US M3 Fighting Knife in M6 Scabbard

[ncblksmth1]

according to my sources some of the early M4 bayonets and the preceeding M3 knives especialy camillus were blued. The blade marked knives were early and discovered to be weak. At about the time when manufacturers switched to guard marking several makers started parking the blades. Of course some of the old experts who have said this dont know an as%$#@$ from a hole in the ground.

[Andrew]

you are correct on some of the very early ones being blued. but there is a progretion to the markings. the first style m3 has the marked blade with ( m3 makers name and date 1943) and in the m6 scabbard. my understanding is these were only made for a few months before they switched to the second model where the date was removed from the blade, and they were put in the m8 or m8a1 fiberglass scabbard, because these were already in production for the m4 bayo. 3rd model had no makers mark on the blade but was moved to the crossguard. so in theory lol if it has a blued blade it should be 1943 marked on the blade. though most i have seen are parkerized with a dated blade. and i would not expect to see nice bluing over rust pitting on the blade. and a non dated blade i would expect to find with a fiberglass scabbard and not the early leather one. but left overs got used up, so its possable , but i dont think the pitting issues match up with the leather condition, just my opinion, but i think the blade was reworked and married to the m6 scabbard. these things happen.
andrew