Fighting knives have been in use as long as mankind has possessed the knowledge of metalworking – longer in fact, as stone knives were certainly in use long before the discovery of forging blades. The fighting knife has a long history; indeed longer than any kind of other weapon. From the Stone Age all the way up to the modern era, the fighting knife has been the weapon of choice for fighting in close quarters. At close range, there is no weapon deadlier than a well made knife, whether of sharpened stone, bronze, steel or the high tech alloys of today.
Other than the well-known Ka-Bar knife, one of the very most popular (and certainly most famed) fighting knives is the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. This is a fighting knife which earned its fame in World War II when it was commonly used by British fighting forces and commando units. Though actually developed prior to that war (in Shanghai by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes) it is almost entirely due to its use during that war which led to the good name enjoyed by this, one of the deadliest fighting knives ever manufactured.
The Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife is designed for one thing and one thing only: fighting. This stands in contrast to the knife favored by the U.S. fighting forces, the Ka-Bar knife in that those knives were intended to do double duty as a utility knife and used for a multitude of other purposes. Not so the F&S fighting knife; these would be of little use in trench digging due to their design. However, their storied history and pedigree as a knife intended only for warfare had made them very much a prized item on the collector’s market.
The F&S fighting knife is a very thin bladed with a double edge, designed to be thin enough to slip between the ribs of opponents ion combat yet sharp enough to deliver a devastating injury when slashing. These knives are largely manufactured (where else?) in Sheffield, long home to the cutlery industry in Britain. F&S fighting knives are often stamped with the manufacturer (there are a few) and “Sheffield” or sometimes, merely “England”.
Every last bit of the design on these knives is intentional and has a story to tell; another reason these knives enjoy their great popularity with collectors. The handle is designed for an optimal grip on the knife and there is a reason for the length as well, which will make sense when you remember that these knives had their first heyday during the early days of WWII, when British forces expected to have to face Soviet troops on the battlefield – the length was at first 6.5”, then slightly longer in later models – long enough to penetrate a Soviet soldier’s overcoat and a few inches more besides.
The history of these fighting knives is truly fascinating – and we have only scratched the surface in this article. However, these knives are such interesting collector’s items that it takes only a taste of their history to get even the most jaded hobbyist interested.