Italian Military Knives.

[Nephilim]

Recently acquired a couple Italian military knives. Found a little information on these, but I can't vouch for its' accuracy. If you know any more information, please chime in.

Two of these are the same model, by two different manufacturers. Clearly inspired by the WW2-era British Army knives, I've always seen these labeled Italian Navy knives. In the upper left, we have a more recent model (1980s perhaps?) that resembles the Cold War era British Army knife, but smaller and with plastic scales.

The lower "Navy" knife has an old school can opener and no cap lifter, despite the fact that these are post WW2 (I think). Also, the marlin spike on these things are unusually sharp.

The maker's marks. On the right is the knife that was on the bottom in the previous picture. It's stamped Visconti Canzo. On the left in an example of rougher construction and condition. The stamp is difficult to make out, but I looked up some other examples of these and I'm pretty sure its supposed to be F.lli (Fratelli) Turco Napoli.

[cody6268]

Thanks for reminding me to get one! I've been planning on getting one for 2-3 years now, and finally, I found the model with marlinspike is in stock again. You can't beat two Italian-made knives for twenty bucks.

You know, most I see don't have stamps for some reason.

[Nephilim]

Yeah, these were made by a quite a few different contractors, with variable quality. I would definitely recommend getting them now while they're dirt cheap. Military surplus is a feast or famine market.

[GSPTOPDOG]

I bought a couple of these about 10 or 12 years ago and they were great knives for the money with big plus being a Italian Navy Surplus Knife making it that much more cool! I use the marlin spike a lot for untying rope, so I carried for quite a while.

[1967redrider]

The other day I was wondering why I don't see Italian (or Russian/Soviet, Japanese or Spanish) WWII era knives? Are these WWII Italian military used knives?

Thanks!

[Nephilim]

The other day I was wondering why I don't see Italian (or Russian/Soviet, Japanese or Spanish) WWII era knives? Are these WWII Italian military used knives?

Thanks!

I believe these are all post war. I don't know of any WW2-era Soviet or Spanish military pocket knives, with the exception of a hawkbill bladed knife that was issued to Soviet medics (even then, I've only seen a couple pictures and I don't really know the history). I have seen some interesting Japanese rope knives from that era used by some soldiers and sailors. My understanding is that some were issued and some private purchase, generally single bladed jackknives with bone covers. They're usually referred to as Orimesu, but I don't know if that is a name of the pattern or a certain maker.

[1967redrider]

The other day I was wondering why I don't see Italian (or Russian/Soviet, Japanese or Spanish) WWII era knives? Are these WWII Italian military used knives?

Thanks!

I believe these are all post war. I don't know of any WW2-era Soviet or Spanish military pocket knives, with the exception of a hawkbill bladed knife that was issued to Soviet medics (even then, I've only seen a couple pictures and I don't really know the history). I have seen some interesting Japanese rope knives from that era used by some soldiers and sailors. My understanding is that some were issued and some private purchase, generally single bladed jackknives with bone covers. They're usually referred to as Orimesu, but I don't know if that is a name of the pattern or a certain maker.

Thanks for the reply!

It just seems strange to me that their governments didn't have military issued fixed blades and folders for their troops to use. But I know Russia, for example, had arms shortages. I guess these other countries used their resources elsewhere instead of producing knives. I do have a Japanese Arisaka bayonet, but I don't even see where these were cut down and made into sheath knives. I don't even see where these troops made trench knives either. Kind of puzzling.