[Bill Harsey]

The Spartan Harsy dagger is the result of some years of work.

I was introduced to Col. Rex Applegate (OSS) by Al Mar in 1984 and started making daggers for Applegate right away, doing all the hand grinding, heat treating and finishing here by myself over a period of 14 years.

Applegate worked with both William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in WW2, some of you may have heard of the Fairbairn Sykes Commando Dagger.
They trained men for what is now politey called clandestine oerations.

The FS Dagger was designed for a very specific function and remains, rightfull so, a legendary icon.

The Applegate Dagger, came about after WW2 was designed to overcome a couple small things noted in after action reports from the FS Daggers use. One was that the FS Dagger had a perfectly round handle that provided no tactile reference or control when the knife was drawn and when used.
The flat side of the blade didn't cut very well, as illustrated in some action reports.
This was a small problem.

In defense of the FS Commando Daggers, they were produced in England with a war being fought on their doorstep and had to produce as many knives possible and fast, the round handle turned on a lathe. was part of this manufacturing.

Britain did not have the luxury of time.

The Fairbairn Sykes Commando Dagger rightfully earned it's place in history.

To be continued.