Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City – Post Them If You Have Them

The Camillus Cutlery Company was one of the oldest knife manufacturers in the United States with roots dating back to 1876. The company manufactured Camillus branded knives and was a prolific contractor for other knife brands up until its last days in 2007 when the company filed for bankruptcy.
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FRJ
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by FRJ »

I had to look, Gregg, but yes, there it is. Nice! ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

Well this seems to be becoming a habit. Another addiction in a sub set of a collection within a sub set of a brand I had never heard of up until 3 years ago. They are interesting knives and I find myself drawn to each one I see. Another Stainless Cutlery Co. New York
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The three I have so far.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by kootenay joe »

I have a few Stainless Cutlery pen knives, mostly with pearl handles. The quality of workmanship and materials make these the very best knives Camillus was making. i.e. they made "Stainless" a separate line to 'protect' the Camillus image, and then made the Stainless Cutlery such fine knives that customers were sure to be impressed with the idea of stainless steel knife blades. There was, and still is, a resistance to stainless steel for blades.
Here is a 3 1/8" senator Whittler, marked on tang: "Stainless/Cutlery Co/New York City" and back side "Stainless/Shield" in a shield. "Stainless Steel" is etched onto master flats. Semi sunk joints, tip bolsters and milled liners. There is a natural crack in pearl surface at one end.
But don't tell anyone about these knives.
kj
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

The mailman just dropped off this little pen knife by Stainless Steel Cutlery Co. Looks unused with etched blade. 1920-40 with what look like celluloid handles.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by FRJ »

A very clean little pen, Greg. Nice one. ::tu::
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

Thanks Joe!
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by kootenay joe »

Very nice 90 yr old knife, with cell handles looking just as they did on day one. The old celluloid handles hold up very well especially compared with that from about 1940's onward.
I sure like the Stainless Steel brand knives.
kj
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

They are very well made Roland. I'm hooked on them. ::nod::
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by knifeaholic »

I thought this one was interesting. The tang stamp is a bit different. Not STAINLESS CUTLERY CO but STAINLESS STEEL USA.

Not sure whether it was a Camillus made knife but it looks like it could be.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by FRJ »

A nice knife with a unique stamp with a nice etch.
Thanks Steve. ::tu::
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

knifeaholic wrote:I thought this one was interesting. The tang stamp is a bit different. Not STAINLESS CUTLERY CO but STAINLESS STEEL USA.

Not sure whether it was a Camillus made knife but it looks like it could be.
I think that the advertising aspect was a large part of this new stainless technology and Camillus was certainly in to that big time with these small pen knives. Looks like Camillus construction so that may just be a variant of there other stamp.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by knifeaholic »

Also note on the one that I posted - the file blade is not stainless. That seems to be true of Case XX era stainless gen't's knives - the files and scissors were usually carbon steel while the spear/pen blades and springs were stainless.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

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Thanks for that good information, Steve. ::tu::
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by kootenay joe »

Here are 2 Stainless Cutlery Co. advertising knives. The idea behind selling advertising knives was that they would be given away. Many of the recipients would never have bought a knife with stainless blades but would accept it as a freebee and after using it might have become less adverse to this new type of steel. A bold blade etch "Stainless Steel" made sure everyone was informed of the type of steel they were using.
Advertising knives can help date knives as with this B.O.P. Elks Minstrels 1928 knife, which with the squared corners and slightly convex sides is a Coffin or Crown pen knife pattern, rather rare.
The "Shine-All St. Joseph MO." is a senator pen with a neat shield of a Shine-All barrel on the front side.
These both have the look and feel of a high quality knife, which they are. Camillus was no doubt doing their best to show people that stainless steel was a worthy addition to a fine knife.
kj
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

Here's another little Stainless Cutlery Co. pen knife that I just picked up. Looks pretty much unused. Makes you wonder where have these things been hiding for the last 80 or so years.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by glennbad »

Love the barrel shield on that one, Roland!
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by kootenay joe »

Thanks Glenn, both of those Stainless Cutlery pen knives are so nicely made that they are a pleasure to hold & open/close the blades. I agree with Greg: "Makes you wonder where have these things been hiding for the last 80 or so years."
Nearly all the ones i have seen are unused and i don't recall hearing of this brand until after the internet knife forums came about. Was "Stainless Cutlery Co." a brand with a collector following say more than 20 years ago ?
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by FRJ »

Very nice knives, guys.
Thanks for showing them.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

Here's another one of these Stainless Cut. Co.'s that I just picked up. I haven't seen one like this before similar to the 33 but a skosh shorter.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by BWT »

Great find Greg, beautiful knife, love those handles!!!
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

BWT wrote:Great find Greg, beautiful knife, love those handles!!!
Thanks Bill it is a looker!
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by FRJ »

Greg, looking back through this thread you have shown some really nice Stainless Cutlery knives.

This last jack you are showing is a real beauty. ::tu::
Thanks for showing it here.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by gsmith7158 »

FRJ wrote:Greg, looking back through this thread you have shown some really nice Stainless Cutlery knives.

This last jack you are showing is a real beauty. ::tu::
Thanks for showing it here.
Thanks Joe! I don't know what it is about these but seems like there are a lot of nearly unused examples out there. Unusual for knives made from 1920-40.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by bhuber »

I found this thread, and this forum, after researching this little gem I picked up today. I would have never guessed it was as old as it is if it wasn’t for this forum.
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Re: Stainless Cutlery Co. New York City

Post by kootenay joe »

bhuber, Welcome to this great knife forum. Lovely pearl pen knife, 1920's or early 1930's. Made by Camillus as a separate line from their regular knives which up to that point always had non stainless blades. I think Camillus went all out to make the Stainless Cutlery knives high end to help win people over to stainless steel blades. The very colorful pearl on your knife is an example of using the best material they could obtain.
kj
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