Want a repro WWII German Paratrooper Knife?

[kBob]

DB Copper posted this link in the Rifles section for M1 Garand related stuff and it turned out they sell a repro German Paratrooper Knife for $100

The are not perfect but they are also not $500 if you just have to have one

They can be found at:

http://www.atthefront.com/

thought some of you might be interested.

read what they posted before buying

-kBob

 

[bannockburn]

kBob

Thanks! Great website; very straight forward and with some enlightening insights as to some of the reproduction items they carry.

 

[Speedo66]

Looking at closeups of the parts in this reproduction, I don’t think anyone who has seen an original would confuse this with one.

The finish of the original parts on mine is highly polished and very precise, the repro ones are somewhat cruder. Some of the shapes of parts are off, too.

If you just want something that resembles an original I guess it would be OK, but copper rivets are certainly not the only giveaway. The “accusation” that they are selling repros too close to original? I think that would be closer to a sales pitch.

 

[Speedo66]

Here are some pics of a real one.

Here are the repro ones: https://www.atthefront.com/product-p/gwkgrav.htm

 

[kBob]

I have to say I have never seen one that pretty.

I only carried one for most of a year (1974) and only saw five or six others around that time and none looked as nice as yours. a couple had the bails broken off and one had had the marlin spike some how broken, not broken out of the handle, broken a short way down the shaft... that must have taken someone a great deal of effort...

I thought it heavy, bulky and noisy and replaced it with a sheath knife in the field and a more modern switch blade in town (Neu Ulm and Ulm Germany) I picked the switch blade off the floor of a bar one night, where it had been hurriedly dropped, while doing Courtesy Patrol with the Ulm Police.

-kBob

 

[Speedo66]

This one is a WWII bring back. It's never been sharpened, or really used. The shine on the scales is really just light reflection, it doesn't look that shiny in person.

I agree it's too large and heavy to carry, and noisy. The noise, I assume, coming from the looseness of the blade necessary to slide easily in and out.

Like many WWII collectibles, prices continue to rise. I was offered $600 for it by a dealer, but it won't be sold anytime soon. Just hope my family doesn't throw or give it away when I'm gone. lol

 

[kBob]

In my unit in 1974 they went for around $20 to $30 usually in trade or just got passed along when someone got tired of them or was headed stateside and had no desire to run a foul of the law.

I liked what the Germans told us was a late war model but I have since been told was either a fake or post war Gravity knife that has black scales and a different release and little hinged door over the blade slot. A lot flatter and lighter. and seem to me to actually lock open better with less wobble. I carried one of those briefly and later another that had the scales cracked off and had been wrapped in cloth electrical tape. Too sticky in the pocket.

They were both, as was the switch blade (though the switch blade as mentioned was something of a trophy), mainly for the coolness factor as that is often important to a 'ute trying hard to be as hard core/corps as those old guy 30 year old NCOs halfway to first retirement actually were.

I was far more to likely use for real work the Buck 112 in the little leather belt pouch or the "Demo Kit Knife" in the left front pocket.

-kBob