Cattaraugus 225Q question

[Gizards'n'Gravy]

A few years ago I came into possession of one of these knives. A very close friend of mine gave me this knife before he died so it has alot of sentimental value as well as being a workhorse in my collection. When he gave it to me, he told me it was a WWI fighting knife. I had no reason to question this.

Now it has been a few years since his passing and I had gotten more curious about the history of his knife. After reading up on it and finding the value and what not, I noticed I could not find a single one of these knives from WWI, everyone of them were from WWII. This man was always very knowledgeable about firearms and knives and he absolutely insisted this was from the 1st great war. Is this possible? Did they even make this knife in WW1? I have zero intention of ever getting rid of it but I am still curious on if this really is a WW1 knife. Thanks,

 

[Isaac's Grandpa]

Pictures?

 

[Tom D]

Hello G'n'G.

It's definitely not a WW1 knife. They were designed by the Quartermaster Corps during the early part of WW2. There are WW2 Govt' contracts for these knives, both with Cattaraugus and with Case who made the similar Model 337-6Q knife.

 

[Gizards'n'Gravy]

Oh well, thats to bad. I'm still going to thoroughly enjoy this knife though! It will always be my favorite no matter when it was made. I do wonder why he adamently beleived it was from WW1 though...

BTW, I have no idea how to put pictures on here,

Thanks

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I have three of them. They are outstanding knives as WWII service knives go. You'll notice a very distinctively dimensioned blade and meaty handle. Both the Cat and the Case were specifically designed to survive prying open and pounding re-closed various crates and the like. Hence the beefy blades and flat yet textured pommels.

If it is original it will have a left handed sheath though Cat sold them commercially as "U.S. Marine Cattaraugus Commando Knives" and I think a bunch of them had right handed sheaths. They should all have staples and stitching.

 

[Gizards'n'Gravy]

Okay I figured out how to do it!

 

[BCCL]

Cat' 225Q's are awesome, I found this one in a pile on a table at a gun show for $35.00 several years ago. Gave it a good cleaning and had a kydex sheath made for it. It's a beast, 70 years old and still going strong.

 

[Boomer...]

I have a 225Q originally owned by a WW2 veteran relative who carried or had it issued to him. Its in pretty nice condition, but never sharpened in 50+ yrs of my possession so its edge is quite dull. Unsure if prudent to do so now due to relic status? I never had a sheath for it and originals available for sale are in tatty shape, so I contacted Savage Sheaths. Yes, he had a pattern and made me the one pictured for a reasonable cost recently. Pretty nice, don't ya think? See the 2nd link for an interesting article on these knives.

Savage Made Sheaths
Carter's Cutlery Commentaries

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Boomer - show us both sides of the handle on yours please. It's interesting in thatt looks like yours may be the only one I've seen without the standard bizarre and random grooves in the washers.

 

[rcmodel]

That is highly unusual to not have the rough cut rings.

So is the bright fresh leather color of the handle, except near the too shiny steel butt cap.

Makes one suspect a fine belt sander sneaked up on it at some point in it's life!

rc

 

[Boomer...]

OK guys, you wanna see some more pics, so here they are. Not belt sanded but yes, very lightly sanded to remove minor blemishes. This was maybe 30 yrs ago. The steel butt and blade surfaces were steelwool burnished with light oil too. No makeover, no tricks! The only minor defect is cosmetic, i.e., the end of the knife blank where the butt is pinned had a small section fracture away. Unsure why, since there is no evidence of trauma from use as a hammer or similar.

Mod note: Same pix as attachments:

-- -- ​

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Thanks Boomer - I can see the slight remainder of the old weird grooves. Looks very nice. I don't know that I'd worry to much about sharpening it and make sure to not let the stacked washers dry out as that will cause a lot of looseness in the handle which can then allow the fiber washers to be broken.

 

[Slamfire]

It is not a WW1 knife.

It is a WW2 knife.

Our gun club still has a living WWII veteran. I got to see the knife he carried as a Navy Communications guy whose job was to relay the communications between the command ship and shore. He was on second wave of for Iwo and Okinawa, his knife looks like yours.

 

[BCCL]

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/cr_commentaries_12.htm

 

[BCCL]

Boomer, if you want to use it, I'd say sharpen away and enjoy, from what I've seen, unless one is in absolute mint condition, there isn't significant collector value.