I have one that I inherited from my dad. The story I remember -- tho it seems a little coarse in retrospect -- is that he took it off a dead Marine on a beach in the Pacific. Dad was with the First Division, and wore it for the rest of the war. I learned the word "groove" from the knife as a little boy when I asked what the indentation on the blade was. He always called it his combat knife. When he was a few days from death in 1995 and having bad dreams, he took it from a drawer and put it on his bedside table.

When I inherited it the leather rings that comprise the handle were loose, and I used a leather conditioner over time, as explained above, to make the leather swell so that it is now tight. It is an excellent knife.

I think market value is about $50, but, as they say, my dad's Cattaraugus 225Q is priceless to me.