With wear some Grips show brown,Is this correct?

Hi George:
A lot of the handels on SS daggers are black stained wood .Wear would only be high spots on the wood that rubbed against something ..then the wood would show through . Strong cleaners will also disolve the stain ( as an ill attempt to 'polish' up the grip ) .
Douglas

George,

Some grips were dyed wood and the dye can wear off after age. Depends on the wood, the dye job, the wear or handling, and (I suspect) whether the dagger is stored in strong light or not.

Try a little black shoe polish, it may improve the looks, but don't attempt a re-dye without advice. I think the original dye was a poison.

Can you posta picture ?

Dave

I will post pictures of my new purchase soon as the mrs gets home cheers{she is my tec}.George.

Nice job, your first dagger ! Is it maker marked ?
Douglas

Yes Douglas there is a mark on the tang,it looks like crossed swords,or keys who might that maker be. There is nothing else that i can see with my eye glass.

Crossed keys on the tang of an SS blade? This is a F. Herder mark but.... Is the mark raised up from the metal level or is it depressed down into the metal?

Hi George ;
Crossed keys represents F. HerderA.S. Solingen , or RZM number would be M7/49 .
Douglas

Did not see the above answer .
If the blade was marked it could look like this early one from Ken B.Quite important if the keys on the tang are sunken in or raised, had a picture of 'the keys' marked tang but lost it when I had hard drive crash .
Douglas

The keys are sunk not raised,no other marks.

I do not have the dissusion in front of me , but if memory serve me right I recall this being a bad sign, I thought the keys should be raised on the tang ? Lets hope I am mistaken here .
Now I have to did it up, Frogprince ,Thor and others were discussing tang marks some time ago and hope will answer sooner.
Douglas

Showed the tang to an experienced dagger collector,he cleaned some of the tang of gently and there is also a raised 3 or 8 on the obverse.the other side has keys sunken,these can be seen by the naked eye.tang has good billet seams with oxidiseation ,this cleaned up shows a raised 3 or 8,what have i got gentlemen? my friend thinks the dagger is a good one but that is his opinion,will post pics soon as possible,if i can photo close enough for you.

I have a F Herder NSKK and the crossed keys are raised on the tang

Food for thought my friend.

i have an f herder 33 which i believe is of genuine ww2 vintage ,it came from a vet ,not one with a johnson blade. the keys are raised on the tang .i have looked at a number of johnson herder blades and the key stamp is sunken and the etching is not as deep or as well placed as mine.
an indication that these blades were seconds?

This topic comes up about every three months, so it's right on schedule .

Here is the last go round on F. Herder:

http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/728099473/m/2470054003/r/9580062103#9580062103

Some added comments after re-reading the attached thread:

- There were not that many of the blades to begin with and not a lot have ever sold. I seem to me that there are more daggers than there were unused blades.

- The early F.Herders that do turn up seem to show balanced wear. Not what you'd expect if someone was putting a new blade in a dagger.

- The profit motive is questionable. My F.Herder has a classic Herder grip - finer lines and sharper contours. If mine was made up, someone sacrificed a great RA Herder dagger and spent a lot of time fitting it together, then sold it for no more than they could have got for the RA Herder.

- Someone said that there no F.Herder daggers before TJ&GD found those blades. Actually I think some daggers owned by Members pre-date that find. Also manufacturers do keep turning up from time to time. I have Klittermann & Moog, an F.W. Backhaus, and Kober SS daggers to proove it.

- As I noted in the attached thread, there is a difference between the loose blades and the one in my dagger.

Can anybody enlarge on those points ?

Dave

Dave,what is your opinion on the tang mark are we saying Herder did not make M36 Daggers ..George

George,

The subject just who made the '36 SS daggers is one of the mysteries of our hobby.

As far as yours goes I'd have to see the dagger to say anything and even then I will admit that I much better at the '33s.

My comments above BTW, are about the Model 33 SS dagger, not the '36.

Dave