I have seen many with black handles ,but this is the first Brown resin handle. I got it in a garage sale close to the factory in North East Ohio,maybe a lunch box take home. She said her Grandfather worked there in WW-2.
I have seen many with black handles ,but this is the first Brown resin handle. I got it in a garage sale close to the factory in North East Ohio,maybe a lunch box take home. She said her Grandfather worked there in WW-2.
At that time frame because of the war effort, resin grips may have been used. 17 inch bayonets were phased out by then for combat arenas.
After talking to a bayonet collector the Brown resin grips were dropped because solvents melted them and they went to a new Black resin that resisted the solvents and yes as you stated the 10'" was the new standard and the 17" were cut down and reissued wartime and post war.
Last edited by jeep; 03-11-2023 at 05:39.
I own a 17 inch bayonet stamped with date 1917. It was parkerized sometime later tho. It resides in a repro canvas sheath. The grips are wood with lines carved in them. I heard that the number of lines could indicate something or other, I forget, mine has 17 lines each side.
Bayonets are cool.
Bucket o baynets.jpgIMG_1013_zpszsvs7noy.jpg
Early AFH bayonets came with brown grips or scales. Wilde tool came with 2 tone, that are very valuable.