What is Your Latest Old Camillus? (pre-1960)

[Meridian_Mike]

This shorter underline of the name is said to be 1946-1950. It is the same as my new electricians knife. I have been doing a lot of reading,lately.

Good deal...
You can educate us folks that are too lazy to read.....

(see this thread..... concerning reading.)
LOL......

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=59499

[JACK OF ALL TIRADES]

My pic is good or at least right side up until I click it.

[JACK OF ALL TIRADES]

I am hoping that someone who has been reading more than a couple days would know if this pic is accurate as to date

. I have seen the catalogs and my Electricians knife is described, in the same way from the mid 40's till late 50's, when I looked, but the pic narrows it down

[Meridian_Mike]

My pic is good or at least right side up until I click it.

LOL.... congrats! You can read!!




Mike

[Meridian_Mike]

According to my notes..... the "short line" knives are '46-'50....

[JACK OF ALL TIRADES]

My pic is good or at least right side up until I click it.

LOL.... congrats! You can read!!




Mike

Thats what I was told by my teacher when leaving eighth grade. What a memory from sixty fourteen years ago.

[Meridian_Mike]

Thats what I was told by my teacher when leaving eighth grade. What a memory from sixty fourteen years ago.

[Twhite]

My dad gave me this busted up Camillus. He kept it thinking one day he would fix it. He really likes the scales.

I was thinking of trying my hand at knife repair. I will need to keep an eye out for a 4 line doner knife. I will need the main blade and an awl.

I want to surprise him with a good working knife.

[Meridian_Mike]

The seller of this guy took my offer and it's on the way.
Poor pics but it looks like this one might be a 1941-46 time period.
It has a nick or 2 in the scales BUT the blades look full. Just needs a good clean-up.

Mike

Cuh-MILL-us

[kootenay joe]

"Old" does not mean "Busted". Age and Condition do not refer to the same thing. A 100 year old knife can look brand new. Age cannot be determined by looking at the condition.
kj

[Meridian_Mike]

Not sure if your comment was intended for me KJ, but I was placing a time period of 1941-46 on mine because of what I can see of the tang stamp. It looks like a 3 line stamp to me.
And this guy sure looks to be in good shape, all except for the spot on the blades.

LOL.... well, never mind... I see where the "busted" part of your comment was intended to go....LOL.

Mike

[kootenay joe]

Mike, not directed at anyone. It is something that took me years to 'get' which is why i have so many rather 'busted' knives. I think the confusion between age & condition is common among beginning collectors.
If someone had spelled this out for me a few decades ago, i would now have more 'top' examples. Money spent for 10 poor condition knives = one 'top condition' knife.
Go for the top.
kj

[Meridian_Mike]

10-4... Yep, that is a good philosophy KJ.....

The ones I search for are the ones that are "sorta sick" and not really "busted up" I recon.... I like to doctor 'em up and get 'em goin' again.
I tell ya' what, I have learned a LOT by doing this.

Mike

[kootenay joe]

"I have learned a LOT by doing this"
Me too. It is like a library of knives to refer to.
But when time comes to sell almost nobody wants them.
With better condition knives you can get some of your money back.
kj

[Meridian_Mike]

Very TRUE!
Good thing I just want to keep mine....LOL.
(I'll just let my kids give 'em away when I am gone....)

[Twhite]

The wife and I were out junking today. I was keeping my eye out for a doner. As I want to fix that old “busted” Camillus my dad dad saved. Well anyhow I found a doner for $2 with a good blade and awl. 4 line just like I was looking for.

Now to try my hand at repair work. I can’t wait to give it back to my dad. That will bring back some good memories for sure.

Tom

[carrmillus]

..be sure and post photos when you finish!!!...I tried to restore a couple years ago, but didn't have much luck doing it!!... ..................

[Twhite]

..be sure and post photos when you finish!!!...I tried to restore a couple years ago, but didn't have much luck doing it!!... ..................

Will do. I took the downer apart last night and got the rust off the blade. I will take the other apart this weekend. I need to purchase some rod stock for re-pinning.

Tom

[UnderDawgAl]

From my great-grandmother, born in 1879, here's my only old Camillus.

[woodwalker]

From my great-grandmother, born in 1879, here's my only old Camillus.IMG_20181209_084416346_HDR.jpg

IMG_20181209_084448664_HDR.jpg


IMG_20181209_084247983_HDR.jpg

Wow what a treasure!!

[Twhite]

I found this little 4 line this past weekend with 2 other pen knives. This Camillus had bent pins. So I decided to give knife rehab a stab.

On this one I did not want to spend a bunch of time getting all the stains off of the blade. I only removed the active rust.

Anyhow this is it all put back together. I will clean the pins up smoother and sharpen the blades. It was a fun project. First pic before. Second inside all grungy.
Tom

[Kingston73]

Here are some of mine. The middle ones a Kingston and seems to good to be true, is there such a thing as a fake engineer knife?
Also, the bottom one has something wrong with the spring, you can see it's indented and the main blade doesn't snap open or closed. Probably no way to fix that?

[Twhite]

Anyhow several weeks ago I posted pictures of an old busted Scout with green handles. The main Blade was broke and the awl was broken at the tip.

I found another doner 4 line and proceeded to try my first rebuild. It is all together now. I need to do some finish work on the bolsters and scales.

The knife has no wobble and good spring. Pretty happy with my first attempt.

Before and after

[carrmillus]

...good job!!!...... ...........

[Meridian_Mike]

Heck yeah!! Great job!

Mike