Let's See Your Camco Knives!

[garddogg56]

WOW Nice

[trail]

I finally got a yellow Camco small rope knife. It isn't as pretty as the ebay knife I posted a couple of pages back, but it's still one of a kind in my small collection of this pattern. Neither mine nor the ebay knife have an easy open cutout in the handles, though mine does have the cutout in the frame. Mine has a handle etch "Say it with Flowers" so perhaps this was an SFO for FTD. It is not a traditional florist's pattern but I'm sure the little coping blade would work well in that application. Just goes to show what a versatile pattern this is. I still carry one almost every day.

This one really stands out in a crowd...

[313 Mike]

I just received my first Camco today, don't have a pic of it but it is a medium stockman, brown jigged synthetic hadles with a shield, tang marked Camco USA, on backside 771. Interestingly it has script barely visible along the main blade that says New Britain K15. Anyone else have a Camco like that...?

[orvet]

I don’t know if I have one or not, but I have seen that New Britain etch on Camcos before.
I remember New Britain Tools from when I worked in an Auto Parts house in the 1960s in Jr. High School.
We also had a lot of New Britain tools the service station I worked at in High School.

[313 Mike]

Hey that's another great bit of information Dale, thanks much. You are like the wise man on top of the mountain that has wisdom to share on all kinds of interesting things! I had never heard of New Britian Tools before. So then the knife was in effect an advertising knife, so to speak. Either that or perhaps it was given out to employees or salesman, something along those lines. I will make a note of it, with all the great info from everyone here I might have to get bigger index cards for recording individual knife info...

[orvet]

I am not sure if it was an ad knife or one made for New Britain that they sold, (or both).

I have also seen them with the Proto name, I have a TL-29 Camco or Camillus (not sure which brand) with the Proto etch. Proto was another tool company.

Black Hawk was another that had Camillus make knives for.
Sometimes you will find a Camco or Camillus knife with the Black Hawk etch.

[orvet]

I picked up this little Camco rope knife for a rebuild project.
It is 3-1/4" closed. Someone decided to customize the handle.

I think it can be salvaged.

[trail]

Lots of use left in that little knife, even with the butchered handle and butter knife blade profile...It will be a beauty once Dale gets done with it, that's for certain.

[smokepole]

Nice find Trail, and a nice collection. I have a very nice rope knife too - but I am too sorry for it to use it! And I agree, once Dale is finished with the mangled one, it will be a knife worth having again - plenty of life left in that one...

[singin46]

I believe this to be an older Lone Ranger Jack Cracked Ice pearl. Note the raised bullet on the pile side and absence of studs for the advertising instead.
Camco!

[garddogg56]

Thats cool Perry

[singin46]

Thx garddog!

[smokepole]

Don't have a great many of them, but working on it. Here's one:



What would that qualify as - a small cigar jack?

[singin46]

Here's a 1950s Camillus CAMCO counter card. These were usually loaded with everything from Rocket knives like Dale has to Lone Ranger or Dick Tracy knives from what I've seen. They would be delivered in these cardboard boxes, shown in the second pic. Sure wish I had some more cool CAMCO knives to go on this card.

[smokepole]

Sure wish I had some more cool CAMCO knives to go on this card.

And I wish I had a cool card like that!! If I had, I'd simply collect and trade them until I filled the card - be a nice project, even if it took a while..

Here's another one of mine:

[singin46]

Nice Camp knife Smoke!

[smokepole]

Thanks Perry! I like the pattern and this is one of the good ones - I don't know if it's true, but it looks to me that some of the Camco's are very very close to as well finished as their Camillus brothers - and this is one of them

[orvet]

I don't know if it's true, but it looks to me that some of the Camco's are very very close to as well finished as their Camillus brothers - and this is one of them

I think it is true, depending on the time frame of the knives in comparison.
I think the Camco TL-29s of the 1950s were even better finished than some of the Camillus branded TL-29s that came out in the last couple years they were in business.

You kind of have compare apples to apples; i.e. Camillus knives against the Camco knives made in the same years. Unlike the Camillus stamps I have noticed very few variations of the Camco tang stamp. While it is unreliable at best to attempt to date a Camillus by tang stamp it is impossible to get a meaningful date to use for comparison with Camco. Dating of Camco tang stamps goes something like this: CAMCO/U.S.A. = 1946-2007. It doesn’t give us a useful tool for comparison.

All that being said; I think if we could compare a Camco stockman, a Camillus stockman and a Sword Brand Camillus all made the same year I think we would see three distinct levels of quality, materials and craftsmanship.

[smokepole]

Dating of Camco tang stamps goes something like this: CAMCO/U.S.A. = 1946-2007.

@Orvet!!

You make a good point though Dale, about comparing apples to apples - and that the older Camco's might be up to par with the later Camillus branded ones.

[AREMINGTONSEDGE]

This is my Workhorse. Really...a very well made knife! Have another Camco or two but have misplaced them somewhere
-Rocky

[Vit_213]

This is my Workhorse.

This is new Camco - made in China

[singin46]

Nice Trapper ROCKY!

[edgy46]

Saturday find. A well built three inch jack with plastic handles.

[singin46]

Nice old celluloid find Bill!

[orvet]

That is a really nice and unusual pattern of celluloid on that Camco!
Pretty stuff!