Ek Commando Knife Co.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Clark Gable, and General George S. Patton have been identified as Ek knife owners.

[citation needed] A knifemaker since 1939, in January 1941, John Ek started producing knives in quantity in Hamden, Connecticut.

By August 1944, demand for his knives had grown to the point where he had three shifts working around the clock seven days a week, to produce 10 different models.

[1] It is reported that President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept a John Ek Commando Knife on his desk in the White House until the time of his death.

[3][4] Captain Clark Gable, while not necessarily expecting to see combat, purchased a number of Ek Knives while he served.

Due to the growing crime rate in Miami, the Ek family decided to relocate the operation to St. Augustine until 1982, when they moved it to Richmond, Virginia.

New knives have been introduced, developed by Gary Ek including the Raider/MCMAP Knife, authorized by the U.S. Marine Raider Association.

Machined brass X-nut screws to fasten the handle became standard instead of the original poured lead rivets.

Ek knives produced lower cost models with a handle made entirely of green or black (and occasionally "desert camo") wrapped parachute cord and a heavy nylon-webbing sheath in a matching color.

[2] During the 1980s EK Commando knife blades were made by Hattori in Seki Japan but marked Richmond VA.

As Blackjack endured internal problems, they began producing small lots of different knives marked with the Ek brand in an attempt to catch the knife-buying public's attention.

The U.S. Government War Production Board tested and approved the designs of John Ek's knives and authorized continued availability of the nickel-chrome-moly steel which he used.

Most knives of the day (even ones made today) had narrow "rat-tail" tangs, many running only one-third the length of the grip.

This allowed the butt end of the knife to be used as a pry bar for opening ammunition crates or, according to Ek's 1944 manual, Your Silent Partner, for "an upstroke to lay your opponent out."

The extended butt of the Ek Commando Knife may have inspired the design of the "skullcrusher" pommel on the First Special Service Force V-42 stiletto, which appeared in 1943.

This gave the user such a good grip that John Ek found that a crossguard was not necessary to prevent the hand from sliding onto the blade.

When questioned about this by the War Production Board, Ek greased his hand and plunged one of his knives into the wooden floor with such force that no one was able to pull it out.