Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

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Hutter
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Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Hutter »

I have a Camillus TL-29 that was my grandfathers, who passed away when I was very young. So my question to you guy's is this.....Is the knife military Issued??? From reading a very informative thread on this site I will describe it like this: It is a deep bail, five pin, black synthetic handle, three line engraved blade (Camillus, New York, USA), no number on reverse of blade, and most of all TL-29 is stamped/engraved into the handle. My son will be grateful for your help.......thanks.
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Elvis
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Elvis »

I see no reason to doubt the story that came with the knife. The one I was issued in 1972 matches your description except by then they weren't stamping TL-29 on them anymore.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Hutter »

Thanks Elvis.
If it'll hold a good edge, I like it. If it's made in America, I want it!
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orvet
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by orvet »

It sounds like a post-WWII issue knife.

I was issued this one during Vietnam, about 1971.
My Marine Corps TL-29.jpg

Yours sounds the same except it has the stamp on the handle.
Yours should be military issue as TL-29 is military nomenclature short for: Tool, Linesman, #29.

Not all military issue ones had that stamp, but I don’t think any made for the civilian market were marked with the military nomenclature.
Yours is no doubt military, or military surplus.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Owd Wullie »

orvet wrote:It sounds like a post-WWII issue knife.

I was issued this one during Vietnam, about 1971.
My Marine Corps TL-29.jpg

Yours sounds the same except it has the stamp on the handle.
Yours should be military issue as TL-29 is military nomenclature short for: Tool, Linesman, #29.

Not military issue ones had that stamp, but I don’t think any made for the civilian market were marked with the military nomenclature.
Yours is no doubt military, or military surplus.
There are the rusted remains of several of those on the bottom of the Tonkin Gulf. I float checked a bunch of 'em.

Never did get one to float. :mrgreen:

Float checked several chief petty officer hats too. That's another story. ::super_happy::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by fergusontd »

::dang:: When we were in Tiawan I was put on laundry duty. I accidently fell in the water with a bag of laundry. I was fished out but the bag sank. That float test didn't work either. I didn't think to much of it until one day the following week, several of the the officers on board thanked me for their new unifroms, including the captain. ::facepalm:: ftd
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Owd Wullie »

fergusontd wrote:::dang:: When we were in Tiawan I was put on laundry duty. I accidently fell in the water with a bag of laundry. I was fished out but the bag sank. That float test didn't work either. I didn't think to much of it until one day the following week, several of the the officers on board thanked me for their new unifroms, including the captain. ::facepalm:: ftd

LOL.

A particular Chief and I had had extreme difficulty seeing eye to eye on anything. He was a fat useless turd "lifer". Every time I saw one of his hats laying around, it went over the side. It was hilarious watching him wander around and ask everyone if they'd seen his hat.

I also float checked a lot of his junk. He thought he was going crazy. ::super_happy::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Captain O »

I found an Amazon vendor that had a few Camillus TL-29 knives with the Carbon Steel blades (just like the ones we were issued during the Vietnam War). I ordered it this morning for the princely sum of $29.95. It will be worth every penny of the price paid if I can use it as often as I did as an Aviation Machinist's Mate. 8) ::tu::

Those were the days. ::teary_eyes::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Tsar Bomba »

This is one of the main patterns that got me into knife-collecting. Eminently useful, too. Camillis is far and away the most-represented brand in my hoard of linesman's knives.

I have a wood-clad 4-line beater with a wickedly-sharp, well-used master in my EDC box. I keep a modern-ish (60s-70s) version with full, sharp blades and black composite handles at work for the jobs I might not want to use my 10-dot Barlow or peanut for. The screwdriver/stripper blade is constantly useful - the knife at work often stays perched in my pen cup with the driver blade locked open -- and it is almost unnatural how quickly that knife takes, and keeps, its edge. ::nod:: I have a third, a 2000s-era TL-29 in black composite, which travels in my work bag about 99% of the time, along with my jumbo SAK. Daily essentials, don't leave home (or go to the office) without 'em.

