Let's acknowledge this white tenite m15 knife

[Jacknola]

Well, crutch, that was very helpful and also to the point. Thanks for adding your comments. My whole essay was full of suppositions (and I hope I made clear what was fact and what was assumed and what was deduced in that essay). The whole thing was based on what we knew but with so many unknowns there is bound to be lots of room for error in the suppositions and deductions.

The only reason I undertook quantifying what is known about white-Tenite is that the price asked and apparently bid (unless shill bid) for those knives seems a little out of the norm. And, Scott, calm down. No insult was intended to any of the experts ... They are truly experts and even if Bob Hunt erred, it was only shown after a lot of later research that brought additional data to light, data that built on the foundation laid by those guys. It is possible to err without being a failure. No one is infallible, and I'm certainly not. But how do we get to the bottom of this price anomaly of white-Tenite if we cannot question what has come before? No insult at all was intended here. Trust me... if I want to insult someone, they will know it.

Joe, i have wondered about white and green in conjunction... it could make some sense with a similar handle shape evolution. But the reason I speculated all the USNavy knives were a single color, white, with 3-screws, was a note that Randall included when he sent them off. Gaddis says he wrote "I should like to point out that the Tenite material used in these handles is of a soft grade and that the same material in a much harder and more durable quality is obtainable, but I could not get sample of it in time for this shipment." I interpret this meaning a single sample was used for these test knives. I'm guessing it was white.

USMiltary is funny about formal equipment proposals (I was involved briefly with a project proposal to the military) and a change in the proposal requires lots of grunts and groans. If the blue prints of the proposed knife had three screws, then the test knives also would almost surely have three screws, or they would not be "to spec." It the Solingen blades had three holes it is probably because the prototype sent to them had three holes and Gaddis states that two extra blades were made at the same time the 10 Navy knives were put together. Those extra blades went to Germany as prototypes for the Solingens, hence likely the source of the 3-holes in Solingens, and an indicator that the Navy knives were 3-screw... possibly the only ones made (?).

That 3-screw thesis is easily confirmed by looking at the detailed blueprints Mr. Randall had made up. Those blueprints specified a slotted Tenite handle (according to Gaddis - which meant that handle actually proposed to the Navy was to be different from the prototype shown in the March meeting) The number of screws would be specified on those blueprints and a copy would have been given to the Navy as part of the proposal. If the shop has those blueprints, which I would think they do, it is an easy check for someone connected.

When the hard Tenite was finally acquired, it could have been green... but white was still being used when the Solingens began being made in the spring of 1955. So if green was used in 1954, two different colors were being used simultaneously, which kind of goes against good business practices ... but supply perhaps could have dictated it. I think it possible that the picture of Tex was later, after green and supplanted white, and he had acquired a later knife. But again, that is open to question.

It would be interesting to review the sales records for May '54-June '55 to see how many m14s and m15s were sold. My method of back-calculating the number at least has a basis, which I detailed. Whether it can stand rigorous looks is another question, but Scott, I wouldn't discount it without saying why. That type of argument adds nothing. If someone has a better way of estimating the number, I'm open to it.

Thanks for the comments Joe. This is an interesting and historical piece of trivia and I'm glad you have joined the conversation. It is trivia ... except that +$10K is not a trivial price for a knife, so it has an immediate interest ... at least to me. Ciao.