Here is some more info on them:
On 16th of June 1942 an order was issued for 10 000 Stilettos from Landers, Frary & Clark for the price of $2.03 each. The knives looked very nice but the steel quality was inferior. After following tougher specifications a new knife was adopted in October 1942 for the price of $2.23 each. Wilkinson Sword had made an offer $30 each. With this great difference there was not much to argue about.
The US government got what they paid for. The knives bend and break easily!
The hilt is made in three sections of steel, the flat crossguard, handle and the threaded knob. The unique part of handle is the checkering - all the way to the cross-guard. This is not seen on any other F-S style of knife.
The shape of the blade differs from the typical F-S knife type because it is much narrower to the tip. Such a blade is more vulnerable and easy to break.
The knife is very beautiful and well made but weak. However the best thing with this knife is its scabbard. The scabbard got the nickname Pancake flapper. Landers, Frary & Clark was for a time the largest cutlery producer in USA. They also made a number of kitchen tools. One of the utensils was the kitchen spatula or pancake flapper. The same dies was used to produce the scabbard as the spatula! The knife was kept in place by a simple rubber O-ring.
