NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

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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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by doglegg »

Vit_213 wrote: Sat Dec 05, 2020 12:49 am Larry and I made another Camillus catalog available to all of you - 1985.
http://www.collectors-of-camillus.us/Ca ... mphlet.pdf
Thanks Vit, they are a wonderful reference source. ::handshake::
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Thanks Vit and Larry ,nice read, good info. Thanks for taking the time to share that with us.
Take care, stay safe.
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

Camillus 1983 Catalog & price + advertising brochure for the Silver Sword series and a separate price list for the Silver Sword.
http://www.camillusknives.ru/cats/1983- ... -price.pdf
Note the pagination from 20 to 21 :)
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Vit_213 wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:17 pm Camillus 1983 Catalog & price + advertising brochure for the Silver Sword series and a separate price list for the Silver Sword.
http://www.camillusknives.ru/cats/1983- ... -price.pdf
Note the pagination from 20 to 21 :)
Thank you Vit . Great read and resource
Really like the Sword brand info ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

1985-Camillus price
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1985-Camillus price.jpg
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Thank you Vit, for these historical contributions. Great resource material! ::tu::

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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Vit you keep coming up with great stuff . Like Ken mentioned the historical references in all your work and posting is just super stuff and will be available to so many . After reading that 1976 Catalog got my eye on a few had forgot about . Remember those years well was just going in the Army and was going to buy a couple of Cam loks but never did .
Take Care over there Vit and again Thank You for your dedication to the Camillus line of Knives and it’s history .
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

Thank you, guys! I appreciate your attention ::handshake:: .
Camillus 1986 catalog
http://camillusknives.ru/cats/1986-Catalog.pdf
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

An excerpt from a document that I accidentally found on Google books - http://camillusknives.ru/cats/Trade_Agr ... xcerpt.pdf
Full version here - https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tr ... =en&gbpv=0
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Vit_213 wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:28 am An excerpt from a document that I accidentally found on Google books - http://camillusknives.ru/cats/Trade_Agr ... xcerpt.pdf
Full version here - https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tr ... =en&gbpv=0
Vit , good to see you over here posting . Hope you are doing well ?
Thank you for those links ,very interesting . Mr. KASTOR had some style. Like the way he didn’t let the Senator side track him .
Stay safe over there ::handshake::
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Papa Bones »

Thought I would post this here. It is information about The Camillus Collectors Club and Knives offered. Also a photo of one I was able to pick up. Although the padded tote and box are not the original one.

https://iknifecollector.com/profiles/bl ... ctors-club
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_a.JPG
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_b.JPG
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_c.JPG
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Papa Bones wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 12:49 am Thought I would post this here. It is information about The Camillus Collectors Club and Knives offered. Also a photo of one I was able to pick up. Although the padded tote and box are not the original one.

https://iknifecollector.com/profiles/bl ... ctors-club
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_a.JPG
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_b.JPG
Camallus 04 CCC Barlow Stag_c.JPG
Thanks Smitty.
Congrats on picking up one of the club knifes ::handshake::
There aren’t many out there and to be able to purchase one is very limited.
Enjoy your Sunday .
JP
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Papa Bones »

Ripster wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 12:51 pm
Thanks Smitty.
Congrats on picking up one of the club knifes ::handshake::
There aren’t many out there and to be able to purchase one is very limited.
Enjoy your Sunday .
Thanks JP. Rainy here. You have a good one!
Sometimes I Sit and Think ::hmm:: .... Other times I just Sit
I May Grow Older, But I refuse to Grow Up!!
I'll sharpen it for you, but I don't give out band-aids!!

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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

Camillus Collectors Club knife 2003 (#10 of 60)
Attachments
ccc2003 (1).jpg
ccc2003 (2).jpg
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

Camillus Collectors Club knife 2004 (#16 of ??? near 50)
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ccc2004 (1).jpg
ccc2004 (2).jpg
ccc2004 (3).jpg
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by doglegg »

Very cool Vit, thanks for sharing. ::handshake::
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Vit_213 wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 7:23 pm Camillus Collectors Club knife 2004 (#16 of ??? near 50)
Both the 2003 and 2004 are beautiful pieces. ::tu:: ::tu::
Very nice examples. Thank you for sharing those . ::handshake::
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

