No4 MkII bayonet in Chrome?

[Webley No.5]

Recently bought a bunch of bayonets and one was a No4 mkII spike bayonet. Bayonet is chromed and it appears that whomever did it do a decent job. Hard to read but it appears to have the long branch LB lightly stamped in it and a serial number 2700 that has been stamped over. Just wondering about the chroming. My guess is that the bayonet was originally issued to a different rifle in normal finish and then chromed and fitted to a ceremonial rifle (hence the serial stamped out). So my question is who did the chroming? I’ve heard that a few Canadian units had chromed bayonets but don’t know where they came from as it doesn’t seem like they came from Long branch like that unless it was just individual armorers. Also was there other alterations to the rifles for ceremonial purposes? Ie was the rifle chromed in other places?

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

We used these chromed bayonets in cadets the 90's in honor guard at HMCS quadra in the summer time. I think they did the same at HMCS ontario. We used them on standard No.4's DND sent down every summer

 

[stencollector]

Along with the chrome bayonets and scabbards, there were white slings for the rifles and frogs for the bayonet. There was no alteration of the rifle.
I have found chromed scabbards mixed in with regular scabbards when I bought boxes of 100 of them. But it seems to me there may have been a separate stock number for the chromed variety. I have a few of the chromed bayonets as well.

Sometimes the chroming was also done at the unit level. I remember when I was in the militia the RSM sent a bunch of the FN bayonets for chroming. He got a little carried away and there weren't enough regular bayonets to cover the normal training needs. Luckily we were armoured, so the SMG was the standard arm for most of us, and we didn't worry about fixing bayonets on a SMG.

I have owned several chromed no4s, but those were presentation pieces rather than ceremonial rifles.

 

[Cottage Hill Bill]

There is also a parade version of the No.4 bayonet that has a metal ball welded to the tip. It is a little bigger than a glass marble. My understanding was that the ball prevented the tip from catching on flags when used in a color guard. All I've seen were chromed. Passed on one years ago, wish I hadn't.