MILITARYANDANTIQUEKNIVES.CO.UK
Site last updated on: 27th June 2025
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NOTE: If you send me an email via my Contact page I always respond, but some responses have been going into peoples SPAM box. If you have not received a reply please check your SPAM box.
Further to the note above it is bit irritating they even though I always respond I have had a couple of instances recently where people just do not bother to acknowledge my reply. It maybe that my reply has gone to SPAM so please check your SPAM box. I am alway happy to answer questions etc but a simple thank you goes a long way.
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ROBBINS BOOK The original print run in now sold out but we have some print over-runs. These may have some storage marks but are otherwise perfect. See books for sale page. Unfortunately overseas postage via Royal Mail has become very expensive and I have been alerted to the fact that some of the courier firms are nearly half on the price of Royal Mail. I will thus start to use these firms and quote the lowest rate I can find.
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Updates across the site.
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About me.
I started to collect edged weapons back in the early 1970's when I bought a french brass hilted bayonet as a wall hanger. A few further purchases got me into buying a book on the subject which led me to the late Gordon Hughes's Primers. Noting that Gordon had also done a small booklet on Military Knives I also bought that. But the one thing I noticed from this book was the lack of real information on Military Knives, thus I sold my bayonets and started collecting military knives. One of my first purchases being a 1st Pattern F-S knife from Gordon for the sum of £55, a good investment looking at what they are fetching now.
My interest was particularly aimed at research and finding out more about the knives as much as it was in the objects themselves. This research has over the years resulted in me writing to various museums, companies and individuals and finally many hours spent in the UK National Archives seeking out the World War 2 contracts for the F-S knives. A slight deviation from the military side but one which partially stemmed from a military style knife was my research into the London cutlery trade and this developed into an interest in antique knives especially bowie style knives.
My various researches have culminated in a number of articles and published works. I am a member of the Antique Bowie Knife Association and was a member of the now defunct Wilkinson Collectors Society.
My website will provide occasional sales, articles and other information related to my areas of interest. Click on the link buttons that to be directed to the appropriate page. I welcome questions from other serious collectors, though I do not give valuations as there can be many variables that can impact of the value of a knife. I am also interested in purchasing F-S knives, SOE items and knives (non-surgical) made by WEISS of London. See my Wanted section for more specific details of my wants.
Ron Flook
Books by Ron Flook:
A Photographic Primer of Military Knives.
Privately Published by the author in 1990,
now out of print
British and Commonwealth Military
Knives.
Published by Airlife in 1999, now out of print.
the London Knife Book.
Published by Antique Knives Ltd 2008
Out of Print
The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife
and other Commando Knives.
Privately published by the author in 2013
ROBBINS & COMPANY LTD
Privately published by the author in 2019
Out of Print
Knives and Daggers of the SOE
Privately published by the author in 2022
Out of Print
History and Knives of
Robbins & Company Dudley
Privately published by Ron Flook and John
Pidgeon in 2023. - Copies available see
books for sale page
Articles by Ron Flook:
Argentinian Knives of the Falklands Campaign. Guns, Weapons and Militaria, April 1984
The Fair Sword. BLADE November 1992
Origins of Double Edged Smatchet. Knife World August 1997
FR693 Commando Knife. Knife World December 1999
The Baldock Knife Spear. Knife World July 2002
Military and Other Knife Jottings. Knife World November 2002
Military and Other Knife Jottings II. Knife World January 2004
The Mystery of Bruce Hand and John Paisley. www.usmiltaryknives.com/flook. Febraury 2004
Presentation Bowie by Weiss of London. Antique Bowie Journal Fall 2005
Dirk Knives of Gilles and Uxbridge. Antique Bowie Journal No.1 2006
The British Military Gravity Knife. Knife World July 2008
John Weiss and Son and the 1851 Great Exhibition Knife. Knife World November 2008
London's Finest Edge- Historic Cutlers of the Capital. Classic Arms and Militaria Vol XI Issue 6 2008.