One more Camillus catalog in the collection (thanks to cccanada from Bladeforums.com)
1979 - http://camillusknives.ru/cats/1979-Cami ... mphlet.pdf
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Vit_213 »

Vit_213 wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:05 am One more Camillus catalog in the collection (thanks to cccanada from Bladeforums.com)
1979 - http://camillusknives.ru/cats/1979-Cami ... mphlet.pdf
Now Larry's website has it too - http://www.collectors-of-camillus.us/Ca ... mphlet.pdf
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by Ripster »

Vit_213 wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am
Vit_213 wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:05 am One more Camillus catalog in the collection (thanks to cccanada from Bladeforums.com)
1979 - http://camillusknives.ru/cats/1979-Cami ... mphlet.pdf
Now Larry's website has it too - http://www.collectors-of-camillus.us/Ca ... mphlet.pdf
Thank you Vit. Very valuable info . Larry’s website is a great resource !
You stay out of trouble over there . ::handshake::
JP
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by PringleTree »

As I do occasionally, I was surfing through old photos on EBAY last week, not looking for anything particular, just something interesting. I was in a seller's store who has tens of thousands of mid-20th-Century color slides for sale, mostly Kodachrome. At one point, I came across a slide (the "Reinspection" image below) of a woman sitting at a factory work station with a pile of pocket knives. After several days of lazily searching through thousands more offered by the seller, I was able to find 10 slides total of workers at the factory. I bought them all. They are all red border Kodachrome slides from the 1950s. They appear to have been taken by the same photographer and perhaps on the same day. In one of the images, a woman ("Sharpening" image) has a December 1955 calendar above her work station, which dovetails perfectly with the style of these particular red border Kodachrome slide mounts.

Unfortunately, there was no indication of the company name in the first 8 slides I found. But I think good fortune smiled with the last two slides, the two "Final Hafting" images. In the first, the man appears to perhaps be working on Camillus 23s. In the last, there is a sign on a wall above some male workers. Unfortunately, a pipe bisects the sign, but on it you can see that there is a word that appears to begin with a capital "C" and ends in "us". The word underneath appears to end in "dge!". This would fit nicely with the Camillus slogan, "Camillus has the edge!" So, I believe that these images are from the Camillus factory, c. 1955. When I received them from the seller I found that back in the day someone had annotated each mount with the job being performed.

Fortunately, the color on these has held up beautifully and required no restoration or tweaking in making the scans. Below are the images, listed with the annotations. My second post will be of cropped areas of some of the images.

Thanks for looking,

Chris J.
Attachments
Blade Finishing
Blade Finishing
Stamping
Stamping
Hafting
Hafting
Final Hafting
Final Hafting
Final Hafting, this man is second from right in the previous image
Final Hafting, this man is second from right in the previous image
Assembly
Assembly
Assembly
Assembly
Sharpening, note December 1955 Calendar
Sharpening, note December 1955 Calendar
Reinspection
Reinspection
Final Inspection & Packing
Final Inspection & Packing
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I never been laid so low..." (Paul Simon, Mother & Child Reunion, 1972, grieving the death of his beloved dog)
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by PringleTree »

Some crops from the images above.

Chris J.
Attachments
Stamping crop
Stamping crop
Crop of sign, Final Hafting group image
Crop of sign, Final Hafting group image
Crop of sign with supposed letters
Crop of sign with supposed letters
Final Hafting solo man crop, possibly Camillus 23s?
Final Hafting solo man crop, possibly Camillus 23s?
Assembly crop
Assembly crop
Assembly crop
Assembly crop
Reinspection crop
Reinspection crop
"...Oh, little darling of mine
I just can't believe it's so
Though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low..." (Paul Simon, Mother & Child Reunion, 1972, grieving the death of his beloved dog)
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by doglegg »

What a find! Great pics.
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Re: NUGGETS OF CAMILLUS HISTORY FOR CAMILLUS ENTHUSIASTS

Post by PringleTree »

doglegg wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2026 3:32 pm What a find! Great pics.
Thanks, Dog! Yes, I think they were worth the effort in searching.

Chris J.
"...Oh, little darling of mine
I just can't believe it's so
Though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low..." (Paul Simon, Mother & Child Reunion, 1972, grieving the death of his beloved dog)
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