M3 and M6 blade dated

[Barryeye]

Gentleman. All this talk about the M3 has inspired me to dig out my own small collection. I don’t have the room to display them so they have been living in my gun closet for a while. Amongst them is my first M3. A blade stamped M3 Utica. I suspect that it is the only variant of its kind in the world. As a foolish young man I used to throw it and in doing so I broke off the cross guard. I have since replaced the guard with one cannibalized from a very broken M3 Imperial. As a result it has UTICA on the blade and IMPERIAL on the guard. No doubt this will one day confuse a future collector.
The blades could do with another clean but up all of the M3s were bright metal when I got them. I’ve also pictured an M3 repro and an M4 bayonet. I got the bayonet from Ravel and co in Chicago when I was there 40 years ago. Bottom washer had been replaced with some resin. The M3 knife was the father of all U.S. bayonets that followed until the space age one they use now.
Not sure how authentic the scabbards matched to the knives are. Over the years they could have got swapped around.

Barry

[Barryeye]

More pictures. M3

[Walkwolf]

Barry, Thanks for showing yours !
(I was going to ask if the repro was a CAMILLUS, now I see that it is ! ! !)

This is such a classic knife !





Regards,



Steve.

[Andrew]

nice bunch of m-3's and an m-4 there barry. they do seem to be a highly prized knife for collectors. thanks for showing them.
andrew

[Andrew]

just on a side note about my knuckle duster. i THINK i found out where the bow is from, it looks like the LF&C second model bow in the pictures i'll post. mine has not had the teeth ground to a point. note the over all shape, the 5 teeth and where they are placed on the bow. and the thickness of the bow. and an oddball m3 knuckle knife i found that was attributed to a soldier by the name in the bow. the bow looks the same except the teeth were ground down differently. i just cant believe there are no others like mine.

[Andrew]

i messed up loading pics here is the LF&C with a bow like mine

[Nige H]

Hi Barry,
The fibre washer is O.K. some late production knives had these fitted as standard, I've seen both Bakelite and also Tuffnoll (Vinalite) version of this washer, apparently the idea was to prevent the excessive corrosion problems experienced on some earlier production M3 blades, the problem is that Veg tanned leather is more acidic than chromium an hide, and also absorbers sulphuric acid from the atmosphere like a sponge.

Andrew as to your Knuckle duster knife, the ones I've seen are field or custom made, and so there is no two quite alike, if your cross guard is not an LF&C model, then I would certainly say that someone used one as a pattern to manufacture the cross guard on your custom blade. The best thing would be to compare your knife to a genuine LF&C model and see if the dimensions have been directly taken from the handle as a pattern.

Nige

[Andrew]

Thanks for taking a look Nige,
its just one of those knives , that looks so factory made, you cant help but think there should be more. obviously i'm mistaken lol. because i sure cant find one like it on the net. it is a curious thing.
andrew

[chumley]

Hello,

Looks like I came to the right place to talk about M3's.

Ive been doing some digging but wanted to throw it out here.

Have yall seen a early UNSHARPENED M3 by CASE with a WOODEN grip?

Love to see one or see a weblink that had more info on them.

I heard that the early wooden ones were the prototypes???

thanks for any info on them.

C

[Walkwolf]

Hello,

Looks like I came to the right place to talk about M3's.

Ive been doing some digging but wanted to throw it out here.

Have yall seen a early UNSHARPENED M3 by CASE with a WOODEN grip?

Love to see one or see a weblink that had more info on them.

I heard that the early wooden ones were the prototypes???

thanks for any info on them.

C

This is probably going to be a re-worked knife.

The original M3 knife was designed by 'Aerial Cutlery Co.' and leather handles
were utilised throughout the entire production from all sources, as far as
I know. An M3 with a wooden grip may have been a custom/employee
knife, made with leftover Case parts after the contract expired and
M4 models began, or could also be a field modification, as leather
tends to rot quickly in humid climates.

A 'standard' M3 - the only irregular feature that some leather
handles have is the omission of ribs or grooves........