Another waxed coated bayonet for sale

[camstuff 0]

This bayonet has the protective wax coating.
 

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/parts-ammo-accessories/bayonets/johnson-model-1941-rifle-bayonet-with-scabbard-in-as-new-unissued-condition.cfm?gun_id=102079827

[WHIG 0]

Coming out of the woodwork for these prices. Wax is cheap!

[ArtR 0]

ADMIN deleted duplicate post.

[Jimbocious 0]

Per Bruce Canfield (p. 145): "None of the Johnson bayonets or scabbards were originally factory marked with a serial number....."  This listing says it has the number 1849 on the ring.  So NOT "an original as issued Johnson Model 1941 bayonet... in new unissued condition" as claimed in the posting.  I hate this sh*t!! 

[ArtR 0]

Thanks Jimbocious.....I waited since last Thursday, biting my tongue, for someone else to notice the "1849" discrepancy

[WHIG 0]

Good posting. If this has a number stamped on it, then it is obviously used and cannot be original packed in wax from the factory. Thanks!

[Jimbocious 0]

I still don't get the whole wax thing and if it's even real. I don't recall ever reading anything about wax in any of the literature I've seen (but I'm far from the expert that others on this board are), and it makes no sense when you think about it. Why bother waxing a non-moving (essentially)-single-piece accessory (that was only added at the insistence of govt procurement pinheads) when that part was designed to be literally thrust into the mud, snow, blood and guts of battle? Did anyone really worry about it rusting during storage/shipment if it would soon be facing far worse rust-inducing conditions?  And it was wartime, so extra steps and materials for something like that just doesn't seem like it would have passed any timing or budgetary tests in the day. If they were worried about rust in transit, why wouldn't they have simply used grease/cosmoline that they already had on hand for coating the rifles and that could be wiped off when received, instead of having to be melted off like wax? So none of this wax business makes any sense to me. I could be wrong, and I'd love to see any authoritative reference that bayos were ever actually waxed by the factory or others in the contemporary supply chain.  Until then, I remain a skeptic.

[Rarecat 0]

And I was just sitting here melting some candles getting ready to be rich and ya'll got to blow it for me

What was the PT Barnum saying again?

[Blueheeler 0]

Another possibility is that they were waxed sometime after being issued and before being placed back into long term storage, but as pointed out, why not use cosmoline or grease?

[ArtR 0]

In the day, cosmoline or/and wax paper were the preferred short term fix for protection/storage/shipment of items that may be subjected to salty conditions. We know that as many, many items from WWII are still found in original packing that way. 

The wax dip, while it sounds feasible, just does not make sense. If not also wrapped in paper, if the wax got hot enough to melt, it would could make for a solid mass of parts!

And I too have never seen anything in wax before this. Maybe I just have not been looking hard enough or in the right places!

And damn, I also almost had the right combination of colored candles to get the right color mix.

[eb in oregon 0]

I have no clue as to if the company waxed those bayonets or not, but just saying, cosmoline and leather don't play well together. Wax however is essentially inert and won't cause any damage to the leather scabbard and will protect the bayonet from rust or corrosion until it's issued. The SN though does raise alarm bells.

I would also conjecture that the coating isn't bees wax. It appears to be the same "wax" coating that cutting tools are protected with and it usually doesn't melt under 150 degrees Celsius (302 Fahrenheit).

[Ed Johnson 0]

$1,800 plus for one of Dad's hated bayonets? I feel him roaring with laughter !! .....even if it is a REAL one.

[eb in oregon 0]

24 minutes ago, Ed Johnson said:

$1,800 plus for one of Dad's hated bayonets? I feel him roaring with laughter !! .....even if it is a REAL one.

Ditto Ed.

[Orlando 0]

I would think a unissued bayo would be in cosmo and waxed paper. The leather scabbard would have been wrapped dray separately

[eb in oregon 0]

4 minutes ago, Orlando said:

I would think a unissued bayo would be in cosmo and waxed paper. The leather scabbard would have been wrapped dray separately

I dunno man, every new bayonet I ever got issued came with the scabbard in a box. And the Army usually keeps things as a set and then issues things as a set if it's supposed to be a set.

[Jimbocious 0]

I thought about the wax/scabbard/cosmoline/scabbard issue after I posted, but then thought they may have been manufactured separately and shipped together but possibly in separate boxes.  Do any of the admins know whether the Johnson factory actually made the scabbards?  They would have needed a separate leather tooling operation, which seems a bit unlikely??

[Ed Johnson 0]

Bruce Canfield makes references and some details concerning the bayonets on pages 252 & 253 of our Johnson book.  ej