I finally broke down and bought one. I’ve seen them for years and always wanted
one, but could never pull the trigger.
My favorite dealer was down to one last knife, so I bought it.
The German Parachute Gravity Knife history seems to start at
WWII, which makes sense. That was the
first war that used parachutist as troops.
The original knife had a wooden handle.
Later models had plastic grips. I
think mine is a Type IV FKm. These
knives were essentially a utility knife designed to help free a parachutist
tangled up in a tree. The spike isn’t
for combat, it doesn’t lock open nor used for ice chopping. It can be used as a pry bar of sorts, but
chiefly to help with knots. So much for
the theory it was to chop up an ice block to better cool bottles of beer. (I did see a similar knife made by Eickhorn
that I swear had a bottle opener built in!)
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| You flip the toggle lever on top 180 degrees and press down. This allows the blade to slide out. |
The OD green handle has BUND molded into the grip. That’s short for Bundeswehr or German Armed Forces. I guess that’s no surprise. With the blade open it’s about 10 inches long
while the handle is just over 6 inches in length. My blade is marked OFW, which is one of three
listed manufacturers: OFW, OWF and the previously met, Eickhorn.
The knife is a little chewed up, but not bad. This type was manufactured from 1961 to 1979
when it was replaced by the type V also known as the LL80. It’s still in production.
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| I don't understand the legal prohibition against this knife. It open slower than most assisted opening knives and is a lot noisier. What can I say, old laws and a government too busy making new laws to remove the useless ones. |
What surprised me is the weight. It’s a very heavy knife (9.8 ounces!) composed
of many steel layers. For a knife
specifically issued to help free a parachutist from trees, it seems poorly
designed. I would have expected a razor
sharp hook blade. That seems like the
kind of edge I’d want if I was trying to cut my way free of risers and lines. I’m not sure why I’d worry about knots
either.
Mine is also remarkably dull. It will slice paper, but no better than a
blunt letter opener and will not cut paracord at all. I’ll fix that later. I like all my knives, even collectibles to
have an edge and sharpening this one will not lower its value.
While the knife is very cool, the advertisements for sales,
especially the auction sites, are hysterical!
The knife is often listed, correctly as, Type IV and then described as a
Special Forces Pilot Knife of very rare status. It sold for over $200!
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| Knots? I've landed behind enemy lines and I'm worried about knots? |
Another site described the blade as laser cut 440A steel,
ice quenched. Well, the first operational
laser was 1960 in California. It was a synthetic
ruby crystal powered by a flash lamp.
The lasers of this era were rated in Gillettes. That’s how many Gillette double edge carbon
steel razor blades a laser could burn through in a minute. I doubt anyone was cutting out knife blades
with lasers by 1979. And I suspect if
you quenched a red hot knife blade in ice water you’d get scrap steel.
As Mr. Barnum once said,
“There’s a sucker born every minute!”
Mrs. Barnum is reported to have replied “Oh, that poor Mrs. Sucker!”
