A/F Knife World/Wickersham Article
The following article originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Knife World Vol. 31 No.9 and is showcased here with the permission of the author and the publishers of Knife World. If you are not familiar with Knife World. You should be. I have been a subscriber for a number of years. It is actually my favorite knife related publication. You can find out more about Knife World by visiting there web site here.
At this time I would like to thank all the parties that were involved with this article. First I would like to thank the authors of the article, Sheldon and Edna Wickersham. You will be seeing more from these two in the near future I am sure. Both are experts on the Applegate/Fairbairn and Randall made knives. Next I would like to thank the folks at Knife World, especially the editor Mark Zalesky. Mark also provided the photo captions that were used in the original article, and are used once again here as well. Finally the credit for the fine photos which were included in the original article and are showcased here go to Jim MacDonald.
Applegate/Fairbairn, an ‘All-American Fighting Knife’
Over the last twenty-five years or so, much has been written about the exploits of the late great Col. Rex Applegate, acclaimed author and American fighting man. Through those published accounts, it is generally recognized that Col. Applegate, who while serving as a Close Combat Advisor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, worked closely with famed knife fighting instructor and British Army Intelligence Major. W.E. Fairbairn. It has also been written that together these men formulated the idea of making substantial design improvements to the notably weak Fairbairn/Sykes (F/S) dagger, a knife being issued to British Commando’s and OSS operatives of the time.
Yet, for a design improvement said to have been formulated during those tumultuous years, the modern Applegate/Fairbairn® (A/F) design may well be considered an ‘All American Fighting Knife’. Subjectively, it is this author’s postulate that while Col. Applegate and Major Fairbairn may have indeed conversed on the shortcomings of the existing F/S design during the darkest days of that terrible war; the double-edged ‘Applegate/Fairbairn’ design as seen today was primarily conceived of and made a reality by Col. Applegate himself, with only cursory input thereafter from Major Fairbairn. This conclusion was made after some years of detailed research, having found no supporting documentation showing any involvement by Major Fairbairn in the development of the project after 1943.
From the original Camp Ritchie, MD. OSS machine shop prototype of 1943; through the eleven subsequent A/F versions made during the latter half of 1944 at the Randall Made® Knives (RMK) shop in Orlando, FLA.; the second known A/F prototype, made by Al Buck of Buck Knives fame in 1952; and the third prototype made by unknown sources in Thailand around 1963; the A/F ‘Fighting Knife’ was slowly evolving into the current design. While there seems to have been enough intrigue and secrecy amongst those persons most intimately involved with the development of the Applegate ‘Fighting Knife’ design by the late 1970’s to write a short novel; being that many of the original design team members are unavailable for comment, this author will keep to the materials at hand for making further observations.
Conversations with Mr. Barry Wood, maker of the model closest to the current design, the probable fourth A/F Prototype, shed some light on the subsequent design changes as made in a collaborative effort between Col. Applegate and noted knife writer Wm. L. ‘Bill’ Cassidy in 1977. The end result of this effort was a series of drawings provided to Mr. Wood over a period of time in 1978, whereby he was commissioned to build a prototype for this newly designed ‘Applegate/Fairbairn’ fighting knife. Of note, based on the evolution of these drawings, it seems the retention grooves in the knife handle were one of Bill Cassidy’s better ideas in the modern A/F design development, later executed in 7075 D6 Aluminum by Mr. Wood.
Further, as known from materials that Mr. Cassidy published on various knife related internet websites in the late 1990’s, multiple A/F models were made as part of the development process; two wooden knife models were made by Alden Amos, along with a metal model by Al Jayne, five wooden grip models by Rita Stochosky, at least two sets of metal grips by Accurate Machining Co., all before Barry Wood made his ‘improved’ prototype of the Applegate knife in 1978.
It is said that Mr. Al Mar, of Oswego, OR., acclaimed knife maker and friend of Col. Applegate, consulted on the modern A/F design as well by suggesting the addition of latitudinal thumb indexing notches adjacent to the hilt, used for blade orientation in low light or high stress situations, and by recommending esteemed knife maker T.J. Yancey of Estes Park, CO., to Col. Applegate in 1979. Al Mar Knives® (AMK) later went on to produce their own version of the Applegate knife, and we’ll cover those models shortly.
