Preparing an odd job

Early version Sykes-Fairbain knife

I've made some knives in the past, but only kitchen knives of the Roman kind.

I know some knivesmiths use waste chainsaw chains for making Damascus steel.

I'd like to give it a try with some chainsaw chains that have been living in my workshop for a long time...

What I want to make is not easy, and I'm likely to fail.

It's because of the shape that I want to make a "Sykes-Fairbairn" WW2 fighting knife.

It has a famous past as it was the weapon of choice for the elite "commando" troops that raided the coasts of occupied Europe from 1940 to 1944.

One of my fathers uncles (my father was born in the Netherlands, but most of his family was German...), a German soldier guarding the Atlantic Wall, was killed by a commando, his throat sliced with this weapon.

The cruel practice of "silent killing" is told here by a former member of the commandos on camera at the National Army Museum.

(It's always fascinating to hear old soldiers talk... watch the look on their faces when they tell their horrific experiences...)

Anyways... I got the original drawings of an early version of this knife.

Commando training with Sykes-Fairbairn knife

The raw material