A genuine example of a British military machete dated 1918, manufactured by the renowned Samuel Kitchen & Co. of Sheffield – the city long regarded as the beating heart of Britain’s blade and steel industry. This machete comes complete with its leather scabbard, which is marked “LEATHERITE LTD 1918” and features the British broad arrow stamp to the reverse, confirming government issue.

This machete features a broad flat-ground blade clearly stamped, “S. Kitchen & Co – Sheffield – 1918” The blade shows lots of age related wear and use, but no structural damage.

What makes this piece particularly unusual is the wooden slab handle, which differs from the more commonly encountered composite grips typically seen on British-issued machetes from this period. The wooden grip is secured with four domed rivets, all intact and solid. Whether this was a field adaptation, contractor variation, or limited production batch remains open to interpretation, but, I do feel it adds interest to the item.