Interestingly, while the original blade design called for a wider tang running the full internal length of the handle; sometime between delivery of Barry Wood’s prototype A/F in 1978, and the decision to utilize the services of T.J. Yancey for the handmade production models in 1980, this full-length tang had been substantially shortened. Mr. Wood once surmised this tang modification may have been intended as a weight reduction technique by the designers; but further research shows that Mr. Cassidy pushed for use of adjustable weights in the handle cavities, a bad idea that in theory allowed each user to tailor the balance of the knife to their individual liking.
The T.J. Yancey handmade A/F knives in 154cm steel were introduced with great promotional fanfare in late 1980, and quickly touted by many of the knife luminaries of the time as a truly innovative ‘Fighting Knife’. Articles by Greg Walker, Al Mar, and Chuck Karwan soon showed up in magazines tailored to those individuals interested in fighting knives, custom cutlery, or military exploits in far-flung foreign lands. Interest was high in the new Applegate knife, with Soldier of Fortune, FirePower, American Rifleman, and Knife World Magazine all running stories.
A black handled, satin finish Applegate/Fairbairn fighting knife, hand-
made by T.J. Yancey in approximately 1981. Serial number is 80.
White handled T.J. Yancey Presentation Model, serial number P-18 of 34,-
circa 1984. Originally 50 of these were made but S/N's 35-50-
were lost or stolen in transit.
Soon though, problems began to arise with the delivery of these fine knives, the foremost being price. With a $350 asking price in 1980 for the base model in either satin or bead blasted finish, even the high quality of these handmade knives with their Tex Shoemaker custom sheaths wasn’t enough to overcome the inertia of sticker shock felt by many potential buyers. By 1984 Col. Applegate realized that the Yancey version of the A/F Fighting Knife might not be the big seller he’d hoped for; even as sales orders increased slightly over time, the production capacity for the knives did not. Looking for other options, Applegate had made contact with a local machinist, a man that over the years has become known to many as knife maker extraordinaire, Wm. ‘Bill’ Harsey; and had also followed up with the legendary Al Mar in the hopes of having AMK make a lower cost production version of the knife.
After a little legal wrangling in 1986 over some alleged quality control issues with the Yancey made knives, Col. Applegate and Mr. Yancey parted ways. With only 335 knives made in total, including the 34 ultra-rare white handled ‘Presentation’ models; these high quality T.J. Yancey handmade A/F’s are now seldom seen. Commanding a premium resell price today, the rare T.J. Yancey made Applegate knives have become some of the most collectible American made knives in existence.
Meanwhile, Bill Harsey, having started with serial number 1000, and also using 154cm, was making the handmade versions; with Al Mar Knives in full production of the A/F by 1987. Soon after production of the Applegate knife was restarted additional problems arose; specifically, too many similarities between the relatively expensive ‘all handmade’ Bill Harsey semi-custom knife, and the Japanese production versions in 6A stainless steel, as imported by AMK. Possibly to differentiate between the two versions, Al Mar had his finished blades highly polished, and after the first 200 ‘pre-production’ (xxx/200) AMK A/F models were made, the original black handles were replaced with green versions. The rationale behind this choice of blade finish is unclear, as the decision basically turned what could have been a widely sold and low-cost fighting knife, into something more akin to a flashy display piece.
The top knife is the fifth Applegate/Fairbairn knife that Bill Harsey made,-
circa 1987 (serial number 1005). The blade is deeply hollow ground.-
The bottom knife is also by Bill - Harsey, and is all handmade.-
The knife is serial number 1204 and is circa 1996.
The low selling price of these early AMK production knives, coupled with the extreme fragility of the removable plastic handles was a sure recipe for financial disaster. Unlike the custom Lexan handles of the Yancey and Harsey knives that preceded them, the plastic handles on the Al Mar A/F’s were prone to breakage during even light impact strikes, in part due to the now shortened and unsupported blade tang. With Al Mar making the change in 1989 to a laminated wood product he referred to as ‘Titanwood’, the plastic handled versions of the AMK A/F quickly became collectible knives in their own right.
Three different Applegate/Fairbairn knives by Al Mar: black handles-
(first 200 only), green, handles (used only a few years), Titanwood.
