Imperial folding machete

[LTGSANCHEZ]

Anyone know what period this blade is and value? Never see it before? I was told it was a pilots survival item?

 

[dustin]

folding machete Type A-1 adopoted in 1948.It is an USAF survival machete and yours is complete with scabbrad and sharpening stone.This has been widely mis read as a WWII item but that is not correct.The machete is a component part to several 1950's era survival/emergency kits and only made by Imperial.I believe worth in $75 range but and off on blade prices as of late.

[Greg Robinson]

Howard Cole in his "US Military Knives Book III" shows the folding machete manufactured by Imperial, CASE, and Cattaraugus. He describes it as an Army Air Force survival knife adopted in Oct 1942 as part of the B-4 emergency bail out kid. Granted, Mr Cole sometimes did make errors, but in this case he included copies of WW2 magazine advertisements showing pictures of these folding machetes and referring to them being made for the fighting men.

 

Greg

[LTGSANCHEZ]

Howard Cole in his "US Military Knives Book III" shows the folding machete manufactured by Imperial, CASE, and Cattaraugus. He describes it as an Army Air Force survival knife adopted in Oct 1942 as part of the B-4 emergency bail out kid. Granted, Mr Cole sometimes did make errors, but in this case he included copies of WW2 magazine advertisements showing pictures of these folding machetes and referring to them being made for the fighting men.

 

Greg

 

Do those magazine ads show the construction of the folding machete? I've seen a few examples before and the manufacture of the handle looks different.

[Greg Robinson]

Do those magazine ads show the construction of the folding machete? I've seen a few examples before and the manufacture of the handle looks different.

 

The magazine ads in "COLE III" are all from Cattaraugus and their handles were different. But Mr Cole does show the IMPERIAL in one of his precise line drawings and it's identical to the one in your pic and identical to an example I once owned.

 

Greg

[Charlie Flick]

Guys:

 

I have to agree with Dustin as to the Imperial being a post-war machete for the Air Force. This is an example of Mr. Cole making a mistake 30 years ago in his book that has been perpetuated ever since. I seem to recall that Frank Trzaska wrote an article on these blades for Knife World some time ago and addressed all of this, but my memory on that is not precise.

 

The "48" in the marking on the scabbard refers to the year of either the contract or the machete's adoption by the USAF. The scabbard also came with a leg thong that attached to the bottom of the scabbard.

 

Regards,

Charlie Flick

[dustin]

The 48 is the prefix to to the part number and represents the fiscal year of adoption of said part number.

Traska did do an article on these machetes not all that long ago and has identified them to be USAF not USAAF.I do not get knife world magazine so maybe someone else could try and dig up the article

[Greg Robinson]

Guys:

 

I have to agree with Dustin as to the Imperial being a post-war machete for the Air Force. This is an example of Mr. Cole making a mistake 30 years ago in his book that has been perpetuated ever since. I seem to recall that Frank Trzaska wrote an article on these blades for Knife World some time ago and addressed all of this, but my memory on that is not precise.

 

The "48" in the marking on the scabbard refers to the year of either the contract or the machete's adoption by the USAF. The scabbard also came with a leg thong that attached to the bottom of the scabbard.

 

Regards,

Charlie Flick

 

What about the CASE and Cattaraugus folding machetes? Are any of them ww2 production?

 

Greg

[dustin]

What about the CASE and Cattaraugus folding machetes? Are any of them ww2 production?

 

Greg

Greg, i think you are slightly confused, your last post is correct but not in the case of the Imperial.Note the handle it has a ball on the end and rounded handle.The WWII produced 10" folding machete's have flat handles they were made by case, cattaragus,kinfolk I cannot recall all the manufacturers but Imperial did not make any WWII folding machetes

the folding machete was produced to repalce the collins #18 machete and first included in the B-2 kit, the B-4 came later

here is an example of a WWII cataragus

[dustin]

B-2 kit open note cuout for folding machete

[robinb]

Case, Camillus, and Cattaraugus were the 3 makers of the WW2 model folding machete. All three are nearly identical to each other. The Imperial is an improvement over the three WW2 machetes. Better grip, intrical folding blade guard, leather scabbard with a sharpening stone stored in an inside pocket. The WW2 machete's all came with a sheet metal blade guard, that could easily be lost, and were only intended to be carried inside of the B2 kit.