What do I have USMC machete ???

[Magnum Wheel Man]

there is a good chance this is a worthless modified tool, but as I'm using it now to split kindling for the fire place, thought I better check, before I possibly do damage to it...

wood scales, USMC stamped at the base of the blade, very heavy steel 5/16" or possibly a couple .001's thicker... blade is approximately 14" or so long, & 2.5 or so inches tall, with a rounded tip, with the edge that wraps around to the top & extends on the top for 2-2.5" it has lanyard holes at the base of the grip

it was in my FIL's butchering tools, which is why I think it may have been modified for his use to split brisket...

will try to get a pic soon, but does this sound like anything in that was out there in it's unmodified form, to where it would have collector value, or has it been modified, to where it's just a good tool now ???

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

just did some searches on E-Bay, & it looks like a U.S.M.C. BOLO KNIFE

handle scales might be a little different, possibly changed / replaced ??? the ones I'm seeing pictures of have 2 rivets at one place on the handle, I don't think mine does, but the lanyard hole might actually be a missing rivet ??? or maybe this is an earlier or later model ???

I'll look better when I run home for lunch...

 

[precision_shooter]

Can you post a pic or two?
I'm interested in just seeing it, and will help if I can. I collect all kinds of knives and enjoy looking at them almost as muh as I do guns.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I didn't get a pic of ours yet, but a search through E-Bay found this one looks closest... ( I double checked, & it does have the double rivet like this one pictured ) ours has a much better blade, not polished, but clean, with no pits, I don't have the sheath

looks like values are all over the place, with not many bids... ours has had a couple small holes drilled in the wood & a wire loop added for a way to hang it up... I'm thinking I'll keep using it for splitting out kindling by the fire place... if it's used as intended, & kept in the house in a climate controlled dry environment, it aught to last a while without damage, & if I were to buy a good replacement, I'd spend what it looks like I could replace it for...

 

[ronl]

It is not a bolo but a Corpman's knife.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

thanks for the clairification

 

[Roughedge]

This post made me go look at a knife I picked up as a kid. Turns out its a bolo knife. They are selling for $200.00 on ebay, I glad I hung on to it.

 

[kilimanjaro]

That is a US Marine Corp Corpsman's knife from WWII. Also used in Korea and Vietnam, but none made after WWII. Entered service in 1943, I believe, and enough were made by 1945 no more were ever needed. We're still drawing on stocks of Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals made for the invasion of Japan, to this day.

They come with a heavy sheath and belt hooks to hang on the pistol belt.

It was not a fighting knife. It was issued to the Navy Corpsmen with the Marine platoons in the Pacific, and used for the cutting of emergency stretcher poles and for cutting a path out of the brush for stretcher bearers to remove the wounded and dead from where they were shot in the heavy brush and creeper vegetation on the islands.

The usual story is that USMC stands for US Medical Corps, and it was used for amputations. That's poppycock, although it could certainly have and probably did occur where a limb was literally hanging by a sinew or two, but it was issued for a brush cutting tool.

You can get a real nice one with sheath for anywhere from $100 and up. Some folks price them around $250 or more, but not many buyers at those prices. Look for a sheath at yard sales and gun shows, pick it up if you can snag one.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

thanks... may have to look for a sheath

 

[Doc TH]

WWII collectible item. I would find something else to split kindling. Nice corpsman's knife.

 

[ffs1942]

I say use it!

I look at blades more like tools, unlike guns and bows, a step above a screwdriver. I have some nice ones and some rough ones and a bunch that were gifts.

I have a pretty Case rosewood folder in my pocket now, but my everyday knife for work and defense is a one handed tactical plastic Buck.

I say just put it to work. Linseed oil the handle

 

[bamaranger]

thanks

I have never seen or heard of the corpsman knife. Thanks for the pic and the enlightenment. FLF strikes again.

 

[bamaranger]

heavy duty

I have seen a very heavy duty machete, the blade thicker and milled, considerably more heavy duty than other WWII stamped machetes. I have not been able to purchase one.

But most all of the GI type machetes I've handled (and they are pretty common in the various land management agencies, being acquired as surplus I expect, many WWII and Vietnam dated) are the typical, thinner, Collins variety.