Show off your fixed blades!

[TripleF]

Scored a couple today, thinking I might become very friendly with this one over the next few years!!!

WESTERN BOULDER COLO
Pat. No.

That would be a WW2 vintage L71 Seabees knife. One of the earlier versions since it has a red stripe spacer.

Some folks have called it a USN MK1, a G46-5 or a G46-6, but Western, to my knowledge, never had an actual MK1 contract with knives having a USN or USN-MK1 stamped on them. The true WW2 G46-5s and G46-6s had bird beak pommels.

The L71 officially has a 5" blade, but I have some with 5-1/4", 5-1/2" and nearly 6" blades, so it "seems" Western was a little loose with their specs on the model. As Western was VERY cooperative with the west coast units of the Navy and Marines and had a lots of "unit level orders", it wouldn't surprise me if Western ran a few runs of "custom" versions of the 71.

Well, thank you very, very much sir for the info!! I will carry it proudly and use it!!

[Wally Taylor]

Well, I took posession Of my Tim Withers Big Bear Sub Hilt this morning. I like it almost as much as my Mammoth Ivory Chute that Tim made. This is one of his early knives, possibly his first Big Bear. I think that the majority of his new orders are for Big Bears. Anyway, here's what a plumber can make in his home shop. He is a pretty amazing.

[jerryd6818]

Very nice. I've had the hots for a sub-hilt for years but............................

[jmh58]

Very nice Wally!!!
John

[Wally Taylor]

Thanks guys. I was thinking about talking to Tim about trading out Mammoth Ivory for the Micarta, but Tim built this knife to his own taste, and I wouldn't ask any artist to change his painting. Plus, I think it looks pretty amazing for being non-natural scale material. I like having one of his early Sub Hilts, an I'm sure that h put in some time on these scales. So, this is Withers #3. There is a Dixon Fighter that matches this knife, but I'm running out of money for sharp things.
This would be one bad weapon to pull out on a crook!

[knife7knut]

Seeing that beautiful Tim Withers sub hilt that was posted reminded me of this little knife I bought many years ago.Marked only Made in Germany it has an unusual ring guard and an acorn nut holding it all together.Actually quite comfortable to hold despite it's small size.

[Wally Taylor]

That is a really cool knife. One of those that You would just buy it the aecond that You laid eyes on it. Really nice! Looking at it, it' either made by a very handy handyman, or it's a specific purpose built knife, like for shucking Oysters or something. It's really cool, an looks pretty old.

[knife7knut]

Thought I would post this one up:a Fred James bowie made in the 1960's with the original paste board sheath.
For those not familiar with the name Fred was employed with George Wostenholm for many years and somehow acquired many of the old I*XL stamps and brass blade etch templates. He would make these huge bowies sometimes marked with the I*XL stamp or his own.Many of them were unmarked. The one I own is an unmarked version but has all of the 1850's era blade etches.
When I bought it I knew it wasn't a 19th century knife but thought it might be a Fred James knife. I took it to one of the NCCA shows and showed it to Jim Taylor(Cindy's husband)and he verified it was indeed one of Fred's knives. Jim knew him personally and had done several articles on Fred for various knife publications when he lived in England.
I thought I may have paid too much for it($300)but Jim said it was a fair amount considering it had the sheath.

[Wally Taylor]

That's a real beauty. Love the engraving, handle, pommel, blade.... Great Knife TR!

[Rock54]

Any information would be appreciated.

[tongueriver]

1950s-1960s German hunting knife for export to American GIs? And... I am LOVING that 1920s-1930s KABAR! Or is it a CASE? They were kin.

[Rotten]

So I rarely stop at the local pawn shop but felt drawn there today. Looked through the bucket of folders and almost walked away when the counter girl asked if I wanted to look at the bucket of fixed. Fixed blades are not my main interest but I decided to go ahead and look.

Sometimes I get lucky. Got it for less than a c-note.

Anybody have a clue as to how old it is? My friend who is a lot more knowledgeable about fixed blades says probably early 2000's.

[Quick Steel]

Can't help with age, Rotten. But I think you got hold of a quality knife at a very good price. Congrats!

[Wally Taylor]

That's a great looking knife You got there Rotten! Reminds me of a high quality diving knife, but with the sheath, I think it's a Fighter. Really great lines on that beauty! I don't know how old. AG Russell still sells similar knives. For about $600! And I think Yours is a little nicer than the $600 knife. Could be like $800 new. I think You got a great deal. That pawn shop owner must not know a lot about knives. The poor guy who probably got $35 for it probably either got it at a yard or estate sale. If he bought it new he wouldn't have taken it to a pawn shop. I would think $350 on ebay all day long. Maybe more. Great score. You'd better change Your handle from Rotten to awesome!

[zzyzzogeton]

Not a Randall collector, but I remember reading over on Bladeforums in the Randall Collector's forum that the horizontal "S" between the main stamp and guard was used during the mid-1970s.

[zzyzzogeton]

I briefly perused the Randall's catalog and non-catalog knives and nothing available "now" is close to the handle on this one.

You might try posting in the Randall Collector's sub-forum and asking which model it is there, or send a picture of it to Randall's them selves and see if they can give you the model number and approximate date.

[Wally Taylor]

AGRussell has several Randall fixed blades with Black Micarta handles. I don't kno if Yours is some kind of Horn material. But if it's Micarta, there are still several similar models.

[tongueriver]

This Linder came in yesterday and I am very pleased with it; the sheath is a little corny but I like kitsch also.

[Quick Steel]

Congratulations tongueriver. I think the stag and lines of the blade are exceptional. Very good looking.

[knife7knut]

Linder makes some really nice knives. I only have one but it is a great piece.

[Quick Steel]

Yes it is. A real show stopper. Never expected to see a Kris blade on a German knife.

[doglegg]

That is a beautiful knife Tongueriver. I'm always impressed with Linders quality and that one is gorgeous .

[Quick Steel]

K7K: Don't know if you have this info on your knife from Linder. Just in case, here it is. Bottom line, it came out of their custom shop.



Product Features
This is a wonderful hand made dagger crafted in the Linder shop in Solingen, Germany by Peter Rosenkaimer.

PPR means Peter Paul Rosenkaimer and is one of the two sons of Sigfried Rosenkaimer who has owned Linder since the 1950s.

The handles are hand-turned and the knives assembled by Peter. The handle mountings and the sheath fittings are of precision cast nickel silver (using lost wax process to grant a max of details shown on the surface of the parts).

Perhaps the most valuable point of these daggers are the blades which definitely make this range interesting for collectors.

The blades are all hand-ground and hand-polished by an elderly cutler who used to work for Linder and has been retired for many years. Linder had him make a limited number of these complicated kris dagger blades before he retired and there are no longer any cutlers capable of making blades of this quality in Solingen.

The blades were forged in Solingen by Otto Wester (smiths who no longer exist since many years now).

[knife7knut]

QS: Thank you so much for that info! I didn't realize it was a custom knife from Linder.It still has the tag on it like the OP's knife and I think I have the box it came in;I'll have to check. I will add that info to my files.

[jmh58]