Ron, I always appreciate your vast and overwhelming knowledge and experience on III R edged weapons. But in this case (trial run, never issued) there stands the triangle of the RAD leadership against the assumption. This triangle would proof that the sample has been approved and introduced.
I cannot speak about the blade of the Hirl hewer, I have never seen it nor have I seen a picture of it. BTW, who did present him the hewer with the fske Damast blade? But I know (from photographic dokumentation) that Hierl did wear at least TWO first model hewers, the earlier one with the prominent full stag grip and later on (when the officer´s model was long ago established) one with the common metal nose grip. Therefore Hierl did change his hewer but still did wear the massive model.
Regards,
