ORIGINAL U.S. WWII 1943 DATED BLADE MARKED M3 FIGHTING KNIFE BY KINFOLKS WITH M8 SCABBARD

This is a rare fighting knife the WW11 U.S. M3 fighting knife by Kinfolks INc. with a USM8 sheath.  

Blade measures 6 9/16 inches long and reads "US M3" & "KINFOLKSINC." The spear point blade is in very good, lightly used condition.

Cross guard, 8 groove stacked leather washers grip handle and pommel all in good condition. Pommel is ordinance marked with  U.S. "Flaming Bomb" proof mark.. Knife in overall good condition. Sheath is marked "US M8" & "B. M. CO.".

Only 119,702 M3 fighting knives were made by this rare company Kinfolks, Inc.

With the marking on the blade, this is a more desirable M3 Knife also.

Overall length: 11 5/8”

Scabbard length: 7 3/8" with belt loop.

Received from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum, Canada.  The museum was selling off some of there museum’s items, to make room for more.  The museum called it deaccessioning surplus museum artifacts.

The museum numbers their items for inventory purposes and you will see that there is a very small white number on this item put there by the museum.  They are very easy to remove with your fingernail.

The M3 fighting knife or M3 trench knife was first issued in March, 1943 as a replacement to the WWI U.S. Mark 1 trench knife.  First issued to soldiers who were not already equipped with a bayonet.  As the M3 was designed for elite forces in close combat such as the Army Rangers and Airborne Trooper, these units received first priority for the M3 when issued. Designed for modern wafare hand-to-hand fighting.   After 1943 the knife soon became available for all.

Some of the manufacturers of the M3 include the Aerial Cutlery Co., W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., Imperial Knife Co., PAL Cutlery Co., Camillus Cutlery Co., Robeson (ShurEdge) Cutlery Co., Kinfolks Inc., Utica Cutlery Co., and H. Boker & Co.

The U.S. Army developed the M4 in June 1944 it was issued. The final production of the M3 knife was in August, 1944 making it the shortest production of any U.S. combat knife. By that time 2,590,247 M3 knives where produced.