Czechoslovakia Czech WW1 WW2 VZ-23 Long Bayonet 17 Inches

Description

Czechoslovakia Czech WW1 WW2 Fighting Knife VZ-23 Long Bayonet 17 Inches, with 11 1/4" long blade
I recently got about a case of these Czechoslovakian VZ-23 Rifle bayonets that had been in storage from a couple of suppliers. They were in used, issued, condition and had years of grease and dirt on them. I thought they would make great modern Fighting Knives once they were cleaned-up. In addition, some of the knives did not have an original metal scabbard with them.
Once these knives were cleaned I found I was not able to reuse all of the original wooden handles. I replaced the wooden handles on some of the knives with an assortment of hardwoods. I used ebony, cherry, Hawaiian Koa wood, Mango, Oak, burl wood and hickory wood. On the wooden handles I was able to reuse and on the newer ones I applied a coat of stain and then sealed the wood with Boiled Linseed Oil.
If you wanted to mount one of these knives on a Mouser type rifle you will have to remove the cleaning rod first. I did not have the right size tool to form the half circle on the backside of the two wooden handle pieces that the cleaning rod would normally fit into. The backside of the two wooden handle pieces are left flat on these knives.
After cleaning-up the knives and mounting handles I made new heavy leather belt frogs for each one of them. On the ones without an original rolled metal scabbard, I made a heavy leather scabbard for those knives too.
Except on a few of the knives I was able to reuse the original screws too. On the ones where I had to replace the original screws, because they were too damaged to reuse, I replaced them with a similar type to keep within the original design of the bayonet.
I removed and cleaned the bayonet locking mechanism on all the knives too before reinstalling them. The locking mechanism on this bayonet was missing when I got the knife. There is also small spots on the blade of corrosion into the surface of the metal.
The VZ-23 Knife bayonet was for use with the VZ–98/22 Mauser rifles. It also mounts to the later VZ–24 short rifle. These examples were made around 1923 by
Československá zbrojovka a.s.
, Brno. The VZ–23 copied the Austrian M1895 inverted blade profile, but used a Mauser style hilt.
More information on these types of bayonets can be found on the web page worldbayonets dot com
This listing is for one VZ-23 long bayonet, fighting knife with a leather frog and and heavy leather sheath
.
If you have any questions just contact me.
Be sure to checkout my other listings too.