Camillus Radio Knife???

[orvet]

I'm looking for a little help on this one.
Metal is pretty rough from pitting on the tang but in good light and with magnification one can easily see it is a four line Camillus Tang stamp. Brass liners, nickel silver bolsters and escutcheon. I am reasonably certain that the vintage of this is World War II or before.

This is a single blade, lockback, 3-5/8 inches in length, about the same size as the World War I Signal Corps knife. Aside from some pitting on the blade is in remarkably good condition. There is a little pocket wear on the handles. It has amazing walk and talk; it is smooth and crisp with good snap.

I've seen pictures of radio knives before but did not notice them being lockbacks. I had assumed if they had a locking mechanism it would be a liner lock.

Has anyone seen something like this?
Is this a radio knife?
I look forward to your input.

Thanks,
Dale

[coffeecup]

My understanding of a Radio Knife is that it has three main characteristics: Signal Corps sized frame, screwdriver only, and a back lock. The Signal Corps style lock, where you press on the blade, obviously couldn't be adapted.

I've never seen a liner lock in this size frame, though I have seen a couple of post-war "Radio Knives" that were simply TL-29s with the knife blade removed and the liner lock retained. For some reason these were popular with some of the spray-plane pilots when I was a kid.

Looks like you got a nice one!

[tjmurphy]

I have an Empire Radio Knife that is just exactly like yours Dale, right down to the length, shield, pin configuration and locking mech.

empire1.jpg (34.4 KiB) Viewed 1842 times

empire2.jpg (45.22 KiB) Viewed 1842 times

empire3.jpg (34.28 KiB) Viewed 1842 times

[robinetn]

This is from Levine's 3rd Ed Pg. 164 .

[upnorth]

I have a couple of identical Empires also, Dale.
These may all be Empire contract knives. They made one for Schrade also!!
Nice score for your collection!! The Radio knife moniker certainly fits. A little lighter than a TL-29 type.

[orvet]

Thanks for your input guys. This helps.

Charlie, I was going to email you on this one.
After seeing TJ's Empire I wondered if it might be that Empire made them for Camillus or Camillus made them for Empire. I know that later on Camillus made TL-29s on contract for most of the US knife companies, including M. Klein that Bernard mentions in his book.
I emailed Mike Silvey and he said he had been all through the Army Signal Corps manuals and can not find this knife. He has one in his collection as well. He commented on how well made it is.

Question for all of you who have one of these:
Does your radio knife have very smooth and snappy walk & talk, with good snap?

I am very impressed by the obvious quality of this knife.
Do those of you who have a radio knife, regardless of the brand, find that quality in your knife?

It may be that they were not used hard, and likely carried in a tool kit.
What ever the reason it sure is nice.

Thanks again for your help,
Dale

[tjmurphy]

Mine has probably a medium snap when closing but is just typical of a locking blade when opening. The lock on mine is kinda worn since you don't need to release blade to close, I guess from years of use(?).

[Miller Bro's]

Dale,

I have several of these made by Empire. The ones that are hardly used have good snap.

The ones that were used more have little to no snap. It seems all the ones with no snap or weak snap prematurely wore out at the joint, the blade was softer than the spring