Any love for the Mercator KAT knife?

Mercator must have had a good sales representative here in Washington as I have three "Give Away" models from various Fishing companies. One from "LFS Inc, Bellingham (Lummi Fisheries Supplies) a second from "Samson Cordage Works also in Bellingham, and the third "First Vancouver Net Factory" which has a small. 1 3/4-inch hook blade. I finally found a D.R.G.M. marked Mercator, with the D.R.G.M. both on the ricasso and the spine of the handle, a current K55, and a SAK type Mercator, with a lot of tools. I also have a "Delta" made clone of a Mercator lockback, with an inscription on the blade "Weihnacten 1918" which commemorates a miners strike on Christmas Day 1918, Delta was in business 1878-1957. Lastly another lock back clone of a Mercator marked "Protector" on the ricasso. Germaina posted that "Protector" was a registered brand name of C. Friedrich Ern company of Solingen. John
 
John A. Larsen said:
I also have a "Delta" made clone of a Mercator lockback, with an inscription on the blade "Weihnacten 1918" which commemorates a miners strike on Christmas Day 1918
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are you sure that is a "miner's strike"? "Weihnachten" is the German word for Christmas Eve, and usually when you hear that in association with WWI, you think "Christmas Truce". However that was in 1914, at least the widely known truces. I'm not aware of any historically significant thing associated with Christmas in 1918, but I'm no expert. I'm prepared to believe there was a miner's strike on Christmas Eve 1918 in Germany. Of course at that date the war was over, and they were just waiting for the treaty of Versailles to be completed. There were basicallhy in the middle of revolution and social upheaval and people were starving, the economy was screwed, and there were more people dying on top of the 4 million German soldiers already dead.
I'm curious to know now.
 
dirc said:
at least one of our bf supporters sells it ; )
http://www.baryonyxknife.com/mesotlow.html
or
http://www.baryonyxknife.com/mebllow.html
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That's where I got mine. I have no complaints. Good service, I like his taste in inventory. I wanted to buy just about every item in his store, and that's not usual for me. I'm picky about what I like, but we seem to agree pretty closely about what's interesting. I didn't get the pocket clip one because I wanted the real, traditional Mercator. But maybe someday. First I have to buy one of the brass handle Higonokamis with the "Blue Paper" steel blade core. They cost about twice what the base model ones cost, but are still pretty affordable. But not to me, not just now.
 
KHarper, You could be right, not sure how I figured out it was miner's strike, but there are two lines of additional text which are partially worn off, the second line reads : Mi.....hesten Wunschen, the third line" ........(? one or two words gone ) ....sellschaft". I did find a mutiny of the people's navy on Christmas Day 1918, maybe that is what it is about. I would think it had to be something, other than just commemorating a Christmas Day. John
PS: The knife came out of Finland.
 
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John A. Larsen said:
KHarper, You could be right, not sure how I figured out it was miner's strike, but there are two lines of additional text which are partially worn off, the second line reads : Mi.....hesten Wunschen, the third line" ........(? one or two words gone ) ....sellschaft". I did find a mutiny of the people's navy on Christmas Day 1918, maybe that is what it is about. I would think it had to be something, other than just commemorating a Christmas Day. John
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I am sure that "sellschaft" is part of "Gessellschaft", which means "Company". "wünschen" means "to want" or "to wish". Is "hesten" a part of a word that is obliterated, or is a lone word? I'm wondering if it was an inscribed Christmas gift, or some special Christmas gift edition that said "Christmas Eve 1918; here's hoping you get what you wish for", or something along those lines. I'll bet it has some collectors value. It's interesting, an any case. Too bad the markings are damaged though.
There are a few people on this forum who speak German. At least they translated the marks on an old German bayonet for me. If you posted pics they might be able to tell you what the full inscription was. I'm guessing the date means that it was FROM 1918, which makes it highly interesting. But I'm no expert, of course.
 
Although “Weihnachten” taken literally would seem to mean Christmas Eve, in use it refers to the entire Christmas holiday. zB, “Froehliche Weihnachten” = “Merry Christmas”.

As for Baryonyx, I have found that Forty-Two Blades’ selection of knives is very much to my taste. A lot of my knives and machetes have come from him. I don’t know that I need “one of each”, but it would not be a bad way to assemble a pretty interesting and functional collection.
 
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Ive always liked the Mercator knife even though my cheapo knife fix is currently covered by the (even cheaper) Higo pen knife.
Douk-douk, Mercator, Higo - they may be cheap and some may be ... homely but they all have a bunch of charm.

As for the Christmas 'miners strike' knife, its highly unlikely that anybody would choose to commemorate a miners strike in 1918.
As others have touched upon, Germany in 1918 had suffered millions of dead and after the War, the carnage continued with social upheaval/revolution.

Unless of course the knife was a gift from one looney tunes Spartakist to another.
 
Baryonyx is a great place to buy. He also offers a service to improve the edge for a few dollars that's unique and well worth the money.
 
Got my Mercator and while it’s real, I don’t like it as much as the Douk-Douk. Lacks some of the charm with the plastic blade stop and modern matte powder coat finish. The Douk-Douk looks just how’d you’d imagine them to have looked back in the 30s. From the interviews and films of the factory, they’re still made exactly the same, not so with the Mercator.

I also feel the Douk-Douk is the better user. It’s even slimmer and lighter than the Mercator, and the back spring is so stiff there really is no need for a lock. Just simplicity at its finest!
 
Mitch Taldison said:
Got my Mercator and while it’s real, I don’t like it as much as the Douk-Douk. Lacks some of the charm with the plastic blade stop and modern matte powder coat finish. The Douk-Douk looks just how’d you’d imagine them to have looked back in the 30s. From the interviews and films of the factory, they’re still made exactly the same, not so with the Mercator.
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Wait, what? Mine doesn't have any plastic parts and I just bought it last year.
 
My Mercator is a modern production and the back spacer at the butt of the handle seems to be some sort of plastic.
 
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