Curious About Knife
 

I was reading an amusing thread at Still's forum about a dual-magazine pouch offered by revshop and I browsed thru Ken's listings to see what else he had...To my surprise, he has two knives listed of which I have a similar knife sitting in front of me...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cattaraugus-...-/141266182205

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cattaraugus-...-/251211061594

I've had mine for about 19 years, kept unrestored [?] because I like the patina on the blade...I forget where I got it; online maybe, or a local gun show... :confused:

Anyway, Ken's are marked 'Cattaraugus 2250' while mine has no markings on the knife or the sheath...

I posted pics of it on Bladeforums.com about 10-15 years ago; IIRC the consensus was that it is a Navy storeskeeper's [supply] knife, used to open crates or to start the opening by making a crack that a prybar could be inserted in...

6 inch blade; stacked leather disks; some kind of epoxy at each end of disks; triple steel-disk pommel. Two pins/nails [?] in pommel; left-hand sheath.

Anyone here have any knowledge or ideas of exactly what it was??? May not even be military issue...

It's a Cattaraugus 225Q, the "Q" is for Quartermaster. This was one of several knives the military procured during WW2 from vendors guided by Quartermaster specifications for a general purpose/utility knife. Case also made "Q" knives for the military and a handful of others (such as Camillus, EG Waterman, Western, Remington/PAL) met Quartermaster specs as as WW2 equivalent to COTS material today (Commercial Off The Shelf.) I have a couple in my collection, and IMHO they're excellent knives, undervalued and with a good WW2 history; a lot of them did go to the USN and USMC. I'm at work right now so I don't have access to my reference books (MH Cole, Frank Traszka) but here's something Frank wrote about the Cattaraugus 225Q: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/foru...taraugus-225q/

Thanks Bill! That does agree with my memories [which is reassuring!]. :D

The hammer-pommel & crate opening theory was mentioned on Bladeforums. The link you listed debunks that! I'm familiar with 1095 steel used in knife blades (I have several 1095 blanks) but was not aware that this knife had that blade steel.

I neglected to mention the waffle pattern pommel grooves. Quite pronounced. And similar to a framing hammer face. I thought the ends of the grip were epoxy but could very well be old worn plastic disks. (Or even buffed-to-shape).

The reference to The Buffalo Evening News was amusing; I have subscribed to them since the 70's and still get their Sunday Edition. :p

Thanks for the link/article and your comments! :thumbup: