Schrade Cut Co Knife, Pocket, General Purpose Mil-K Style Metal Knife Prototype

[bobcat87]

I must admit that when I first saw this very knife published in " The Complete Book of U.S. Military Pocket Knives " by Michael W. Silvey on page 162, I was both intrigued and blown away.

 

​As a military pocket knife collector, I immediately saw the similarities to Engineer Knives and the Knife, Pocket, General Purpose of WW2 such as the USA stamped handle scale (for United States Army), spear point main blade, screwdriver, punch and what was thought to be a can opener which I now believe should be called a REAMER. It also has a bail and is exactly 3 5/8 inches long. These knives were later to be followed by the standard metal military knife for decades, the Mil-K. For the next several years after publication of his book, I spent countless hours Google searching and watching tens of thousands of auction listings for another example. I have found no others. This led me to believe that there are either very few of them or that this is a prototype...

 

​I recently contacted Mike Silvey to inquire about the knife and was told that it was for sale. I asked where the knife came from and was told by him that it was purchased from a factory closing sale about the time all of the great American cutlery companies went out of business. I could not believe my luck and purchased the knife immediately along with several other of my favorite key knives photographed for and actually pictured in his book. I hope that by presenting these photos that we can further study and gain some additional insight into this knife and determine if there are any other known existing examples. For your study and viewing pleasure I present to you the first ever photo expose on this knife that I am aware of, other than the one picture on page 162 of Mikes' book.

 

 

[bobcat87]

Here are the rest of the pics...

[sactroop]

You are on fire!!!

Heres a Camillus that Frank T posted recently on post #41 to compare it to.

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/301945-best-acquisition-of-2017/page-2

 

 

 

 

[bobcat87]

The reamer blade shown above was not utilized on any US military knife that I have ever seen. It was utilized however on the Schrade Cutlery Co 4 blade Scout knife that was being produced and sold commercially. See the picture below. This knife had the classic peach seed jigged handles that Schrade Cut Co became famous for. You can see above in the metal handle knife how the jigging was imitated in the aluminum scales. The last year for Schrade Cut Co was 1946. Standardization for the Knife, Pocket, General Purpose occurred in 1944, if memory serves me correct.

 

This Army prototype was basically a Schrade Cut Co scout knife with aluminum jigged scales and liners stamped USA. I believe that the prototype was probably made prior to the first Army contract that Kingston received for the Knife, Pocket, General Purpose. In any event, the knife would have been made before the military standardized and decided that it would not accept a reamer blade in place of a can opener...Maybe someone knows when that was. I believe this knife was a competitor to the winning design by Kingston. Additionally, to make things even more complicated, Albert Baer owned Imperial, Ulster, and Schrade at the time I believe. Has anyone else seen another example of this aluminum scaled us army knife?

[bobcat87]

Wow. The knife that Frank found was an actual competitor to replace the Mil-K. I wonder if my knife could be the same? Just imagine if the Mil-K was replaced back then. Unimaginable!

[SKIPH]

Interesting thread. Great research gang! SKIP

[bobcat87]

The Camillus prototype that Frank posted as one of his best finds of 2017 is amazing. I never knew that there was even an attempt to replace the Knife, Pocket, General Purpose at the end of the war. I noticed that Franks' knife has a can opener instead of the reamer that mine has. If my knife would be from the same project, why would Schrade Cut Co. utilize a reamer blade that had never been utilized by the military during WW2? Surely, they would not believe that their design could gain approval over a Camillus knife that has a can opener...though the knives do look very similar with the aluminum handle scales.

[Frank Trzaska]

Very cool knife.

 

The reamer as you term it is a standard pattern can opener used by Schrade. The can opener we all know today, the safety can opener that cut on a down stroke was invented during WW II and used openly by the government that did not need to abide by any patents protections. Post war it was back to using the pre war version for most companies as Imperial / Ulster (Kingston) or actually Albert Baer held the Patent rights.

 

My thoughts only... Stainless was expensive and hard to produce and work with so the cast aluminum scales were a way to reduce the price. Can't prove that yet but it seems to be the best theory I can come up with..

 

Congrats on a very cool knife.