French Nail

The French Nail were locally fabricated and converted bayonets, knives and stabbing weapons for use in the First World War. These were crude stabbing spikes made by adding a point to a steel stake which had its rearmost section heated and bent into a crude handle.

French Nail original Version

French Nail Version 1

French Nail Version 2

A more elegant form of the weapon was the introduction of the Poignard-Baïonnette Lebel M1886/14. Approved as a standard military infantry weapon after its development by Lt. Col. Coutrot[1] of the French Army, the Poignard-Baïonnette Lebel consisted of a long, needle-pointed, stiletto-profile blade with wood handle and an integrated knuckle guard made of steel. Originally a conversion of the French Épée-Baïonnette Modèle 1886 (bayonet), and designed strictly as an offensive weapon, the Poignard-Baïonnette Lebel used a section of the M1886 Lebel' long, narrow stiletto-type cruciform blade, designed to quickly kill a surprised enemy soldier with a single deep thrust. Up to three trench knives could be constructed from a single M1886 Lebel bayonet.

Because French industry was working under wartime conditions with numerous material shortages, often using subcontracted labor, even officially sanctioned French Army trench knives tend to vary significantly from knife to knife. The need for knives was so great that already-understrength French Army formations were forced to demobilize hundreds of former cutlery workers so that they could return to their former jobs and begin quantity production of trench knives for the armed forces. As the war went on, newer and more versatile blade-type trench knife patterns such as the double-edged dagger Couteau Poignard Mle 1916 (often called Le Vengeur) began to replace the French Nail and earlier stiletto-style trench knives.[2][3] The French lead in trench knife development was closely followed by the United States, which introduced three successive trench knife models - the M1917, M1918, and Mark I (1918) - all based directly or indirectly upon previous French designs.

References

Roquier, Roger, and Lecoeur, Gérard, Les couteaux de nos soldats, Paris: Editions Crépin-Leblond, ISBN 2-7030-0195-9 (2001): In 1915, Lt. Col. Coutrot, an artillery officer, was serving as the officer-in-charge of the military acceptance board for machine guns made by MAC (Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault) located in the French commune of Châtellerault, which also happened to be a center of the French cutlery industry.
"French Theatre Knives". Fightingknives.info. Archived from the original on 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
arek.panceng. "Weapons And Guns". Weaponsandguns.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-04-15.

External links

Images

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Roquier, Roger, and Lecoeur, Gérard, Les couteaux de nos soldats, Paris: Editions Crépin-Leblond, ISBN 2-7030-0195-9 (2001): In 1915, Lt. Col. Coutrot, an artillery officer, was serving as the officer-in-charge of the military acceptance board for machine guns made by MAC (Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault) located in the French commune of Châtellerault, which also happened to be a center of the French cutlery industry.

[2] "French Theatre Knives". Fightingknives.info. Archived from the original on 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-15.

[3] rek.panceng. "Weapons And Guns". Weaponsandguns.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-04-15.

Knives and daggers
List of daggers List of blade materials
Kitchen and table knives	Boning Bread knife Butcher knife Butter knife Case knife Cheese knife Chef's knife Cleaver Electric knife Fillet knife Grapefruit knife Lame Mezzaluna Parmesan knife Pizza cutter Splayd Steak knife Tomato knife Japanese kitchen knives Deba bōchō Maguro bōchō Nakiri bōchō Santoku Sashimi bōchō Udon kiri Unagisaki hōchō Usuba bōchō Yanagi ba
Other knives	Aircrew Survival Egress Knife Athame Balisong/Butterfly Ballistic Ballpoint pen knife Bayonet Boline Bolo Boot knife Bowie Cane knife Ceramic knife Clip point Combat knife Commander Corvo CQC-6 Deba bōchō Diving knife Drop point Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife Gerber Mark II Ginsu Golok Gravity knife Guna Hacking knife Higonokami Hunting knife Jacob's ladder Karambit Kard Kīla Kirpan Kitchen knife Kukri Laguiole knife Machete Mandau Marking knife Misericorde Mora knife Multi-tool Navaja Neck knife Nontron knife Opinel knife Palette knife Pantographic knife Parang Penknife Penny knife Pirah Pocketknife Putty knife Puukko Rampuri Resolza Sabatier Sami knife SARK Scalpel Seax Sgian dubh Sharpfinger Shiv Sliding knife Smatchet SOG Knife Straight razor Strider SMF Survival knife Swiss Army knife Switchblade Taping knife Throwing knife Trench knife Tumi Ulu Utility knife Warrior knife X-Acto Yatagan
Daggers	Anelace Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife Arkansas toothpick BC-41 Bagh nakh Balarao Baselard Bichuwa Bollock dagger Cinquedea Dirk Ear dagger Emeici Facón French Nail Gunong Hunting dagger Janbiya Jile Kabutowari Kaiken Kalis Katar Khanjali Khanjar Kris Kunai Mark I trench knife Parrying dagger Poignard Push dagger Rondel dagger Seme Shobo Sica Stiletto Marine Raider V-42 Tantō Yarará Parachute Knife Yoroi-dōshi
Manufacturers	Aitor Knife Company Al Mar Knives American Tomahawk Company Aritsugu Benchmade Böker Buck Knives Camillus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Chris Reeve Knives CHROMA Cnife Clauss Cutlery Company Cold Steel Columbia River Knife & Tool Cuisinart Cutco Dalian Hanwei Metal Dexter-Russell DOVO Solingen Due Ancore Ek Commando Knife Co. EKA Emerson Knives F. Dick Fällkniven FAMAE Fiskars Gerber Legendary Blades Füritechnics Glock Ges.m.b.H. Imperial Schrade Ka-Bar Kershaw Knives KitchenAid Korin Japanese Trading Company Kyocera Leatherman Mad Dog Knives Marble Arms Medford Knife and Tool Microtech Knives Morseth Muela Murphy Knives Olfa Ontario Knife Company Opinel Randall Made Knives Rösle Sabatier Shun Cutlery Slice, Inc. SOG Specialty Knives Spyderco STI Knives Strider Knives Thiers Issard TOPS Knives Tramontina Victorinox W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. Carl Walther GmbH Wenger Western Knife Company Wilkinson Sword Wüsthof Yoshida Metal Industry Global Zero Tolerance Knives Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Knifemakers	Rex Applegate James Black Blackie Collins John Nelson Cooper Ernest Emerson Jerry Fisk Bill Harsey Jr. Phill Hartsfield Gil Hibben Jimmy Lile Bob Loveless William F. Moran Ken Onion Ralph Osterhout Bo Randall Chris Reeve A. G. Russell Jody Samson William Scagel Mike Snody Robert Terzuola Michael Walker Buster Warenski Daniel Winkler
Associations	American Bladesmith Society Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association Knifemakers' Guild
Book:Knives and daggers Category:Knives / Daggers