| KNIFE HANDLE |
INFORMATION |
| Aluminum |
Aluminum handles were commonly found in theater made knives. Usually they are a single
piece that includes the blade. Sometimes they were adorned with stones or colorful material
to create a design.
In other cases they were manufactured in the shape of knuckle busters and
made a very effective offensive weapon. Surfaces were created so the soldier could strike in
a punching motion or hit in an overhead downward fashion.
|
| Wood |
Wooden handles were commonly used in utilitarian type knives. Edge weapons such as the
USMC bolo knife. This is a common material because it is readily available and easy to
manipulate.
|
| Lucite |
Lucite is an early version of clear plastic material. During the war the American soldiers would capture
knives from the enemy and would modify them by replacing the original grips with crafted lucite handles.
In some cases the GI would place stickers depicting girls in the tang then place the handle on top of it.
This action creates a window effect where the image is visible through the lucite material.
The modifications were not limited to captured knives, sometimes the changes were applied to their own
edge weapons.
|
| Leather |
leather was a popular material used in the construction of knife handles. Most of the time the
design of a leather handle consisted of multiple rings that were stacked up together to form one
unit. Some of the rings had different colors to provide a visual effect.
Some of the leather handles were made of a single piece.
|
| Bronze |
Bronze is a popular material for knife manufacturing due to its availability and ease of
manipulation. One concern in using this material are its temperature properties. If it
is hot outside the handle would get hot and vice-versa.
Sone of the bronze handles were manufactured in the shape of knuckle busters and
made a very effective offensive weapon. Surfaces were created so the soldier could strike in
a punching motion or hit in an overhead downward fashion.
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