Welded P1907 Bayonet

[peregrinvs]

This May 1916 Wilkinson has just come into my possession and has an unusual modification. As you can see, the base of the blade and the crossguard have been firmly welded together. I haven’t tried to take it apart yet, but two possibilities immediately come to mind: the blade has snapped off at the hilt and it has been reattached, or the crossguard came loose and this was the slightly crude way of securing it.

 

Has anyone ever seen anything similar?

 

It came with a nice early type scabbard that appears to be 1915 or 1916 dated. Unfortunately the weld means the blade won’t go all the way in.

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

[GWF1967]

It appears to be option 1.  The blade has been snapped and then welded.  It looks like the weld is mainly laid on the surface with limited penetration. That would explain why it wasn't ground back enough for the blade to fit the scabbard.  

[JMB1943]

Mark,

 

I would tend to agree with GWF regarding option 1.

The question then is where/when broken, and who did the repair?

Not the Western Front, Gallipoli etc because there would have been plenty of replacements available from casualties.

Similarly, not a unit armourer of British Army because it would not have been a permitted repair.

Possibly a WW2 Home Guard local garage repair, where a poorly repaired bayonet would have been of no consequence in the event of a German invasion.

 

Regards,

JMB

[MikeyH]

Would agree, not done in army service.

WW2 Home Guard most likely.

 

Mike.

[peregrinvs]

Thanks. A WWII Home Guard repair sounds like a good explanation. It turned up in the effects of someone whose grandfather had been in the local Home Guard.

 

Looks aside, they didn't do too bad a job of it as the join seems to be very solid and the blade and hilt are pretty much in correct alignment.

 

 

Edited 14 October , 2019 by peregrinvs

[Chasemuseum]

It may be solid but it is only decorative. There is no way that this would pass the proof bend test that was imposed on every bayonet during manufacture.

Cheers

Ross

 

[Richard2]

In the 1980s there was an advertisement in Shotgun News by a company that made reproduction US model 1905 bayonets by welding together pieces from demilled bayonets.  They admitted that the bayonets were not genuine collector's items, but advertised them as an inexpensive replica to display on a Springfield rifle.  Perhaps your bayonet was also made as a display piece?

[trajan]

Very VERY slight chance it was a German mending job. P.1907's were used by the German army, but I think that was mainly August 1914-late 1915, so this would be too late for such possible re-use.

[sgt-maj]

'Trajan', I think that if this was an actual German quick fix, that particular individual would have ended up with a swift ticket to the Eastern Front... in both WW's. It would never have been accepted in British front line service, due to several factors... one being the unsuitability to be used more than once. I tend to agree that it could very well be a temporary fix by some embryo 'Home Guard' unit, doing their best to arm themselves before official weapons arrived. 

[trajan]

On 05/11/2019 at 14:07, sgt-maj said:

'Trajan', I think that if this was an actual German quick fix, that particular individual would have ended up with a swift ticket to the Eastern Front... in both WW's. It would never have been accepted in British front line service, due to several factors... one being the unsuitability to be used more than once. I tend to agree that it could very well be a temporary fix by some embryo 'Home Guard' unit, doing their best to arm themselves before official weapons arrived. 

 

Oh, I quiet agree. There are some very odd German ersatz that involve welding bits and pieces together, but as far as I can recall this is always an under the hilt thing - out of sight, out of mind. Yes, I am more impressed and happy to go along with the LDV / HG reasoning.