US Divers Vulcan Knives

[Turtleguy9]

I have purchased two US Divers Vulcan Knives, but I noticed some differences between the two.
The Scabbards are Identical, but the blades are marked differently.
One is marked US Divers "Vulcan", and has a sawblade on the top. The handguard is stamped Japan, and a Patent number.
Second is marked US Divers, and has no sawblade, and is stamped Japan on the backside of the blade.
Are these both Vulcan Knives? Perhaps different production years?
Thanks for the help.
Turtleguy9

[Bryan]

Roger, you should stop using that old stuff! You are gonna get hurt someday. Go ahead and send me those two old knives and I"ll send you a shiny new one as a replacement!

[justleesa]

Bryan, I'm sure you'd be on the top of his list

[Deleted]

Turtleguy9 said:

The Scabbards are Identical, but the blades are marked differently.
Turtleguy9

If this scabbeards has a hole at the tip and is green in colour, it will look just the one we used in the army for the M16's knife. I had ever come across an officer used a knife look alike that , but has a spring catch at the base for mount to M16.

[SDM]

I have purchased two US Divers Vulcan Knives, but I noticed some differences between the two.
The Scabbards are Identical, but the blades are marked differently.
One is marked US Divers "Vulcan", and has a sawblade on the top. The handguard is stamped Japan, and a Patent number.
Second is marked US Divers, and has no sawblade, and is stamped Japan on the backside of the blade.
Are these both Vulcan Knives? Perhaps different production years?
Thanks for the help.
Turtleguy9

Good gosh!

Is there no one who has the answers for dear ole Turtleman?

The first issue of the Vulcan knife was in the 1958 US Divers catalog, page 18, part number 4221 sold for $8.95. It did not have serrations on the blade and had a thinner handle.

The second issue was in the 1959 US Divers catalog page 18, part number 4221, sold for $7.95 ( a reduction of $1.00!) It had a more rounded handle and serrations (Saw Blade) on the blade.

The knives were subject to rusting and the scaboards were prone to spliting at the seams.

To combat this in the event you plan on using them, oil the blades--Silcone is the modern application, (we used bacon grease--stab or clean a fish and it tasted like smoke pork from Tennesseeala the other Miller)

The scaboard could be repaired or prohibited from splitting by wrapping it with electricians tape. Still they seem to split after several dives.

They were a horrible knife but the best at the time of introduction--in fact the very first decent Scuba diving knife--all knives previouly were for spearfishing knives which had thin long blades.

The Vulcans were replaced as the knife of choice by the "Swimaster" knife made by Newport Divers AKA Joe Lamonica, aka JBL. It was designed after the M1 bayonet and had better steel and would not rust.

Does this do it for you??

SDM
30

[Turtleguy9]

Aloha Fellow Vintage Divers
Sorry I take so long to respond to some interesting posts. . Just got done with 4 days of back to back charters, 4 dives a day.
Deep, shallow, deep, shallow, sometimes I feel like the poster boy for Too much Nitrogen.

Thank you for your post Sam and thanks so much for the information, it's so much more than I thought I would find out.

I had also posted this question in another vintage forum on the ScubaBoard and Seahunter took the time to make this great post that I thought I'd share it with you.
Again, thanks so much Seahunter!

They're both Vulcan knives just as were used by Mike Nelson. As is very common today, these items were NOT made by USD but were purchased from a supplier and assembled & boxed by USD. Undoubtably, the supplier of the knife changed during the time this model was sold by USD and there would be very slight differences between the 2 models. The differences may well have been intentional since contracts to supply items often included a clause to prohibit exact copies. The one with the Vulcan name is the original or first one sold.
The sheath was made locally for USD and was obviously used for both knife models. In fact, that sheath was also used for other USD knives that I have in my vintage collection.

Thanks Turtleguy9

[YankDownUnder]

Vulcan knives were Mike Nelson's choice too. Look closely at a Sea Hunt episode and the website.

There is a rare variation too. When US Divers bought out Breathing Appliances Pty Ltd in Australia, (the first maker of single hose) they renamed it Australian Divers Spiro. They had Vulcans made with 'Australian Divers' stamped on them and sold them in Australia.

Steve

[sapperdale]

I have the knife with the saw tooth back made in Japan, but I don't have a scabbard for it. I tried one of my US M8A1 scabbards but it does not fit. Can anyone tell me what one will?

Thanks,
Dale

[nemrod]

Now!! Thats a knife! Nemrod

[VintageDiverMN]

Are you guys old enough to play with knifes?

[treasureman]

I also have the vulcan with saw back blade. The one without was the first variant, then it was decided to put the saw on as a quick line cutter. They were 1950 vintage and i believe some were done for korean war effort. The sheath if you can find one that may fit is the M10 Seal team dive knife sheath. if you find one you gonna pay dearly for it. may be better off buying a sheet of kydex plastic and use a heat gun to softne it and mold it. Lots of instructions on the net for such projects. kydex 0/60 thickness would be good and is easliy molded