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How to date a Frog

Article about: How to date a Frog No, this is not about dating a wannabe Prince, but about bayonet frogs. I assume that the evolution of the Japanese bayonet is fairly well covered by other authors, though

  1. #11

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    Quote by nick komiya View Post
    Use of these pre-1940 parts strongly suggest that the two-in-one configuration of rubberized frog was already in production in early 1941. These are actually far from being last ditch, as collectors like to call them. Did a leather version of this design exist?
    Yes, certainly. They're very common in leather. They'll be found with both brass and steel hardware, sometimes a combination of the two. As a long time bayonet collector I very much welcome the new information. Thank you very much! On another note the frog pictured on the left is intended for wood scabbards, you'll note the larger scabbard pocket. The frog on the right has had it's strap and buckle replaced. The leather is too new and the brass buckle is very out of place on that variation frog. Never say never with frogs, but in this case....

    How to date a Frog

    P.S. You'll find aluminum buckles on early T30 frogs as well as Murata frogs.

  2. #12

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    As I already warned, further updates are already here.

    1. I forgot to say that all army leather used to be black prior to 4th Feb. 1904, at which time they stopped the staining. Frogs should have undergone the same fate.

    2. Drawings of the frog issued on 1st August 1917 duly reflect the spec changes I explained in post 4, but there are additional differences not mentioned in the army documents. Note below that the leather layer forming the belt loops is now sandwiching the bottom section like the later transitional type I featured in post 10. However, they must have gone back to the 1916 layering arrangement sometime after.

    3. There are obviously bayonet fans also reading this thread, so I'll present them with a bayonet drawing issued on 10th October 1928 as a dating reference.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture How to date a Frog   How to date a Frog  


  3. #13
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    Quote by nick komiya View Post
    When was this two-in-one design launched?
    The 九九式小銃及短小銃取扱法 [Method of Handling Type 99 Rifle and Short Rifle] depicts this two-in-one frog [剣差] and the manual is dated 1941-08-15. This would seem to indicate this frog variation was introduced sometime between May 1940 and August 1941.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture How to date a Frog  

  4. #14

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    Here's a photo showing how swords and bayonets were stored at the arsenal, taken from a weapons care manual issued in March 1938. Note the Type 30 bayonets in front.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture How to date a Frog  

  5. #15

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    So you don't make the mistake of mixing up Japanese and Chinese frogs.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture How to date a Frog  

  6. #16

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    Here's a frog-dating exercise based on photos supplied from my brother's collection.

    Of interest is the fact that Y-configuration models were still being made in the early phase of the compressed rubberized canvass production run which presumably began in 1940, but got simplified into the 2-in-1 hybrid configuration by August 1941, as shown in post 13 above.

    Correction: The buckle in the first photo turned out to be silver painted steel, not aluminum.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture How to date a Frog   How to date a Frog  

    Last edited by Nick Komiya; 01-03-2022 at 12:08 PM.

  7. #17

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    Frogs Ordered by Britain before WW1 along with Type 38 Rifles


    See here for a frog delivered to the UK by Japan in 1915. 50,000 pcs were ordered by the British with some modified features.

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