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Home Products Allied Military Fighting Knives And The Men Who Made Them Famous

Allied Military Fighting Knives And The Men Who Made Them Famous

by EK Knives, Randall Made Knives, Fairbairn-Sykes

SKU 1094152

Date Added 06/04/2024

# Available This product is out of stock

Price $125.00

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Overview

Allied Military Fighting Knives chronicles in detail the background, development and variations of both common and unusual combat knives. It also provides firsthand accounts by and in-depth interviews with the men who used them in battle, including U.S. Marine Raiders; U.S. Army Rangers; U.S., Canadian and British airborne units; the legendary Gurkhas; the First Special Service Force; such clandestine outfits as the OSS and SOE; and even officers who served in the Shanghai Municipal Police with W.E. Fairbairn and E.A. Sykes. In addition to its focus on military-issue blades, the book devotes chapters to two of the leading private companies that provided knives to soldiers in all war zones – Ek and Randall. A must for historians and collectors alike.

About the Author: 

Robert Buerlein has been called “the best man in America on fixed-blade military knives” by the National Knife Collectors Museum. He is a member of the Board of Consulting Experts for Man at Arms magazine and has written more than 30 feature articles for leading antique arms, military and military history publications. A U.S. Army veteran, Mr. Buerlein is currently the president of the American Historical Foundation in Richmond, Virginia.

Product Details

Weight (oz) 38

Source Previously owned

Additional Specs

About the Maker

EK Knives
EK Knives

John Ek wanted to contribute to the American war effort during World War II. From his shop in Hamden, Connecticut, Ek built custom knives specifically for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. He even built a knife for the Commander-in-Chief, American President Franklin Roosevelt. Mr. Ek, who also employed disabled Americans, produced six models of knives beginning in 1941. He referred to these knives as “Ek Commando Knives” as they were purpose built for close quarter use that would become a hallmark of the US Marine Raiders, US Army Rangers, First Special Service Force, and Office of Strategic Services’ Operational Groups. To purchase an Ek Commando Knife one had to send in proof of military service. The knives were numbered and a log was kept to tie the number to the owner. Americans have carried Ek Commando Knives in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and countless other locations in between. John Ek’s knives live on today through Ek Commando Knife as a testament to his ideas, skills, and unflinching patriotism.

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Randall Made Knives
Randall Made Knives

Few modern knifemakers got started without first being inspired by something they read or heard about Bo Randall. He pioneered handmade knives at a time when no one else was even considering it. Instead of trying to keep that market to himself, he promoted the business for everyone concerned, establishing a museum for visitors in his shop and offering encouragement to budding knifemakers. The models offered by Randall have been developed over a period of 80 years from personal experience, extensive research and the study of hundreds of designs submitted by individuals around the world requesting custom-made knives. Each model has been thoroughly field-tested and has proven to be properly shaped and designed for its particular use. Randall knives are 100% hand made and no two are exactly alike. Demand is so great for all models that there is typically a wait of a few years to deliver a new knife ordered from Randall. Bo and his son Gary managed the business side by side for over twenty-five years. Gary continues the tradition of hand crafting knives that bear the Randall Made trademark along with his sons, Jason and Michael, of the next Randall generation. Inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame in 1983. W.D. "Bo" Randall passed away in 1989.

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Fairbairn-Sykes

The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on concepts which the two men initiated before World War II while serving on the Shanghai Municipal Police in China. The F-S fighting knife was designed exclusively for surprise attack and fighting, with a slender blade that can easily penetrate a rib cage. The vase handle grants precise grip, and the blade's design is especially suited to its use as a fighting knife.

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