C 1300.

World War 2 German ceremonial dress daggers were very common as part of their soldiers uniform.






The dagger is still in military use as a close combat and ceremonial arm. Many nations use the dagger pattern in the form of the bayonet like the US M7 M16 bayonet or the M3 fighting knife.










Modern day daggers

[2012Cvoguy]

A hearty congratulations Brad, very nicely done and a cool skill set! Here is what us Neanderthals have available, not as purposefully elegant but I do enjoy this dagger it is a good workhorse and sharpens well.

Everybody needs to bring out their inner artisan but few of us do……..

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[Brad]

This is the drawing I used for my dagger. I made a few changes. I changed the transition from the guard to the handle. I also made a short ricasso, the fit between blade and guard on the originals was not a big concern. I also beefed the tang up to 1/2" about half way down the handle. I wanted to strengthen the blade tang junction. Now that I have bored you guys with knife nerd stuff

fairbairnsykesdiagram1.jpg

[M1917 Enfield]

This is the drawing I used for my dagger. I made a few changes. I changed the transition from the guard to the handle. I also made a short ricasso, the fit between blade and guard on the originals was not a big concern. I also beefed the tang up to 1/2" about half way down the handle. I wanted to strengthen the blade tang junction. Now that I have bored you guys with knife nerd stuff

fairbairnsykesdiagram1.jpg

That diagram is from page 69 of the fighting knife diagram from the 1976 Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication (FMFRP) 12-80, Kill or Get Killed by Capt. Rex Applegate.

He based his drawing on how he thought it was designed.


Fighting Knife.jpg


https://ia600308.us.archive.org/25/i...get_killed.pdf


The Fairbairn-Sykes was produced in several patterns. And apparently there was at least 3 versions made during WW2 with the picture from the Royal Armouries an example of the first version. Also the British military did not issue a formal spec for it until well after the war. So no formal specification existed until after the war, but the 1949 UK government specification E/1323E remains current for modern remakes.

The first batch of 50 F-S fighting knives was produced in January 1941 by Wilkinson Sword Ltd. Fairbairn and Sykes had travelled to their factory from the Special Training Centre at Lochailort in November 1940 to discuss their ideas for a fighting knife.

The later ringed grip version is reputed to have disappointed one of the original designers as it unbalanced the weapon and made harder to hold when wet, but it was used by the manufacturers as it was simple to produce and could be cast from a cheaper and more plentiful alloy instead of using up quantities of scarce brass stock.






From top to bottom all knives with F-S logo:

1st Pattern , 2nd Pattern all white , 2nd Pattern all black and bottom 3rd all black Pattern.