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My original 1/1000 70’s Fairbairn-Sykes Commando knife


My original 1/1000 70’s Fairbairn-Sykes Commando knife

by Rook7425

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5 Comments

  1. Rook7425

    I’ve been jonesing to add an OSS dagger/Commando knife to my collection for a very long time, but could never bring myself to buy even a high quality replica, and affordable war-use examples are usually in pretty rough shape.

    I found this guy hiding in a small non-descript pawn shop today and immediately recognized it as one of the accepted “Cadillacs” of this type of knife. Just 1000 examples exist and don’t often trade hands.

    I’ve done quite a bit of research, but understandably with small-batch hand-made things like this, the information out there on them is often copy-pasted between sources. If anyone else here is a collector of these and can point me toward more information, I’m always excited to read more into the history of this and specific examples like it.

  2. Rook7425

    More context for why these are specifically such desirable collectors pieces –

    “Sheffield’s proximity to iron ore, water power, and naturally occurring grinding stones made the area a natural fit for the rise of the cutlery trade. By the 1400’s, Sheffield was known for its knives, and in 1624 the Company of Cutlers was established. Sheffield Steel became well known all over England, as well as the continent, for producing the finest quality edged tools and weapons.”

  4. wharnncliffe

    Very nice piece. From what I recall, some 1,100 Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knives were made in the late 1970’s in Sheffield, England by the Castle Knife Company under license from the Estate of W .E. Fairbairn. This company was formed by knife-fighting expert and author William L. Cassidy, who learned that “Fairbairn never made a dime from his (knife) design” and tried to generate income for Fairbairn’s daughter from sales of the knives. He obtained a “special melt” of tool steel for the blades (yielding an average 58 Rc) and even “hired workmen that crafted the original Fairbairn-Sykes for Wilkinson’s; some were quite literally brought out of retirement. The knife was ground, finished, and hafted entirely by their hands.”

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