G46-6 questions
G46-6 questions
Picked this up at a small local show yesterday. Shows a lot of surface crud but all there. Double steel guard, 6 inch blade, synthetic pommel with 2 pins. What I want to learn is: material for the pommel, about when it was made, and is the sheath original to the knife. Love the profile on this blade.
steve99f
Re: G46-6 questions
Hi Steve, pommel is bakelite, knife circa WW2, and sheath not original. Of course if I messed up here ZZZY will have more exact info. I see The Forks will be back in July.
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Re: G46-6 questions
That's a real nice knife you have there Steve. Congratulations on a great find.
__________
Mike
__________
Mike
"If there are no Dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went". Will Rogers
I work hard so my Dog can have a better life...
I work hard so my Dog can have a better life...
Re: G46-6 questions
Thanks Gene and Mike, appreciate the info and kind remarks. The Allentown show is on as far as I know Gene. Fortunately for me, my son and DIL delivered their second son last Friday, 3-4 weeks early , clearing my July schedule big time. Both are doing well.
steve99f
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Re: G46-6 questions
Gene is pretty much right.... Replacement non-Western sheath, although the sheath is from the late 40s/early 50s era.
MOST flat Western Sheaths up until some time in the mid-1950s were double stitched. The 1950 catalog shows double stitching on flat sheaths and single stitching on tubular/taco fold sheaths. The 1958 catalog only shows 2 sheaths - 1 double stitched flat sheath and 1 single stitched folded/taco sheath.
By 1968, all but the L88 are shown as having single stitched sheaths. This is probably because they still had L88s for sale from the last run of them some time after 1955.
I suspect that the shift to single stitching across the board was due to the old double stitch sewing machines dieing and being replaced with newer single stitch machines.
So circa WW2, but I would put it AFTER WW2 was over and before civilian production ramped up.
So late 1945 to early 1946. Here's why.
The steel guard says WW2 production. The full guard say G46-6.
The brown swirl bakelite pommel on a Shark (G46-6) or Baby Shark (G46-5) say 1945, since that is when the plastic pommel or plastic pommel/guard knives SEEM to have come out based on an ebay sale of 6 Baby Sharks with plastic pommels and guards in a box with the government contract number from 1945 on the box.
The pommel say G46-5 since it doesn't have a lanyard hole in it. All contract versions of the G46-6 had lanyard holes. This tells me this is a "parts knife" in that Western put it together after the war was over using leftovers from the cancelled contracts. So it is a post-WW2 G46-6 with a G46-5 pommel.
The Shark and Baby Shark used the same size pommels, just one kind had a lanyard hole and the other didn't.
So your knife is kinda rare in one sense, but not super-duper valuable in a "rare" sense.
Would I buy it to go in my Western collection as representative of the "post-war parts knife" era? Yes, but I wouldn't pay a premium for it.
MOST flat Western Sheaths up until some time in the mid-1950s were double stitched. The 1950 catalog shows double stitching on flat sheaths and single stitching on tubular/taco fold sheaths. The 1958 catalog only shows 2 sheaths - 1 double stitched flat sheath and 1 single stitched folded/taco sheath.
By 1968, all but the L88 are shown as having single stitched sheaths. This is probably because they still had L88s for sale from the last run of them some time after 1955.
I suspect that the shift to single stitching across the board was due to the old double stitch sewing machines dieing and being replaced with newer single stitch machines.
So circa WW2, but I would put it AFTER WW2 was over and before civilian production ramped up.
So late 1945 to early 1946. Here's why.
The steel guard says WW2 production. The full guard say G46-6.
The brown swirl bakelite pommel on a Shark (G46-6) or Baby Shark (G46-5) say 1945, since that is when the plastic pommel or plastic pommel/guard knives SEEM to have come out based on an ebay sale of 6 Baby Sharks with plastic pommels and guards in a box with the government contract number from 1945 on the box.
The pommel say G46-5 since it doesn't have a lanyard hole in it. All contract versions of the G46-6 had lanyard holes. This tells me this is a "parts knife" in that Western put it together after the war was over using leftovers from the cancelled contracts. So it is a post-WW2 G46-6 with a G46-5 pommel.
The Shark and Baby Shark used the same size pommels, just one kind had a lanyard hole and the other didn't.
So your knife is kinda rare in one sense, but not super-duper valuable in a "rare" sense.
Would I buy it to go in my Western collection as representative of the "post-war parts knife" era? Yes, but I wouldn't pay a premium for it.
Re: G46-6 questions
Thank you ZZY, finally found a rare knife! I do appreciate the knowledge you share.
steve99f
Re: G46-6 questions
Steve that’s a fantastic old Western. In my opinion the shark is one of the best feeling, most balanced knives in hand out there. Great catch!
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Re: G46-6 questions
Thanks Colonel, can't argue with you about that. It's my second Western fixed blade, the other being a 66.
steve99f
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Re: G46-6 questions
Steve:
Is this the same knife as the one you just picked-up? https://www.ebay.com/itm/294225307809?_ ... %7Ciid%3A1
_________
Mike
"If there are no Dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went". Will Rogers
I work hard so my Dog can have a better life...
I work hard so my Dog can have a better life...
Re: G46-6 questions
Hi Mike,
Same model but different guard, steel not brass, and the pommel is bakelite rather than aluminium and has a different profile. The leather washer handle is similar but mine has no white spacers, black and red only.. There is a copy of my knife, actually 2, on ebay now. I think my search term was "vintage Kabar sheath knives".
Same model but different guard, steel not brass, and the pommel is bakelite rather than aluminium and has a different profile. The leather washer handle is similar but mine has no white spacers, black and red only.. There is a copy of my knife, actually 2, on ebay now. I think my search term was "vintage Kabar sheath knives".
steve99f