Help with this Bayonet Please

[PennBulldog]

I'm new to this Site and also new to Collecting Edged Militaria. My wife's Grandfather served from 1942 until 1960 in both the Pacific and Korea. He recently passed and one of the things he left to my wife was a Trunk of what he called his " Bad Memories " no one but him had ever been allowed to look in the trunk until we opened it a few months ago.

 

I've done as much research as I can and I believe this is a AFH ( American Fork and Hoe Co. ) M1 10" Bayonet but there are a ferw things about it that I can't figure out - why are there wooden handles on it ? every other one I have researched has had the " Plastic/Bakelite" black or brown grips and the rivet holding the wooden handles on looks completely wrong to me - if the handles werent so perfectly smoothed and worn I would say that they had been replaced but Im No expert so I thought I would ask the EXPERTS - there is no date on the blade I can find either.

 

Is it possible this was an early production model and actually had wooden handles ? Or is this perhaps a poorly done copy ? Or was this just a case of Grandpa wanting to replace the issue grips with wood for some odd reason - I cant see why he would have done that as he kept his memories locked up in a trunk for 50+ years and never displayed or used any of it . Im STUMPED .

 

 

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

I have tried MULTIPLE times to upload photos of this item but the 251k restrictions are impossible for me to overcome with my phone I have photos I can post on my FB or I can send through email for anyone who can help me determine anything about this item - thanks

[MattS]

Try emailing the photos back to yourself and resizing them as 'Small" or "Medium" when you send them.

[Mr.Jerry]

There is also a good resizer made by one of one of our members. Just upload there and then save the resized image it gives you.

*sometimes I get a hijack redirect, just close it and try again.

 

http://ben-major.com/tools/usmf-resize.php

[PennBulldog]

thanks Ill try that

[MattS]

Looks like a nice AFH with custom made grips! GIs had a lot of sitting around (we called it 'hurry up and wait') time, I wouldn't be surprised if your grandfather had a buddy who was a woodworker that made these, maybe to replace damaged grips. You'll see custom grips made from aircraft Plexiglas (Army Air Force guys usually), or other exotic materials depending on where they were stationed.

[SKIPH]

I agree with Matt. Just a nice custom made replacement set of grips. SKIP