Hitler Youth Knives - White Metal

Paul Seilheimer made Nazi daggers and so did his brother-in-law Arthur Everts.  He began grinding knives and was influenced by other knifemakers:

* F.W. Holler
* Alex Coppel
* Carl Eickhorn

Alex Coppel

F.W. Holler

 

Arthur Evertz

Some confuse Arthur Evertz with David Everts (different people)  but both are fine craftsmen.

Toys are made of metal, with plastic, rubber, or glass details. These alloys are also referred to casually as white metal or pot metal , although these terms are also confused with the lead toy alloys.    Diecast toys made before World War II are difficult to find in good condition because of zink rot.  

The later high-purity Zamak alloy avoided this problem. 

 Zamak (Mazak)  are lead alloys of zinc

 with small quantities of aluminium and copper.  

Lead or iron are impurities that must be carefully avoided in these alloys as they give rise to zinc pest .  

Almost anything can be produced by this method even knife blades and handles.   Zinkpest also known as zinc rot is a German term since 1923 that defines a destructive, intercrystalline corrosion process of zinc alloys containing lead impurities.  Impurities of the alloy are the primary cause of the problem high humidity may accelerate the process. 

Affected objects may show surface irregularities such as small cracks and fractures, blisters or pitting.   The material slowly expands, cracking, buckling and warping in an irreversible process that makes the object exceedingly brittle and prone to fracture until eventually shattering the object. 

Genuine Carl Eickhorn RZM Jugend knife

Royal Cypher On Tang

Alots of folks are shocked to see their HJ knife fracture at the slightest touch.  They may not realize that the blades as well as the handles are die cast metal.

Tip from genuine Hitler Youth knife

The knives cannot be tossed at targets without breaking instantly.  These can hold an edge sharpness enough to cut paper but light duty only.  These are toys not real knives as adults use.  Prices are high for these because they are decreasing in number over time from damage.  

The confusion that Germany has Solingen steel for their blades.

These are not like those however.

Unfortunate owners soon find out the hard way if they use their HJ knife for general purpose utility.  They snap because they do not bend at all.