Fairbairn Sykes 3rd Pattern Commando Knife

[SMH]

I would like to show my 3rd pattern Commando knife. I believe this is a WW2 period or early post war ? i would appreciate your opinions. It is stamped "2" on the handle and i cant see any other markings, the leather scabbard is very fragile. Thanks for your help

[Gary Cain]

Are there any markings on the guard?

Cheers

[Blackpowder44]

The thin brass crossguard and the absence of any stampings such as, B2 or the crows foot would indicate a commercial knife and not a WD issued one. John.

[Alan M]

Hi SMH , looking at the scabbard , i believe the chape at the bottom was more rounded at the end on ww11 examples and not squared off like the one shown , is it constructed in brass ? Also i`m concerned with the shape of the pommel nut , it has a good patina , however - so could have been taken down a good while ago . The grip looks good , stamped from mould no. 2

cheers Al

[Chopperman]

I believe this to be a post war knife. As mentioned above,
the thin crossguard. The lack of the broadarrow acceptance
mark, machine ground blade, the scabbard toe is riveted instead
of stappled. All point to post war.

[rvr]

Its a hybrid FS, combination of a ww2 hilt and post war stuff for the rest i'm afraid.. scabbard looks proper WW2 though but rest has been home made by someone, still interesting though but not for historical reasons.

Regards, Ruben

[rvr]

Little remarks to one of the responds here, the lack of any broad arrow marking doesnt mean anything, loads of WW2 3th patterns didnt have any broad arrow markings at all what they all do have is the pommel nr. Also the blade on the 3th pattern in WW2 started out as the same blade on the 2nd pattern: handgrounded but later on in WW2 they changed to macined grounded blades for easier and much quicker fabrication.
The handgrounded blades are not as common as the machined ones and most of the hand grounded do have a broad arrow marking.

Regards, Ruben

[Blackpowder44]

Ruben, I donk know where you get your information that 3rd. pattern knives were not stamped with any inspectors marks. All issue kniver would have an inspectors stamp and at least the crows foot. Any knives of the 3rd. pattern not having these marks are post war production ones for sale to the general public. John.

[rvr]

Hello John,

I didnt say that none of the WW2 3th patterns have broad arrow markings, some do and some don't, for instance all Wilkinson Sword etched FS's 1st, 2nd and 3th do NOT have any broad arrow markings: this is because they didnt need to have. Off course there are a lot of broad arrow markes 3th's, i have /I\I. /I\ 15, /I\ B2, and a couple more in my collection but i also have WW2 3th knives without the broad arrow marking, the most important thing is the pommel nr that's between 1 and 4 as the moulds that made all the WW2 hilts (made by the Wolverhampton Die Casting Ltd Wolverhampton, England) were destroyed after WW2. The difference between an broad arrow markes and non arrow markes is as you said that they were for sale to the general public during WW2. There are some more differences between a WW2 and post war knives such as the pommel nut, crossguard etc but the pommelnr is the most obvious one.

Regards, Ruben

[rvr]

Another reason why a lot WW2 FS knives aren't marked could be that some contracts specifically asked for non marked knives (there is proof of this) and another one could be that like with the Wilkinson Sword FS's it was left to the company (there where a couple who made the 3th pattern FS )to inspect them.
But definately a lot of WW2 3th FS's are not marked except for the pommelnr.

Regards, Ruben