British made U.S. M1910 e tool

[Garandrew]

Anyone else familiar with these?

[qed4]

What make you think it is British made rather than surplus store made? The blade looks too big to fit into a carrier. Dose it have British markings on it?

[Garandrew]

US at angle 

[qed4]

I don't think the US being at an angle is an indication of it being British made. The Army made replacement handles and at the end of the war many of them got surplused off. The surplus dealers ended up with them and they were pretty much useless and not salable so they had cheap blades stamped out and made complete shovels which they could sell. If the tub that holds the wood handle is just wrapped around it is a surplus store special the real ones have a separate piece welded to the back of the blade to form the tub to support the wood so it dose not split.

[earlymb]

I have exactly the same shovel, with the same marking. The blades themselves are slightly different in shape at the rear (with 'shoulders') from a standard M1910 and the tang is folded around the wooden shaft, fixed with a single rivet.

 

It's not made up by some surplus shop, but what it is then is not yet clear. I came up with the British Made-theory a few years ago based on the long, thin font on the 'US' marking (also used on webbing BM items) but as of now this has not been proven or disproven. Another option is that this actually is one the M1910's predecessors, possibly a variant of the M1905.

[RustyCanteen]

Right. Nothing conclusive has surfaced about some of the M1910 variations out there. 

RC

[earlymb]

No. I'm convinced it's old and not a surplus shop-special but military issue... I just have no idea where it was made or when.

[Garandrew]

I think it’s even listed in a book about UK made US gear in WW2 so the author I know is running with the UK origin too and he’s in the UK