I have already cleaned and sharpened a slightly older Camillus, a twin to the knife at work, to take over for the newest one. I think I am going to send my bag knife over to one of our esteemed knife artisans for some proper dress-up action. The only caveat is that I have no plans to do what most people do with TL-29 mods, which is remove the driver blade and turn it into a single-blade. I'd probably lose the bail for such a knife, though.

I wonder if it would be too optimistic to think "TL-29 in mammoth"...
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FatCity67
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by FatCity67 »

Found this one at the flea market a few month back. Was in a bag of tools I bought. First TL-29 for me. Blade takes a razor edge.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Tsar Bomba »

Here's my work TL-29, faithfully perched atop the pen cup where it lives:
31562053023_13d3863c3e_k.jpg
Couple strokes across the DMT and it's hair-popping every time.
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tjmurphy
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by tjmurphy »

I really like the TL-29 too, but I limit my buying to natural (bone, wood) handles and carbon steel blades. My earliest is ca. WWI and goes up through WWII. Condition ranges from good to near mint. With the Camillus knives, if it doesn't have "27" stamped on the reverse tang, it is most likely mil issued. I have an M. Klein & Sons, Chicago with wooden handles, which from all my searching, seems to be kind of rare. This is the only one I've found and all the rest are handled in a synthetic.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Tsar Bomba »

Most of those Klein TL-29s are rebranded Camillus knives from the same period. You will find a large number of the "faux wood" composite-handled Klein knives but there are also a number of available wood-handled Kleins out there. I don't think they're rare so much as the fact that Camillus didn't make too many in wood when Klein started contracting them to build the knives for their hardware stores and distribution.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by tjmurphy »

Probably should have used the word "uncommon" instead of "rare" ::tu::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Tsar Bomba »

Definitely one of those two. You got me interested in poking around for a Klein-branded wood-handled TL-29 and as of yet I'm 0-fer on it. Found plenty of Case, Schrade, Ulster and even an old NYK but no Kleins in wood. I'll make a point to take some pics of the TL-29s I have with some personality (as opposed to the utilitarian black composite two-pin late models Camillus made so well but so boring :lol:). They include a Schrade with the latch-lock (for lack of the real term) in working order, a few 4-line Camilluses, and a Case Tested (my oldest Case of any kind).

If any of you fine folks with reworked/dressy TL-29 mods would be so kind as to post your knives and stories, it might be real helpful trying to figure out who could mod one of mine once I find some material I want put on it. Of course, if someone has a stock of mammoth ivory and some time to mod a TL-29, feel free to get in touch. :mrgreen:

P.S. As far as I'm aware, TJ, all of the Camillus 29s are carbon steel. The one in my photo is about 35-40 years old or so and my bag knife is maybe 10-15 years old, and as far as I can tell there's no difference whatsoever in cutting performance once you take ten minutes to put a fine edge on it.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by tjmurphy »

Here's an M. Klein & Sons that you don't find too often. Klein calls it a "Radio Electrician" made by Cattaraugus, probably WWI era.
1.jpg
Here's another, a "XELA" which was a Klein brand, again, probably WWI era
1.jpg
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by orvet »

Tsar Bomba wrote:Definitely one of those two. You got me interested in poking around for a Klein-branded wood-handled TL-29 and as of yet I'm 0-fer on it. Found plenty of Case, Schrade, Ulster and even an old NYK but no Kleins in wood.
Tony, if you find the TL-29 made by New York Knife Company please let me know! That is one I am missing from my collection. ::nod::

Here is a Camillus S-card for an order of electrician knives for M Klein & Sons dated April 18, 1952. As you can see these knives were made with rosewood handles.
Camillus made a lot of the electrician’s knives for M Klein postwar up to the 60s or 70s as I recall from my conversations with Tom Williams. Then apparently someone else began to make the knives for M Klein & sons.
M Klein TL-29 S-card 1952.jpg
Here is another TL-29 S-card from January 2, 1952, this one is a government contract. You can see the handle material is something called “Rogers Board.” I did discuss this with Tom Williams he said Rogers Board was not made by the Rogers Bone Company, but he didn’t know much more than that about it.
TL-29 1952 pg 1.jpg
TL-29 1952 pg 2.jpg
Here is another S-card from 1984, it says TL-29 for Imperial Knife Company but the master blade was etched True Value so we know it was not a military contract. The TL-29 is merely a reference to the style of knife. On this S-card we see the handles are wood grain Delrin.
Imperial TL-29 1-24-84.jpg

I believe there were some black Delrin handles made for military contract TL-29s but I’m going to have to search some more as I can’t find an S-card for that one yet.


