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Old 07-25-2017, 03:10 PM
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Jacknola Jacknola is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New Orleans
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Re: brown button Johnson, brown Micarta handle. It could be.. I'm uncertain how many horizontal keeper, brown button m2 sheaths Johnson made - I'm pretty sure very few. We do know Heiser made a lot, especially prior to the general use of the diagonal keeper.

But another issue... I'm not too familiar with whether brown Micarta was ever used with a 5-spacer stack, but the 7-spacer stack on brown Micarta I think usually used thinner white spacers than what it looks like is on this knife. (This would make a good study... the evolution of the 7-spacer stack. I started it one time and got distracted. Considerable differences are quickly apparent, but a scientific approach is needed to see if they were random or systematic.) Also, I'm not sure if Micarta was beveled on the end, but wood almost always was.

As far as timing, General Westmoreland got his ivory handled knife in 1964. It might be more reasonable to suppose he had this knife for a number of years rather than acquired in 1963. The sheath looks pretty worn ... so if the knife was 1962-3 and the presentation was in 1965, that doesn't leave a lot of time to wear the sheath. True, Vietnam field use would age a knife pretty quickly...but Gen. Westmoreland wasn't wearing this knife there.. he was always photo'd with the ivory. Truth - we just don't know... I want to be factual as possible, but I may take some literary liberties with assumptions, we will see.

I doubt we will get better information now... appreciate the suggestion, open to it. Thanks

PS: I'm becoming more convinced that is a pin in the handle. I overlaid it with Ronnie's pinned wood handle, transferred the pin portion, and the size is about right. That could help indicate an earlier date...though it is not definitive proof of course. This is one comparison picture though the comparative size of Ronnie's m2 is a little too big... it does give the general concept. Note the spacers...


Last edited by Jacknola; 07-25-2017 at 03:29 PM.
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