COMMANDOS' KNIVES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 52, 13 May 1942, Page 6

COMMANDOS' KNIVES

—«. :— ARE BEING FORGED BY QUEEN VICTORIAS SWORDMAKER Eighty year old swordmaker Tom Beasley, who forged his first blade as a child of eight during the Fran-co-Prussian Avar of 1870, is working W l /-! hours a day helping It: arm Britain against her enemies. Since war began he has lost one hall-an-hour of working time—when his clock stopped one morning. But to-day the skill Tom put into making the sword presented to Queen Victoria by the Indian Princess on her Diamond Jubilee is being used to show younger men how to forge the deadly black knives used by Britain's Commandos and parachute troops. These knives, worn in a leather scabbard attached to the leg, have an interesting history. Of the finest sword, steel, they were designed by Superintendents Fairbairn and Sykes- of the Shanghai Police, who put their "rough house" experience to good account by teaching Britain's shock troops the art of swift and silent killing. But the pattern is really much older, for, in lb'Sb", troops fighting at Bayonne thrust such daggers as these into the muzzles of their flintlock muskets—and gave the world the first bayonet.

The factory where Tom Beasley has worked {'or HO years normally turns out not only the best swords but the finest hollow ground razor blade in the world. Founded in J. 772 as gunmakers, they started making swords in 18,'*2 and cut-throat razors in 1890, some ten years later they were one of the lirst steel forgers to take up the safety razor, which in peace time they send all over the world. Their swords go to the military and police forces in the Empire, South Ameru-i. Abyssinia, Egypt and other countries, btft war has put an end to this. Now the company make tin 1 commando knives and. scabbards, armour piercing shot for anti-tan!-; guns and an automatic lire extinguisher, the Graviner, which Is installed in every British warpjane. Organised for war effort, the factor} - has doubled its staffs—new 50 pe c;nt women—and quadrupled its output.