Original Item: Only One Available. This is an incredible mint condition unissued example of the U.S. PAL RH 36 fighting knife, manufactured by the PAL Cutlery Company.

According to The Official Price Guide of Collector Knives by C Houston Price & Mark D Zaleysky, PAL was originally used as a trademark by the Utica Knife & Razor Company of Utica, NY from about 1924-1939. PAL marked knives of that era used blades imported from Germany, and the blades typically bore the word “Germany” as well. Another company using the name PAL was established in Chicago in 1934. This company was known as the Pal Blade Company of Chicago, and was started by Otto Kraus. In 1935 the two “PAL” companies merged into one, known simply as the PAL Blade Company, and opened a manufacturing facility in Plattsburg, NY. Around 1940 PAL purchased the cutlery division of the Remington Arms Company, including of their existing stock of completed knives and knife parts.

While PAL was originally a manufacturer of pocketknives, but after the Remington acquisition they expanded their range of products to include a variety of fixed blade knives as well. PAL received a number of US government knife contracts during World War II and produced thousands of combat knives during the war years. Pal went out of business in 1953.The USN Mark 1 combat knife was produced by a variety of manufactures during World War II and was issued to Navy personnel by the thousands. It had a 5 ¼” long blade and was patterned after typical hunting and sideknives of the era. The subsequent Mark 2 knife had a longer 7” blade.

This particular example was manufactured by the PAL Cutlery Company and is clearly marked on one side of the blade: RH – PAL MADE IN USA – 36. The knife is in mint unissued condition, with the blade retaining 100%+ of its original nickel finish. The blade shows original grain. The blade retains its untouched factory edge, which is exactly the way you want to find a high condition knife. The hilt is composed of multiple thin leather washers, with the ones closest to the cross guard being of dark red. This same dark red washer pattern occurs near the cast aluminum pommel cap as well. The hilt washers are also in mint condition as well.

The scabbard is the earliest leather version and is in perfect condition. The only issue is that the closure snap was so tight (unopened for decades?) that it broke when we tried to remove the knife.

Overall this perhaps the very best example of a genuine PAL 36 combat knife that one can find. No collection of World War II US military knives is complete without a PAL knife.