UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons HJ Edged Weapons Forum Hubertus, Hitler Youth knife?

I have a Hitler youth knife stamped only with "Hurbertus" Solingen, and the Hubertus logo, Hurbertus still appears to be in business,

This knife by appearances to be near like the later issues with no etching on the blade, The handle swastika diamond insert is or appears to be stainless as opposed to copper looking in others seen. It has a metal scabbard without the lip. (later reproductions with a rolled lip) but is missing the belt strap.

Is this ensemble a real item or an early reproduction.?

I haven't seen this maker as a listed maker of WW II era knives or been able to find out much history of them.

It's in good shape though obviously used with typical minor scratching on the blade and handle hardware, some pitting on the blade, a chip out of the red onlay on the diamond insert. Despite the pitting on the blade it still has a decent blade finish that looks close to original. semi bright and nor ground out or pitting over polished.

Hi Rvan, I used to own a HJ knife by Hubertus (does it have a ships wheel maker mark) . I created a post when I had one , and it was the general opinion that they are a post war make .The diamond insert sounds postwar also , but without pictures it is hard to say, as with the scabbard. Hope this helps , cheers Ian

The Hubertus TM goes back to the mid 1800s mainly specializing in hunting cutlery. Hubertus made scout knives until 1933 when it produced HJ knives. After the war they made scout knives again with the lilly diamond insert. But Hubertus never made 3rd Reich replica HJ kives in the postwar period. If this is a postwar knife with the HJ diamond then it is most likely a home made modification.

Thanks, I saw a Hubertus TM in this forum, And despite a search couldn't find it again and any others mentioning Hubertus. It saw it mentioned as likely post war, but figured there might be a little more history involved as such.

Mine differs slightly from the TM seen, the center cross is broken or stands apart in the center of the wheel, if that indicative of the age of the peice, otherwise it looked like near the same TM.

As far as pictures go, I might eventually list it in my ebay store as soon as I evaluate it. For the most part it looks just like most others without blade etching, The blade finish or grind of the blade possibly different and the diamond being different looking than other earlier items seen.

I saw in someones web page that the sheaths most common as reproductions have a rolled lip on the opening edge. Mine doesn't and appears well used without the hanger strap. two rivet holes on the back and one filled in the front. This possibly indicative of how much post war it is.

I could have made a hanger strap for it at one time if I knew what they looked like and now that I do all my leather working gear is packed away.

"The Hubertus TM goes back to the mid 1800s mainly specializing in hunting cutlery. Hubertus made scout knives until 1933 when it produced HJ knives. After the war they made scout knives again with the lilly diamond insert. But Hubertus never made 3rd Reich replica HJ knives in the postwar period. If this is a postwar knife with the HJ diamond then it is most likely a home made modification."

I think I have a like scout knife somewhere, Or a Scout knife that struck me as near the same handle as the Nazi knife but might have been a clip point blade. I'll have to search for it.

I recall the diamond logo insert as some kind of silver tone plastic common to other Boy Scout logo knives seen in the 60-70's,

I think I also have a similar knife with a dagger blade, but don't recall the makers of either of the knives.

The knife appears to be quite a few years old, The logo equally old and other than the nickel or stainless finish of it identical to those HJ-RZM seen with the copper looking logo's for sale.

The quoted post looks contradictory.

Hubertus made Scout knives till 33 and then made HJ knives? and then returned to making scout knives.

This brings the question of whether this is a scout knife with a replaced diamond, but HJ knives weren't made after the war,

Which brings the question up as to the origin of the diamond insert, it being the stainless tone.

My photo of it's too big to post but I'll try taking another, It doesn't look home made to me.

From previous posts and opinions I have always thought Hubertus a postwar maker.On checking my copy 'Reproduction,Recognition'P.74 by F.J.Stephens.He states"Other points to look out for are modern manufacturer's trademarks,such as the Hubertus mark-known to be a postwar subsidary of E.u.F. Horster."
Is this now not the case?

After the war Hubertus became a subsidiary of Hoerster. But when Hoerster went out of business Hubertus continued to produce knives and still does. The information regarding the TM of Hubertus was given to me by Kurt Glemser who had done research on the firm and on its background.

With the amount of reproduction HJ knives out there this one still appears a bit interesting as possibly one of them or an anomaly.

The handle grips appear to be plastic, with a glossy rough finnish. If originals were Bakelite I would expect a smooth more matte finish and appearances of being cut rather than molded. The grip plates also appear to either not fit well or have shrunk under the ends, The mating contour under the face doesn't with a slight gap underneath but initially appears well fitting.

This knife appears to have significant age with limited handling and extensive light pitting on the blade and a little pitting elsewhere on the handle, but initially looks like a good finish with evident manufacturing grind marks along the length of the blade, Something that wouldn't pass on any knife of quality manufacture, though could be from a restoration attempt, because the pitting is so light despite being extensive.

The scabbard still has one liner spring that looks like it might be galvanized steel. It's been poorly repainted over the original rough worn paint and the new paint well worn, scratched, chipped etc..

A little polishing of the HJ diamond brought out traces of copper on the edges and where there's a big chip out of the red translucent material. it appears as dark grayish brown that was unaffected by polishing.

Overall I would think this was a knife that was around 30 years old with possibly a surplus original scabbard.

If it is Postwar Hubertus it is more likely to be about 60 years old I would think.

I have a hard time trying to grasp the concept of these knives still being produced after the war and this one given the germans just lost it and question why they were still being reproduced?

I can understand the current reproductions but wonder when they started to become more in demand or how long authentic reproductions have been being made.

I have had a few other knives that I know now were copies of some other german war time knives but not actual copies of war time knifes. Like an Ern SS dagger without the Nazi emblems and like same handled knifes with large skinning and Bowie blades.

Hi rvan, from 1945-48 there were a lot of allied soldiers in Germany.The blade factories were taken over by the russians,americans and the british.They produced postwar blades for the allied soldiers that came to germany after the war was over.They had seen the GI's coming home with their "war-booty" and wanted the same.

In Norway we had the "Germany-brigade" These men were stationed in Germany from 1945-48 and brought a lot of "crap" with them home to Norway as souvenirs.

Ulf.

Thanks for the explanation.

It so long ago one forgets how many people where still hanging around after the war as part of the rebuilding process as well as residents trying to get commerce back up to speed and life back to normal again and capitalizing on the war souvenir market for those that missed getting battlefield, surplus or plunder items and a market for the items.

Consumerism and marketing not being a new thing...Not unlike sports and pop music memorabilia today.