Show Us Your Camillus Knives!

[ozzie marie]

I'll start this thread with a few of mine

A 165 & 179

Keith

[mtds]

Thanks for starting this thread. Here's a couple of pics of this week's EDC, an old workhorse, still walking and talking. Takes a good edge, comfortable in the pocket, and easily replaceable. I'd like to know more about setting the dates of manufacture of these knives. Based on what I've read on this site, this one was made sometime after 1976. I'm open to instruction or correction here, just learning.

[upnorth]

Nice NIBs, Keith!! Do you know dates for those? Steels, boxes . . . . . . . . . . .just loverly !
Great old electrician's knife mtds.

[orvet]

Here are a few of mine to help get this thread rolling.

Come on guys.........
SHOW US YOUR CAMILLUS KNIVES!

Dale

[upnorth]

Come on guys.........
SHOW US YOUR CAMILLUS KNIVES!

Dale

Alright, alright; . . . . .sheesh! Pushy guy!

Camillus made these Barlows, no matter what thay say!!

[upnorth]

Camillus made the two lighter handled ones I think. I'm not sure about the darker one.
Who knows all the answers?? Come on, who???

[orvet]

Nice ones Charlie!

Here are some more of mine...

Let's see more guys.............

Dale

[trail]

I posted this one a while back but took some new pictures. Now that we have a good place to keep all the Camillus knives together, I will repost it. This is one of the prettiest knives I have ever seen, evidence that Camillus could produce knives of a quality equal to any of the more famous companies. Unfortunately it shows some pitting on the blades, hopefully from sitting in the hardware store counter for years and not from out-gassing. Either way, I keep it out in the open so I can look at it frequently and it won't damage any of my other knives. Once in a while it rides in my pocket for a day or two.

[orvet]

Very pretty knife trail!
I like the tortoise celluloid. I think it is one of the prettiest types of celluloid.


While I am here I may as well add more of my Camillus knives.
In this post I will post Camillus military knives circa WWII or before.

Dale

[trail]

Dale, you are very generous to show us your collection of vintage knives. I especially like the easy open jacks. In truth, many of the old Camillus patterns are disappearing from the knife scene. I think they were the last American manufacturer of a real sailor's marlinspike knife, the last manufacturer of the TL-29 electrician's knife and the last manufacturer of a big hawksbill linoleum knife. Many workmen of the past carried a knife that was specific to his job, but nowadays most of the guys seem to want to carry big tacticals.

Here is a late model linoleum knife. According to Steve Pfeiffer's book, this knife was also made on contract to Case to be resold as their 61011 SS.

[BIGHEAD]

[ozzie marie]

Here's a #7 Folding Hunter

Don't you just love a knife with a light switch in the handle

Charlie, to answer your question, the 165, 179 and this 7 are from the 1970's

Keith

[upnorth]

Nice Yellow Jacket Bighead!
Gee, Keith, with that knife, I wouldn't have to be afraid of the dark!!
Here's a nice group of five. I think my favorite is the 4-line Cattle knife.

[trail]

I see a rigger's knife in Upnorth's collection. That is another example of the kind of specialized knife that Camillus made for the working men who made this country great. In later years, Camillus supplied Case with a version of this knife to sell as their 6246 L R SS. Here's my rigger, purchased a while back from an AAPK store.

[upnorth]

Nice to see a serrated version, trail. Thanks for posting it.

Here's another work knife; the handle embossing says it all!
I've posted the tangs for those collecting the pattern numbers.
Single backspring knife.

[upnorth]

Here we can pretty well date when the tang stamp was used.

Only one blade is marked; single backspring.

Tiny knife (Tuxedo?)

[orvet]

Here is a late model linoleum knife. According to Steve Pfeiffer's book, this knife was also made on contract to Case to be resold as their 61011 SS.

Camillus made a lot of knives for other companies.
Actually the pattern you call a linoleum knife, was originally used for pruning and grafting.
I think it predates the popular use of linoleum.
Perhaps Charlie knows when the pattern originated, but I would imagine it was in the early part of the 1800s and probably earlier.

Don't feel bad though. When I first saw one I thought it was a folding linoleum knife myself!

Dale

[glennbad]

Here's a couple...













Glenn

[orvet]

Nice ones Glenn!
I am especially fond of the old ones with Rogers Bone!

Dale

[Miller Bro's]

Glenn,

Like that party knife set

[Just Plain Dave]

Upnorth, you KILLED me with three of those knives on page one!

Think about and you'll know which three!

[upnorth]

Geez Dave!! I didn't mean it!

Anyway, I'm glad you're not like DEAD killed !



I'm guessing the stockmen?

[Just Plain Dave]

The three with nice equal ends and at least one Spear Point blade!

My Fave pattern and blade shape!

[268bull]

These are my three latest Camillus purchases

[trail]

Another example of the Camillus 49. This is about as far from an electrician's knife as you can get, but a Camillus nevertheless. A good workman wants something special to carry to church on Sunday.