cattaraugus knife advice

[Costa]

any one know much about these knives??

[doyler]

Lots of info on them

 

Search 225Q

[doyler]

Gary posted this at one time

1. Most of the USN Mark 1 knives were just 5" commercial knives that were taken into military service. In some cases there were slight changes made during the war, mostly to use less critical war materials such as brass and aluminum. Following WW2 many of the companies again sold them on the commercial market.

 

2. The Q knives were actually a military design originating in WW2. After the war Cattaraugus and Case continued to sell them commercially for awhile, but were possibly just using up stock materials on hand.

 

3. PAL had bought the Remington cutlery tooling and machinery and set it up in a new plant just before the war began. I believe they sold some of the RH 36 knives prior to supplying large numbers during the war and they were sold commercially after the war until the plant was closed in the early 1950s.

 

Most of the knife companies had some problems following WW2 as a lot of the military knives came home with the soldiers and the market for knives was fairly soft for some years. Most of the 5 and 6 inch knives were either kept by the servicemen or sold off as surplus shortly after the war which significantly lowered the demand for new sheath knives.

 

[sundance]

I've never seen one that shiny. What a beauty.

[doyler]

Possible it was buffed on a muslin/cloth wheel but hard to tell by the photo.

[sactroop]

It maybe that some of the post war knives could have been dressed up a bit. I suspect it's as likely that the buffing of the knife was done after it left the factory. The handle contour doesn't look quite right, including what appears to be finger grooves. Typically when I see one of these with buffed and smooth leather handles it's been done by a previous owner.

It's still a good looking knife.

[SKIPH]

It is a very nice looking knife! SKIP

[bayonetman]

As mentioned above, a search for 225Q knife will give a lot of information about these. One of the best all purpose knives made during WW2.

 

The one shown is quite possibly, and I think very likely to be a post-WW2 commercial offering. The high polished blade and smooth handle were not military spec, and although someone may have redone it, it does appear to be factory commercial.

 

See the ad from a December 1945 magazine.

 

Sheath knives were a "hard sell" for some years following the war as so many servicemen brought theirs home, and the government sold as surplus large numbers of non-standard knives from their inventory. Most knife companies focused on kitchenware and pocket knives for several years as the sheath knives simply were not selling.

 

[camillus]

When I was looking for a Q knife One dealer on ebay sold Qknives that were polished abd the handles were smoothed, looked like out of the box, they were refurbashed knives. It looks like that is what yours is. I searched ebay cattaraugus 225q. I think he was asking around $200.00 for his. I,ll see if I can find the search for you hope this helps

[camillus]

here is an ebay link to a reconditioned 225Q

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reconditioned-Cattaraugus-225Q-WWII-Commando-Fighting-Knife-New-Handle-Sheath-/112000604737?hash=item1a13c19a41:g:ds4AAOSw6oBXE9zJ

[Costa]

I doubt the 1 I have is a make over. seeing the one reconditioned on upay, I wouldn't touch it.