The stronger laminated wood handles didn’t meet with the Col. Applegate’s vision of how the knife should look however, especially now that the handles were being riveted on with non-removable solid brass rivets. In written correspondence, Col. Applegate often referred to the new AMK A/F version as a ‘Christmas Tree’ knife, without seeming to recognize Al Mar had in fact strengthened the overall design by minimizing the critical flaw of the unsupported tang; a flaw later associated with handle breakage on many standard production models. This oversight on Applegate’s part would later come back to haunt the production versions of Applegate/Fairbairn knives for many years to come.
Al Mar, Gold Titanwood A/F, Serrated, a very rare knife. This was probably-
made for sale in the domestic Japanese market, circa 1991.
With Al Mar’s unfortunate and untimely death in 1992, AMK went into a virtual shutdown period, leaving a large void in the production deliveries of Col. Applegate’s fighting knife. As terrible as Al Mar’s passing was though, the services of another knife making shop were soon being sought out. The era of highly polished and now highly collectible ‘Christmas Tree’ knives was over, but the Applegate/Fairbairn juggernaut rolled on.
Mike Stewart and BlackJack Knives® (BJK) of
These two Applegate/Fairbairns by BlackJack Knives were produced-
very early in their run. Top knife with green handles is serial number-
00011; lower black handled version is serial number 00017.-
Both made circa 1994.
Conversations with Andy Hergurt of Drain, OR, handle maker for the production BJK A/F’s, tell the following story; “As a cost savings measure, only one mold casting was made, a mold for only one side of the handle”. Where this fact becomes important is that when the handle halves were mated up, many simply didn’t fit together well. To get the handles sets to mate properly, many needed to be hand sanded to fit. Such a tedious process is not cost effective for a high-volume production oriented maker, so at times when production orders were high, the hand fitting process might be bypassed in favor of assembling the knives with ‘as delivered’ handle materials.
The ensuing stress on the ill-fitting plastic handles where they mated at the lanyard retention hole, coupled with the lack of a full length tang, caused handle fractures on many hundreds of the Effingham built A/F’s. With BJK obligated to pay a royalty on each A/F handle set delivered, including those that would break during assembly or under warranted repair, a decision had to be made on how to best stem the tide of financial loss. Eventually the build contract between the parties was dissolved, and Col. Applegate was once again looking for another production house to build his knife.
By 1996 Gerber Legendary Blades® had entered A/F production with their Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon (FRN) handled folding version of the Applegate/Fairbairn ‘Fighting Knife’, and over the following years introduced additional folding A/F models. Note: the only way a consumer can obtain a factory made double-edged Gerber folding Applegate Fighting Knife is through purchase of the Gerber/Boker display set, released in the limited number of 3000 serialized pieces back in 1997. Both the fixed blade and folding knife version in each original set should have the same matched serial number.
This 1997 Applegate-Fairbairn Special Commemorative Set features a double-
edged Gerber folding A/F knife as well as a Boker fixed blade model.
Boker ‘Tree Brand’ Knives® began production of the standard A/F knife sometime in 1997 and through continuous product improvement including use of the FRN handle material and modern machinery, Boker now makes a fixed blade Applegate knife in 440C that rivals the best efforts of almost all that came before them. Short of those masterful handmade A/F knives made up in
Three Applegate-Fairbairn variations by Boker: Standard,-
All Black, Desert Camo. Photo by Jim MacDonald.
Continuously designing and making handmade A/F inspired knives for nearly 20 years now, in addition to providing technical input to both of the current makers, Bill Harsey still makes the odd custom Applegate ‘Fighting Knife’ on occasion as a special order for his friends, or those friendly and persistent customers. Harsey’s collaboratively or wholly designed A/F knives have included smaller scale boot knives, divers knives, single edged knives, folding knives of various sizes, automatic versions of the same, an improved version of Col. Applegate’s ‘Combat Smatchet’, and a scaled down version of the Smatchet design known to many as the A/F mini-Smatchet. Applegate/Fairbairn styled designs by Mr. Harsey include collaborations with noted knife maker ‘Butch’ Valloton, Gerber Legendary Blades®, and Boker Knives companies.
It is therefore this author’s opinion, based on the design input and influence of so many great American knife enthusiasts over the years; the modern Applegate/Fairbairn design truly is an ‘All-American Fighting Knife’. In Memory of
Copyright © 2005 Sheldon Wickersham