Teased on social media for the past few months, the Victor 3 Knife from Geissele Automatics offshoot Abraham & Moses Survival Gear made its official debut at last weekend’s Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia.
The story behind this knife is pretty incredible. I’m going to give a very abbreviated version because Recoil magazine did an in-depth article.
Bill Geissele showed me the knife during last month’s SOFIC and I took a few notes. Many years ago, Bill bought a knife from a Vietnam Veteran he knew and wanted to learn more about it. During last year’s Blade Show he set it out on the table in the A&M booth and sure enough, someone recognized it and after referencing a 35 year old issue of Blade magazine, filled him in on a few details.
Turns out, the knife was originally called the Victory 2 and made by Pennsylvania custom maker Dan Valois. Many Soldiers from the local area bought and carried it back in the 60s. Bill described the original knife’s design to me as a cross between a Bowie knife and a short sword. Bill found out that Dan was from a nearby town and attempted to contact him, only to find that he had passed away. Fortunately, Dan’s widow got back with him and gave him permission to carry-on with the knife’s tradition.
The Victory 3 is not an exact copy of the Victory 2, but it’s still what Bill referred to as a “Classic American Knife.” It’s a survival knife, and although it’s a full tang design, one side of the handle opens in order to store small Survival items. The blade is made from 440C stainless steel and heat treated to 58-60 Rockwell hardness. A&M states the blade is 6.875″ with an overall length of 11.75″.
Bill told me they had to purchase a machine to hollow ground the blades, like on the original. The team also preserved the large brass guard which gives the knife its unique look.
One interesting feature is the hex wrench in the butt. It also accepts a cutdown bandsaw blade into that channel, which gives the knife a different functionality than others out there.
A&M also recreated the sawtooth cuts on the back of the blade, so it’s available with or without. Additionally, they’ve introduced a serrated option for the blade.
While the Victor 2 came in a leather sheath, A&M offers a Boltoron version in Black, Coyote or Green.
Although it’s not on the website yet, it’s available now at abeandmoe.com
