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New Zealand Knuckle Knife


bigjoe
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Still-A-Marine

Very nice looking knife. I'm kinda partial to the New Zealand & Aussie blades. Are there any markings?

 

Bill

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No markings at all Bill

I think i have read that some of the Aussie made examples had markings.

Picked this one at SOS this year

regards joe

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Nice knuck. Especially with the original scabbard.

 

I have had a few and seen many others. Usually the dagger blade has no markings and the bowie shaped blade has either the "NZ Cutlers" or "TUI" marking on the blade.

 

Cliff

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Good one, Joe! :thumbsup: On my list of projects are threads about different knives (lke I did with the JPK) and NZ knives are on the list. When the time comes, please, add yours to the post.

 

Thanks!

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I’ve owned several boxes of these NZ knives over the years, I love them. The blades on these knives are marked TUI, AKE and NZ Cutlers. I’ve only seen bowies marked TUI and NZ Cutlers, I’ve never seen an AKE marked bowie blade. On the dagger blades they are only marked AKE, I’ve never seen a TUI or NZ Cutler marked dagger blade. The AKE marked dagger blades are pretty rare.

 

My theory on the NZ knives is they were all made by a single maker that bought blades from various sources. I believe that TUI, AKE and NZ Cutlers sold their finished blades to the single maker, that was probably a foundry company, and that mystery foundry company made them all. There are a few really rare grip patterns like the incised line ones, but the standard grip that’s used on the vast majority is the same regardless of the maker on the blade. What are the odds that 3 NZ knife companies were using the same foundry pattern to cast knives from? That’s my theory anyway.

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Very nice Knuckle Knife,dont see them too often. :thumbsup:

Not meaning to hijack the thread,(i dont get to reply to many Aussie/NZ posts on here ;) )but here is an example of a Aussie makers mark on an Army Issued Jackknife i have.The Broadarrow identifies it as Australian.

Cheers Mick

 

post-69117-1336717043.jpg

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Big Joe, Very nice knife! And its great that you have the sheath with it.

 

I have 3 of these type knives & sheaths with same blade shape, 2 with knuckles and one without. Only one is manufacturer marked.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what type knife do you mean when you say 'dagger' as it relates to these type knives ? Is it the one without knuckles?

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

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Forgive my ignorance, but what type knife do you mean when you say 'dagger' as it relates to these type knives ? Is it the one without knuckles?

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

 

Big Joes is a dagger blade, they are the narrower double edged blade. The bowies on these are always clip point with a convex edge and a sharp clip point.

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On the dagger blades they are only marked AKE, I’ve never seen a TUI or NZ Cutler marked dagger blade. The AKE marked dagger blades are pretty rare.

 

Here is a real dagger with the blade marked AKE. I foolishly passed on it a little while back. :ermm:

 

post-70-1336776540.jpg

post-70-1336776554.jpg

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I would have bought it, except that some fool decided to enhance it with "Kilroyese" to increase the value. "Kilroyese" were written signs made by Americans to make them look like Japanese kanji characters. They are most common on "trophy" Japanese flags. The knife was being sold as having been taken by the Japanese as a war trophy and then recovered by an American GI or British Commonwealth soldier after killing the Japanese soldier that had it.

 

post-70-1336777507.jpg

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I don't want to steal Joe's thunder; so as I said before, I will post my collection on a separate thread later on.

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I'm on travel, so not near my collection. I think I recall that my 2 dagger blades (one w incused grip and the other incised) have nonflex blades, while the bowie blades have some flex to them. Has anyone else noticed this or am I not remembering correctly?

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I'm on travel, so not near my collection. I think I recall that my 2 dagger blades (one w incused grip and the other incised) have nonflex blades, while the bowie blades have some flex to them. Has anyone else noticed this or am I not remembering correctly?

 

C,

 

You remember correctly. Have a safe trip.

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Very nice Knuckle Knife,dont see them too often. :thumbsup:

Not meaning to hijack the thread,(i dont get to reply to many Aussie/NZ posts on here ;) )but here is an example of a Aussie makers mark on an Army Issued Jackknife i have.The Broadarrow identifies it as Australian.

Cheers Mick

 

post-69117-1336717043.jpg

Hi Guys

 

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I must correct an error made by AusYank.

 

The pheon or broad arrow is the British mark which denotes Government ownership. It was also adopted by Commonwealth Countries and used in similar markings for the same purpose. However the Australian mark is usually D/I\D and the Canadian version is usually a C surrounding /I\.

 

Your knife is a WW2 British issue clasp knife. There is evidence that these clasp knives were issued to Australian service personell during WW2.

 

There was a lot of bladeware produced in Australia during WW2 and Australia produced its own distinctive clasp knife. I wont go in to too much detail than to say that there were two patterns. The second pattern appearing late in the war.

 

we101.jpg

Ist Pattern

 

we201.jpg

2nd Pattern

 

Both of these knives are by Whittingslowe Engineering a firm in Adelaide in South Australia.

 

Here is an image of an Australian made and marked Knuckle Knife (sadly not in my collection).

 

k_knife.jpg

 

I have seen a knife similar to this by Gregory Steel Products of Melbourne in the Australian War Museum collection.

 

Hope that helps

 

Regards Dutchy

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