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Hey Ron, what year was this knife made?
Regards,
Rhett



Hey Rhett,

It's the earliest 5 I've ever seen and drop dead gorgeous to boot! From Gaddis we know that Bo started working on his postwar field knife lineup in the summer of '45 starting with the Model 3, then the 4 then the 7 then the 5 (if I remember right - I don't have access to my "Bible" right now). If indeed this was the order it's hard to say exactly when he got around to the 5. IMO the very first stag handles after the war had two pins before one was dropped and this happened very quickly. Your's has just the one. Now look at the blade grind: The 5 was a modified fighter, but it still retained the same profile (removal of the top finger cutout nothwithstanding). There is no exaggerated "hump" in the spine as you would see in a late WWII fighter. By this evidence I don't think it's a 2nd half '45 knife. The sheath is the tell on the "no later than" side: Mr. Gaddis has documented the logo snaps were introduced in ~ June of '46. Bottom line is I think it was made in the 1st 6 months of 1946. However I could be off by +/- 5 years as this sh%$ is no exact science

Best
_________________________
Ron Mathews
RKS No. 4223