My dad gave me this knife 25 years ago when I was a kid. He told me this was my grandfather's which he past away when I was three. Any info on it would be great.
The initials "SA" with the "bomb" logo stamping indicates it was made by Springfield Armory. Obviously, the 1914 is the date/year it was manufactured. What throws me off is the over all style and the handles. Springfield Armory is well known for it's WWI & WWII blades with their bayonets, Bolo knives, and swords being the most common blades that you will see.
your knife was a custom knife made around ww2. it started out as a u.s. m1913 patton cavalry sword with hard rubber checkered handles and a 35 inch blade. during ww2 you could buy the surplus sword for $4.95 from starks dist. service of chicago. the blade had enough hard tempered steele to make 3 good sized knives. or for $1.95 you could get a section of the blade and a blue print to make a knife. thousands of knives must have been made from these blades considering the number found in different knife collections today.
SNORKO...I am brand new to the site which isn't allowing me to PM you. I need to ask you a question based on the Century Int. Arms Centurion 12 gauge O/U you were selling for a friend. I don't want to derail this thread so could you PM me or email me directly at pdmcguinn@gmail.com? I have a fairly simple question to determine if I need to fix the one I have or not. Thank you in advance, I know this is kinda unconventional.
Another thing on your knife. The "shell and flame" symbol at the base of the blade became the insignia for the Ordinance branch of the US Army. I'm fairly sure it is the oldest insignia used to identify what "branch" a soldier was involved with. Pretty cool knife!