M7 bayonet to fighting knife conversion?

The first thing I would do, is buy another M7, and convert the lesser value one. Then if something goes wrong, you still have your bayonet. The blade geometry on a lot of bayonets don't make good knives; just stabby things, or prybars. Having said that, you might wind up grinding the guard and pommel off of it. Steel is very hard to work with, consider brass or nickel silver, as a replacement guard. A good guard is critical to keep your hand from sliding down onto the blade...
Look at some of the knifemaker supply sites after you have the bare blade and tang and decide what configuration you want. I've made a few knives, and can help with pointers if you would like.

Kingcreek said:

Sorry all. I just found a wwII m3 Ontario trench knife that is better than what I could make.

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That's great. They are nice!

Looks pretty good for the price and they also have a sheath with it.

Boy does this post make me miss rc! He would have posted one or more of his converted M3 blades by post #3 and we could all OOOOOH and AAAAHHH.

As to the "fightability" of that blade style.....I once got to hold the blade of a sinister that was recovered from the Atochia shipwreck that had that very shape, though somewhat longer and thicker. Folks have thought highly of that style for a while. As a kid I used an M5A1 as a camping sheath knife for a number of years. Later the Army taught me to stab, slash, and chop with that style blade and it seemed reasonable to me to expect it would work just fine in a fight in the hand or on a rifle.

The issue with the M7 was one of lowest bidder. I have never seen in my life a WWII or Korean War M3 type blade that seemed half as crappy as the ones issued as M7s. Oh some M7 were not bad, but many were brittle and poorly shaped and a pain to keep sharp.

-kBob

I have a couple of old West German surplus bayonets for the M1 and M16 that I removed part of the barrel ring and reshaped the remaining hilt to make them into knives. Cold blued the hilt and I think they turned out okay. I typically keep them with my camping gear.

There was an M7-based fighting knife made and issued during the Desert Storm (early 1990's) era. This was different from the M3 fighting knife in that the guard was straight (not bent), the grips were plastic, and the pommel was squarish instead of oval. The grips can be found in both tan and black (uses the same grips as the M7).

As expensive as original M7 bayonets have become, I would not alter one into a fighting knife.

AlexanderA

As expensive as original M7 bayonets have become, I would not alter one into a fighting knife.

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I agree that's why I did the alterations to the two bayonets; they were inexpensive knock-offs and I didn't have any use for them as bayonets. Still have my original M7 Vietnam War era bayonet which I bought long before I ever had an AR15.

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Another possibility is to look for a Imperial 7S. Got mine back in the 80s. Pretty handy modification of the M7.