FAIRBAIRN SYKES BRITISH FIGHTING KNIFE 3RD PATTERN WITH SCABBARD

This is an original 3rd pattern British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife with it's original scabbard.  Issued by Lord Lovat Scouts to R.G. Shawcross in Achnacarr, Scotland near Fort William. The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit first formed during the 2nd Boer War as a Scottish Highland yeomanry regiment.

Markings:  Broad-Arrow with a number 7 on the ferrule and also a number 4 on hilt.  See below for more marking information.

The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip. It was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes while both served on the Shanghai Municipal Police in China before WW2.    

Also known as the F-S knife it was made famous during WW2 by the British Commandos.

It has an acute tapered sharp pointed blade great for thrusting.  This knife was made by the Wilkinson Sword Company.

The scabbard is die stamped leather body, in a dark-brown colour with two leather tabs sewn onto the rear sea of the scabbard body.  The chape is a brass.  

Received from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum, Canada.  The museum was selling off some of there museum’s items, to make room for more.  The museum called it deaccessioning surplus museum artifacts.

The museum numbers their items for inventory purposes and you will see that there is a very small white number on this item put there by the museum.  They are very easy to remove with your fingernail.

The F-S knife had several re-designs, and this 3rd Pattern knife was changed for economic reasons.  Brass, being a strategic material for producing both shell and cartridge casings, could no longer be used to manufacture F-S knife hilts.  In its absence, a zinc-alloy was developed which combined low cost with ease in construction.  This new design featured a concentrically ringed or Ribbed hilt which improved the hold on the weapon when being employed.  The standard military issue finish for the Third Patter F-S was “All Black”.

Details:

• Production duration: Between early 1943 up to 1945
• Manufacturer:  Wilkinson Sword and possibly up to 4 dozen unknown or unrecorded cutlery companies
• Overall Length:  Between 11 5/18” (295.2MM) and 11 ¾” (2984.4mm)
• Blade Material:  High carbon steel
• Blade Construction: Drop-forged or mechanically ground, sharpened by hand
• Blade Shape:  Tapered, double-edged dagger, diamond shaped cross-section
• Blade Length:  Between 6 7/8 (174.6mm) and 7” (177.8mm)
• Blade Finish:  Brightly polished or blued.  A copper wash or plating was sometimes applied to the blade as a base prior to bluing

Markings:  Broad-Arrow with a number 7 on the ferrule and also a number 4 on hilt. 

Military issued F-S knives featured a "Broad-Arrow” in conjunction with a number or alphanumerical “Code”.  This secondary mark or code is a Government inspectors code.  Each code was unique to an individual and one inspector may have been responsible for examining more than one companies wares.  Both the inspectors code and broad-arrow are stamped on the ferrule or the cross guard using a die.

A number between 1 and 4 is displayed on the hilt of the 3rd Pattern knife.  This number corresponds to a mold-cavity used in the die-casting of the hilt.  Each mold for quality control purposes, if a deficiency was noted, it could be traced to an individual cavity, rather than correcting the whole form.