All three manufacturers in one picture!by rra227
Very nice M1963 made for the Bundeswehr.
There were still small differences in terms of the blade stamping, the stamping on the handle scales, and there were several versions of the handle scales themselves.
Interesting but actually only for the variant collector.
I got these from a guy over 40 years ago and he had used and new in box knives. He went to Germany 5-6 times a year to buy stuff. I bought the used ones. They were cheaper. Rich A. in Pa.
1969 Shelby GT-500 King of the Road
Knowledge is power, guard it well.
"Been there, done that !"
A fellow collector from Switzerland sent me these pictures of two cord cutter knives / gravity knives that he bought.
These are an AES81 and an AES83
Both knives are not Bundeswehr-issued knives, but rather privately procured ones.
The inscription engraved on the blade of one of the two knives is interesting !
For engraving:
Deutsches Fallschirm-Pioniertreffen
Gut Buschhof 1984
(German parachute pioneer/sapper meeting
Gut Buschhof 1984)
The Buschhof estate is located in Königswinter, Thomasberg
These knives were probably given out as gifts at this veterans meeting.
Interesting that this property (Gut Buschhof) was purchased by a former member of the Waffen-SS and member of Mussolini's liberation operation under Otto Skorzeny.
This man, Gerhard Mertins, commanded a paratrooper pioneer battalion during World War II.
Gerhard Mertins was an interesting personality about whom a lot can be found.
It is possible that this knife was given away at Gut Buschhof at a Bundeswehr veterans' meeting, or (which is quite likely) at a meeting of former Waffen-SS paratroopers.
Gerhard Georg Mertins (born December 30, 1919 in Berlin; † March 19, 1993 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The collector from Switzerland sent me more pictures of his two knives.
The gravity knives produced for the civilian market are, in contrast to the military issued pattern, too complicated and delicately manufactured.
As long as these knives are stored and handled in a dry and clean manner, they will certainly function reasonably satisfactorily.
However, the short and therefore very light blade has to be thrown out of the handle with some force so that it actually locks in place.
As soon as mud and dirt, earth and sand get into the civilian version, the function no longer looks so good! ...
On the other hand, the Bundeswehr version, the M1963, can be dismantled and cleaned in a flash.
With the "civilian" version, some colleagues even had some problems disassembling the knife in a cleaned, not dirty, condition and reassembling it with its relatively large number of individual parts! ...
Under "real" operating conditions, this "civilian" version of a gravity knife from the AES79, AES81, and AES83 series is definitely not suitable and also not practical!
As an "emergency knife" for cutting the seat belt in the car or as a "camping knife" for simple use, these civilian-made gravity knives are certainly useful.
In any case, they have a "fun factor" and this model is now definitely worth collecting!
The best part of this "civilian" knife is definitely the bottle opener!
Of the two knives from my colleague from Switzerland, I only find the knife with the engraving of the meeting of the parachute sappers to be really worth collecting.
Here´s another example of a commercial gravity knife, type designation: LL80 made by Eickhorn:
Gravity Knife "LL80" Eickhorn, (COLT)
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks