Very Early John Ek Custom Made Knife

Item Details

A very early John Ek custom-made knife. Measurements: 7’ blade. 12’ overall. Marked ‘John Ek Knife’ to one side of the blade and ‘D52’ to the other.

Correspondence from Gary Ek, the son of John Ek:

‘(This is a) vintage World War II knife, Judging by the Hand Engraved Serial # ’D52’ and the ‘John Ek Knife’ on the obverse. I am going to place it as a pre Hamden, Connecticut made blade, most likely from the early start of the Knife company at Whitney Machine Shop on Whitney Ave. in Whitney, Ct.
That alone makes it quite rare to have one return from battle in any condition.
The ‘D 52’ would state that they had made batches of 1-99, 5 times and were up to the letter D prefix. All of John Ek’s Handmade Knives were serial numbered and only sold to servicemen. The Rock Maple handles were held on by pouring a hot lead/tin mixture rivet through the full tang blade, later they learned to “Dogbone” the Rivet which worked much better.
The Steel Guard was available on WWII model #6 (single edge) and #7 …
The Blade is made of Nickel Chrome Molybdenum 43-40 Oil Hardening steel and tempered to a Rockwell Scale of 55. This blade is a WWII Model 6. Which was Quite Rare. …
I have been handling, and making Ek Commando Knives since I was 15 in 1971, and I would say this knife is the earliest, and best preserved version that I had ever seen to date. And that Leather Sheath also looks Original as well.
~ Gary Whitney Ek’

Condition

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Dimensions

Shipping Measurements. Please see item description for item measurements.

Item #

16CIN009-009