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Book Resource Recommendations

WreckTangle

Mad Dog 20/20 Connoisseur (RIP Brother 06-05-203)
I want to start getting into bayonets. Anyone have a good recommendation for resources, specifically books? I've seen a few out there, most seem out of print and thus bring a premium to purchase. Want to make sure that I get something that will be worth it.
 
I want to start getting into bayonets. Anyone have a good recommendation for resources, specifically books? I've seen a few out there, most seem out of print and thus bring a premium to purchase. Want to make sure that I get something that will be worth it.

Are you looking at bayonets in general or want to concentrate on specific patterns, nations, time periods, etc? Lots of good references are out there...many tailored to suit a specific collector...
 
Are you looking at bayonets in general or want to concentrate on specific patterns, nations, time periods, etc? Lots of good references are out there...many tailored to suit a specific collector...

Whoops. Should have mentioned which ones I want to start collecting.

WW2 German Bayonets is what I am interested in.
 
Whoops. Should have mentioned which ones I want to start collecting.

WW2 German Bayonets is what I am interested in.

Welcome to the beginning of what some consider a disease. Good that you know where you want to start, kinda. If you are going to study the S84/98 III bayonet, this is a good place to start. We have THE bayonet guys here. As far as books, I think one or more of our members have published. I will tell you most of what you need to know can be learned right here. Every maker is listed. The codes are listed. There are pictures galore. Production numbers for each maker, for each year can be had. Read all you can and ask questions. If it is not written here, members will or should be able to answer any question. You need to figure out how you want to collect. Do you want one from each year, do you want one from each maker or do you want one from each maker for every year? Some collect certain makers, others certain years and some do it all. Better have deep pockets and lots of time if you want one example from each maker for each year. A daunting task for sure, but it can be done. It will not be easy, especially since there are more and more collecting every day. The S84/98 III has been a collectible item for a long time and with the increase in interest, sources are drying up. Six to seven years ago the amount of nice matching S84/98 III bayonets on Ebay were plentiful and for a fair price. Now matching ones are few and most of the sellers want to get rich from one bayonet. Good luck hunting and enjoy the disease.
 
http://k98.free.fr

I use this website all the time. If one of you here maintain it, thank you.

I entirely agree with Grimlin13, bayonets are hot and bring big money. There is a lot of interest in them right now. Just today, I saw a picture of someones collection they just got a cabinet for. There were no German mausers in it, but it was full of WW2 German bayonets. Bayonets are also popular places you can not have the real thing. They are easy to store, and I have a lot of fun finding them. Good luck with your endeavor!
 
Yes the k98 freee site is a good reference site. Book mark it. In the past it has gone away ( I was unable to access it for over two years). Another good reference site is our member Unutt`s site. He has a grid set up with bayonet pics of almost every year and each maker for that year. Also check out the great posts by our member AWS. Just take the time and search here, there are tons of bayonets pictured from all of us.
 
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Whoops. Should have mentioned which ones I want to start collecting. WW2 German Bayonets is what I am interested in.

That makes it easier! Several have mentioned websites as valuable resources and they can be very helpful. In addition, with member interaction, often questions will receive responses in a timely manner. However, sometimes their search engines are not very efficient, or they take some mastering to refine what information you are seeking. In addition, with the "purge" of third-party hosted photos by Photo Book a few years ago, many helpful photos are no longer available. A couple of good books, which are within arm's reach, and can be read at leisure still can't be beat. Since "A picture is worth a thousand words", the attached .jpg shows those references I have dealing specifically with German bayonets. Several are out of print. Books in which German bayonets are only one type covered among many others were omitted. However, the Steves/Kareem K98k Trilogy provides some excellent information on German bayonets (the S84/98s in particular) and deserves mention as well.
 

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Welcome to the beginning of what some consider a disease. Good that you know where you want to start, kinda. If you are going to study the S84/98 III bayonet, this is a good place to start. We have THE bayonet guys here. As far as books, I think one or more of our members have published. I will tell you most of what you need to know can be learned right here. Every maker is listed. The codes are listed. There are pictures galore. Production numbers for each maker, for each year can be had. Read all you can and ask questions. If it is not written here, members will or should be able to answer any question. You need to figure out how you want to collect. Do you want one from each year, do you want one from each maker or do you want one from each maker for every year? Some collect certain makers, others certain years and some do it all. Better have deep pockets and lots of time if you want one example from each maker for each year. A daunting task for sure, but it can be done. It will not be easy, especially since there are more and more collecting every day. The S84/98 III has been a collectible item for a long time and with the increase in interest, sources are drying up. Six to seven years ago the amount of nice matching S84/98 III bayonets on Ebay were plentiful and for a fair price. Now matching ones are few and most of the sellers want to get rich from one bayonet. Good luck hunting and enjoy the disease.

I get exactly what your saying. It's just like the K98s... After just randomly buying K98s I decided it was better to purchase one maker and learn from there. For now I'm going with BSW/Gustloff... one rifle of each year and same year variation--I think that collecting philosophy should carry over well to collecting bayonets at least for a beginner. I'm thinking it might be wise to go with a common maker and higher number produced to start that way its cheaper to get into and I don't make any significant "mistake" purchases that I would have a hard time recouping money.
 
Yes the k98 freee site is a good reference site. Book mark it. In the past it has gone away ( I was unable to access it for over two years). Another good reference site is our member Unutt`s site. He has a grid set up with bayonet pics of almost every year and each maker for that year. Also check out the great posts by our member AWS. Just take the time and search here, there are tons of bayonets pictured from all of us.

I saw an older post about that website either on Gunboards or on here and how good of a resource it was but how people were having issues accessing it. So... I have some specialized software that will crawl and rip websites to a local drive so you can view them offline (exactly as you would if they are online). It's essentially just a structured offline backup. I figured since people have had trouble in the past accessing the website it would be best to backup the website in case it disappears for good and no one is able to contact the owner. I didn't dive in to the files that much but the website appeared not to have been updated recently.

I think it would be wise if I upload the backup I created in a zip or rar file to google drive and dropbox and have a few of the more "active" bayonet board members here download it so if access to the original site becomes unavailable the community won't lose such a valuable resource. If updates are made I can easily mirror those updates to the backup archive. I'm currently out of state and won't be home until the middle of next week. If this is appropriate and the owner of the site doesn't mind... If you would like volunteer to be an "archivist", essentially hold on to the website backup, let me know and once I upload it I'll send you the links to download it. FYI, it's about 2.2gb--if I remember correctly it has over a thousand pictures. Can't lose a resource like that!
 

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