What I wanted to know is if you could see the type of rough finishes on the bayonet. One scabbard has about 95% of the manufacturer and date removed. You can not see that from the pictures that you have. But this same type of buff grind finish is also on the blade and pommel area. Note that the SS Property Stamp is in Excellent Condition and under the finish. The point is, why was such an extensive rework done to these bayonets when the war was in its last stages. Like the old sayng, "Arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." These were battfield salvaged bayonets. Why do anything to them. The rifle that Walther sent home was dated 1943 and when I looked at it, the gun was reblued and coated with a cosmoline type grease. I do not know if the Germans put the grease on or if Walther did it.
The bayonets have been together since the war. However, it is hard to assume that the quality of the coating process may have been the same for both bayonets. I do not know the condition of the bayonets prior to rework. I said that I could see a rough finish. The end result of the coating is determined by the quality of the surface of the item being coated / plated. On the bayonet scabbard that is missing some finish I can see pits using a magnifying glass. On the blade of bayonet 1237 I can also see small pits in the blade surface using a magnifying glass. In addition there is a grind gouge on the cutting edge of 1237 that has buff grind marks going through it. The coating is the same on both bayonets. The surface finishes are not. More pitting on 1237. It is what would be expected from battlefield salvage rework done by slave labor.
Richard K
Richard,
Attached is a pair of bayonets by the same maker. From the same general late 1944 time period, showing the transition from bluing to a phosphate type finish. It also shows how the light reflects differently depending on the angle, and the quality of the surface finish. I understand metal finishing more than you might (ordinarily) think. I also know what I am looking at in person, and most times with digital images. Having seen not only quite a few period reworks, but those done after the war as well. And I still stand by my preliminary conclusions that something has happened to the bayonets that is out of the ordinary. Until of course, something to the contrary comes along that shows otherwise.
Best Regards, FP