In these S-cards we see Camillus made rosewood handled electricians knives, TL-29s with Rogers Board handles and later on in the 1980s with wood grain Delrin. The S-cards of the TL-29 and civilian versions thereof are sort of a microcosm of the evolution taking place in the cutlery industry at that time. We can see the progression from natural handle materials to man-made materials too extremely durable and virtually indestructible man-made materials, i.e.; Delrin.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Captain O »

The Camillus TL-29 with a 0170-6C steel blade that I have on order has Delrin covers. This is a pre-2007 Camillus closure knife. (New Old Stock). This probably would have been military issue had it been stateside. I think that this will be an excellent working knife that I have snagged.

This post was approved by Arf, The Wonder Chicken. ::tu:: ::woot::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by orvet »

Captain O wrote:The Camillus TL-29 with a 0170-6C steel blade that I have on order has Delrin covers. This is a pre-2007 Camillus closure knife.
What is 0170-6C steel?
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Tsar Bomba »

I wondered the same, Dale, so I checked around and it appears to be a reduced-vanadium carbon steel Camillus used for a number of applications. You may be familiar with the name Cold Steel used, "Carbon V". We've seen a few of their slipjoints built by Camillus in AAPK and I think there are a few regulars who focus on these knives.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... rbon-Steel

I also found this technical data for those who really get into it...

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/0170-6c.shtml
http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/review ... l#C_50100B

N.B. The latter site draws an equivalence between 0170-6C and Case's CV based on this old Usenet post, while the comically user-unfriendly "steelgraph" on zknives shows some not-insignificant differences in composition.

P.S. Many thanks for posting those old S-cards from Camillus, Dale. ::tu:: Stuff like that is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. I had to snag copies of each of them for inclusion in my Knives Knotebook. 8)
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by FatCity67 »

Nice links wth a choke of info. For quick reference on knife steels I use the Charts from AG Russell's site.

https://agrussell.com/chart/non-stainless

Phil.
Tsar Bomba wrote:I wondered the same, Dale, so I checked around and it appears to be a reduced-vanadium carbon steel Camillus used for a number of applications. You may be familiar with the name Cold Steel used, "Carbon V". We've seen a few of their slipjoints built by Camillus in AAPK and I think there are a few regulars who focus on these knives.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... rbon-Steel

I also found this technical data for those who really get into it...

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/0170-6c.shtml
http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/review ... l#C_50100B

N.B. The latter site draws an equivalence between 0170-6C and Case's CV based on this old Usenet post, while the comically user-unfriendly "steelgraph" on zknives shows some not-insignificant differences in composition.

P.S. Many thanks for posting those old S-cards from Camillus, Dale. ::tu:: Stuff like that is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. I had to snag copies of each of them for inclusion in my Knives Knotebook. 8)
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by Captain O »

I have checked with the Vendor (ePrague) and they informed me that these knives were unissued military contract knives. (These are the real McCoy).

Life can be good. ::tu:: :mrgreen: ::ds::
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by garddogg56 »

tjmurphy wrote:Here's an M. Klein & Sons that you don't find too often. Klein calls it a "Radio Electrician" made by Cattaraugus, probably WWI era.

1.jpg

Here's another, a "XELA" which was a Klein brand, again, probably WWI era

1.jpg
What era is the radio knife Murph??good looking ,Here's a four line TL-29,XELA and my Klein that lives on my tool pouch.
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by tjmurphy »

Hey Dogg, the Catt radio electrician is probably WWI era. I think that your XELA was the first one that I saw, and then I found one, not as nice of a stamp as yours though
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Re: Camillus TL-29 is it Military Issue?

Post by gsmith7158 »

TJ what are your thoughts on the Empire radio knives? Since they went out of business in 1930 do you think they are Camillus made or WWI?
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