KnivesForum

Muskrat24 · User Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 1

My sister got me a machete for Christmas and I was wondering if I could get some information on it?

First of all it is a Legitimus Colons co Machete. The blade is 22" and the handle is 5" and with 5 rivets. Right above the handle on the blade it says:

Symbol (Arm, mallet and crown)
Legitimus
Collins & Co.
Made in US
No. 125

Also it has a nice condition sheath that reads:

Collins & Co.
Symbol (Arm, mallet and crown)
Legitimus

And underneath this in fancey "()'s"

(13)

Any informationsuch as age, what it was used for is greatly thanked. I was reading a little around here and on google and it appears from what it said to be around 1940's used in WW2. Was this a army, navy, etc. Machete? Thanks for your time.

Muskrat24

Macabee · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject:

You may want to check that number again. I have a copy of "Collins Machettes & Bowies 1845-1965" by Daniel Edward Henry in front of me it shows the 125 as being an axe. Whatever it is that you really have there Collins put out a good product.

toshikuga · User Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 1

I found this information in google about collins machete. you've got to read this:

The classic Collins machetes as made in Connecticut were made by forging. Collins, whose business began in the 1820s, when they built their overseas plants in the 1950s, began to use stock removal (punching out from steel plate with dies and then reducing by flat grinding and planers) when it became the norm. Only by the use of automation can a manufacturer afford to pay a worker American wages to make such simple items. And probably the military's buy American rules have had a lot of influence on keeping any manufacture in the US. Today the only major domestic maker left, Ontario, uses the stock removal method.