A Sheriff's Folding Bowie. Antique Bowie Journal Winter 2008 No.6
Dr. Lawder's Push Dagger. Antique Bowie Journal No.7 2009
Is it or Isn't it SOE. Knife World April 2009
English Knives with a touch of San Francisco and Scandinavia. Knife World June 2009
Knives of Robbins of Dudley. Knife World February 2010 (in conjunction with John Pidgeon)
Some Foreign F-S Knives. Knife World July 2010
Two Knives of Interest. Antique Bowie Journal Winter 2010 No.10
Some of my Favorite Knives. Knife World January 2011
Falyon of Edinburgh. Antique Bowie Journal Spring 2011 No. 13
Walter Thornhill and Co. Cutler to Royalty. Knife World September 2011.
John Weiss. Antique Bowie Journal Spring 2012 No.16
James Rodgers Folding Dirk. Antique Bowie Journal Summer 2012 No.17.
Makers of the SOE Knives Revealed. Knife World September 2012.
F-S Fighting Knife Myths Explored. Knfe World October 2014.
The Mystery of Bruce Hand and John Paisley Re-visited. Knife World February 2015.
On the Hunt ( A Weiss Bowie) Antique Bowie Journal 2015 No.1.
A Robbins Dudley at the Battle of the Somme. Knife World July 2015
Another Weiss Bowie. Antique Bowie Journal 2015 No, 4.
A Late Thornhill Gem (Just About an Antique) Antique Bowie Journal 2016 No.2
Researching Named F-S Knives. Knife Magazine July 2016 Vol 2. Number 7
William John Waterer London Sword Maker & Cutler. KNIFE Magazine August 2017
A George Butler Pre-Civil War Bowie. Antique Bowie Journal 2017 No. 3
Wilkinson Sword F-S Knives -The Post War Specials. KNIFE Magazine November 2017
Wilkinson Sword's Post WWII F-S Trademarks. KNIFE Magazine May 2018
The Canadian Engineering Training Centre Commando Knife. KNIFE Magazine June 2018
J. W. Petrie and his Knives. KNIFE Magazine August 2018
The Current State of UK Knife Laws. KNIFE Magazine November 2018
Early Weiss Dagger & The Bankrupt Merchant. Antique Bowie Journal 2019 No.2
Myths, Legends and Falsehoods. KNIFE magazine November 2019
Robbins Dudley style push daggers at war .(with John Pidgeon) Armourer January 2020
The McLaglen, Cogswell and Harrison Push Dagger. KNIFE magazine Feb 2020
Cases of Mistaken Identity. KNIFE Magazine January 2021
Britain's Reststance Army Knife. KNIFE Magzine March 2021
RAF Servicing Commando Knife. KNIFE Magazine May 2021
A Mysterious Wilkinson Fighting Knife. KNIFE Magazine November 2021
Middle East Commando Knife of Anders Lassen VC, MC** KNIFE Magazine December 2021
Smatchet and the SOE. Armourer Feb 2022
A Presentation Ciphered Bowie. Antique Bowie Knife Journal 2021 No.3.
Two F-S Knife Stories True or Not?. KNIFE Magazine March 2022
Some Fairbairn -Sykes Oddities. KNIFE Magazine September 2022
The Advance Fist Bayonet. KNIFE Magazine February 2023
The Special Air Service 1903 Bayonet Conversion Knife. KNIFE Magazine July 2023
Origins of the First Pattern Fairbairn-Sykes Knife. KNIFE Magazine January 2024
Canadians and their FS Knives. KNIFE Magazine April 2024
Military Arm or Sleeve Daggers. KNIFE Magazine June 2024
ROBBINS & Co. From Fenders to Trench Knives. The BLACKCOUNTRYMAN Autumn 2024. (Note: This magazine is the Journal of the Black Country Society that promotes and studies the history and heritage of the "Black Country" the industrial area of the west Midlands.)
The Experimental SOE Knives. KNIFE Magazine Oct 2024
John Weiss & Son, The Mystery Mark. KNIFE Magzine Nov 2024
Robbins and Co, Dudley Revisited. KNIFE Magazine Feb 2025
The British Smatchet. KNIFE Magazine March 2025
The Ones that Got Away. KNIFE Magazine June 2025