All About Pocket Knives

Having been a staunch," edged tool indiscriminate accumulator" for the past 67 years give or take, one of the things that fascinates me about it is acquiring a knife(or razor or letter opener or whatever) and looking at it and wondering where it has been and what it has seen. Researching that information can be challenging at times but every so often you luck out and find some info that helps put a face to who owned it or what they were all about.
This is a story about one such item that has no such information and another that I had the information at one time and misplaced it.
The first one concerns a letter opener I came across at a flea market many years ago.At first I thought it was a dagger due to the size but as it had no sharp edges I figured it to be a letter opener. Stamped into the blade were the words,"London Blitz 1940-1941" I later found another smaller stamping of two crossed swords(Wilkinson maybe?)above the letter "B".
The handle was the most bizarre part of the whole thing though. It was a very rough piece of steel and it wasn't until I examined it more closely did I realize what it was. The whole thing had been made from a fragment of a very large bomb! The machining marks that adorned the outside of the bomb casing were still plainly visible on edges of the metal.
Although my research did not tell me who made this piece they were apparently quite common shortly after World War 2 when England was trying to rebuild their cities that had been bombed by the Germans.To make money people would collect these fragments of exploded bombs that littered the city and forge them into souvenirs to sell.
It is hard to imagine what these people went through during that period when 500 lb and 1,000 lb bombs were raining down from the skies almost constantly. Imagine what stories this little piece of history could tell were it capable of speech!

The second item is another letter opener that is a bit unique in that the handle is shaped like a torpedo from a submarine and the blade has a very fancy etch that says," Lt.jg E.R.Teple USNR". I did some research on the name and if I recall he was from somewhere in Ohio and served on a submarine during World War 2. I am assuming that this letter opener was given to him;possibly by his crew members after he retired. I tried researching the name again but nothing came up. Hopefully some day I will be able to locate the information again.

Sorry I don't have more information but I hope you enjoyed this little tale.

Ray what an awesome couple of knives. I talked to a lady who had been through the blitz as a 12 year old. She said that after the war it was years before she could sleep at night as it was so quiet. Thanks for sharing.

Both pieces are such cool remnants of important history! Coincidentally, I recently finished reading a great book about Churchill, and the blitz - The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson. After recently reading this book and seeing your post, I definitely have to get one of those bomb fragments for my man cave collection! Thanks for posting and for the great story!

Very cool, Ray. Thanks for posting.

Ray, that’s a great piece of history
As you said,sometimes can’t help but wonder what some one else went thru.
You always have some interesting pieces and a great way with sharing your thoughts. Sure do appreciate all your posts .
Take care .

Just came across this, Ray. What an amazing story and history, on both pieces. Thanks for sharing with us, I found it quite interesting.

Cool pieces, pitures & thoughts! Thanks for sharing Ray!