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Kutmaster; Observation and Speculation


thorin6
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Kutmaster is a division of Utica Cutlery Company, and during WWII made a couple of pocket knives for the military; a TL-29 (electrician’s knife) and a Coast Guard knife. As for fixed knives, there were three types of knives associated with the division. First there is a knife with a blade from the M3/M4 knife/bayonet with a leather washer handle, an oval flat guard, and a circular pommel held onto the tang by a metal loop through a hole in the end of the tang. Second is a knife made of parts from the M1 bayonet, the blade shortened, barrel hole ground off, and the locking parts not installed with the cut-outs for those parts not made. Both of these knives are generally thought to be post-WWII construction of leftover parts from Utica’s bayonet contracts.

 

There is one other type of knife that is often sold as WWII production and sometimes referred to as a trench knife. This knife is described on page 67 of Coles Number III, fourth from top. The knife is shown with a six-inch blade and a note says “Also made with 7” blade.” Both the six-inch and seven-inch bladed knives have the same six-grooved leather washer handle (grooves not cut but created from smaller washers), a guard shaped like the M3 guard but not bent, and the pommel peened and ground smooth. The blades are in the white, and although they have the general shape of the USMC fighting knife/Navy Mark 2 the width is only an inch. The seven-inch blade is in a well-made 10-rivet sheath, while the six-inch is in a 9-rivet sheath. I have not been able to find any information as to when these were made, but multiple descriptions on the web (Ebay and other sites) refer to these as made during WWII, unlike the previously mentioned knives based on the M3/M4 blade and the M1 bayonet. The sheaths look like the ones for the USMC fighting knives with the same general shape and thickness of the leather. Below are both the seven-inch and six-inch knives, and the sheaths are virtually the same except for the length and number of rivets; the construction is identical as are the snaps on the retaining straps. My best guess is that these were made around 1944 but may have been made as early as 1943 when Utica began the delivery of M3 knives. These would have been private purchase knives and/or intended for the commercial market during WWII but there is little information out there. It would be interesting if they could be documented as carried during WWII but given the shape of the leather sheath it would be hard to differentiate this Kutmaster knife from the USMC knife on a belt or strapped to the leg. If anyone has more information, please feel free to add it to this thread.

 

Here is a comparison of the seven-inch and six-inch knives and their sheaths:

 

 

 

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