Polish Radom "Mobilization" bayonet....

[len s]

I just acquired this bayonet today. I believe it is known as a "mobilization" Polish Mauser bayonet , made at the Radom arsenal in 1939. I have a couple of others that were modified by the Germans by removing the muzzle ring and blueing the piece. This one has a peculiar gray/green phosphate finish on it that I've not seen on a Polish bayonet before. Was it applied by the Poles? Here are some pics.

Len

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Len,

Congrats on your new acquisition. I refer you to this existing thread for more information on your 1939. Your bayonet does appear to be an original parkerized Polish mobilization piece, although may have been re-sharpened:

Polish made mauser bayonets

Regards,
Tony

[Walkwolf]

Nice bayonet - Excellent condition.........!

[len s]

Thanks for the comments fellas and to Tony thanks for the link to the bayonet article. My bayo is 413 pieces earlier than the phosphate shown in the article (both of which are in the "m" suffix block). Then there's the pic of a '39 in the white at serial #8102 m. I wonder if anyone has been keeping track of the serial #'s to determine the range of the phosphate bayonets?

Len

[Frogprince]

Len, In the past I've seen where the (so-called) dark "phosphate" finish on later German 98K bayonet scabbards has been used to describe the finish as "phosphate". When in fact they were sandblasted and then blued giving them a matte appearance (this was also done back then with some U.S. items). But not 100% of the makers. And one or more others used what looks like a (period done) post production acid bath that etched the steel prior to bluing to prepare it. With my "hypothesis" being that if a batch of bayonets (or parts for same) in the "m" range (+ ?) was somewhere in 'process' or storage (etc.) when the Germans took over - and a light (or perhaps in this case medium) acid bath would have cleaned off any surface rust (or for whatever reason) and then was blued without going through a lot of other processing prior to delivering the bayonets for use by the Wehrmacht. And what we are looking at is a lightly etched steel underneath the blue?? With my thinking also being that acid baths were something that the factories would have already had in place - versus setting up for that specific (phosphating) process. And the Czechs in that period used a lighter color phosphate process, as did the Germans later on. With after thinking about it with this example - one other thing that occurs to me is that there might also be something of a very light '"glaze" of surface rust over the blue because where that is scraped away with the lower grip bolt for example, it seems to look a little bluer in the image. Best Regards, Fred