Show Us Your Camillus Knives!

[Paul Tummers]

I just got this Camillus military knife in the mail.
There is something on it, I did not see before; At the screw-driver/ cap-lifter there is a little pin attached, at first look I thought, it was done by the previous owner, but when looking at the back-side I get the feeling, this is done at the factory.
Does anybody know more about this?

[jmh58]

I went thru the ones that I have and have 4 with that stud on it.. A 68, 2-72s, and a brass liner one.. My guess is it is used as a thumb stud to open that blade.. John

[Paul Tummers]

I went thru the ones that I have and have 4 with that stud on it.. A 68, 2-72s, and a brass liner one.. My guess is it is used as a thumb stud to open that blade.. John

I was thinking, it is for taking apart, or perhaps assembling a part of a rifle maybe?

[jmh58]

The stud is not on all as I have a few different years.. Also the brass liner one is suposed to be from WWII?? Different rifle era?? Hope one of experts chime in on this!! Never gave it much thought till now?? Paul.. What year is your blade stamped?? John

[Paul Tummers]

The stud is not on all as I have a few different years.. Also the brass liner one is suposed to be from WWII?? Different rifle era?? Hope one of experts chime in on this!! Never gave it much thought till now?? Paul.. What year is your blade stamped?? John

Mine is stamped 1960, Have a friend who is a former Marines seargent, perhaps he can help, will ask him.

[Miller Bro's]

My guess is it is used as a thumb stud to open that blade.. John

Yes, that is what it is used for.

If you notice the nail nick is so far back on the blade it is useless. Try and open yours with the nail nick, unless the blade has very little spring tension, it is very hard to open.

The stud on your knife looks a little short, someone may have filed it down

[Paul Tummers]

My guess is it is used as a thumb stud to open that blade.. John

Yes, that is what it is used for.

If you notice the nail nick is so far back on the blade it is useless. Try and open yours with the nail nick, unless the blade has very little spring tension, it is very hard to open.

The stud on your knife looks a little short, someone may have filed it down

I already noticed that the nail nick was at an inconvenient place for opening, thought however, it was made there to allow the stud to be at the place were it is, wrong way of thinking around !

[Miller Bro's]

Paul,

what is that nice bone handle knife under the Camillus?

[Paul Tummers]

Paul,

what is that nice bone handle knife under the Camillus?

It is the handle of an old Camillus 4-line easy opener, my every day carrying knife, razor sharp, I keep it sharp on a leather razor belt.
Just added a picture of it

[268bull]

[img][img][/img][/img]Here are a couple of my best Camillus keepers. The first is a Model 714 Muskrat. The blades were rusted closed and I had to use needle nose pliers to open it. It cleaned up very well. The second is a 4-line tang stamp easy opener. Sweet knife! The blades appear to never have been sharpened. Bull

[Paul Tummers]

[img][img][/img][/img]Here are a couple of my best Camillus keepers. The first is a Model 714 Muskrat. The blades were rusted closed and I had to use needle nose pliers to open it. It cleaned up very well. The second is a 4-line tang stamp easy opener. Sweet knife! The blades appear to never have been sharpened. Bull

Nice knives!
I think, it does not happen very often that a badly rusted blade comes clean that nice, or did you remove some surface metal?
It looks, we have the same knife as an edc knife, I like it very much, good blades, only do wonder wether those knives were also made with brass liners, new silver bolsters and real bone handles? I would trade mine in for such one if possible.

[268bull]

Hey Paul! Thanks for the comments. Believe it or not, I was fortunate not to have removed any metal on the 714 Muskrat. I covered the blades with a cleaner/lubricant called "Break Free". Left the blades like that for about 3 days. Also , put the same cleaner down iinside the knife to work thru the springs and liners, then blew them clean with air. I took a razor blade and scraped in one direction only on the blades. The Break Free works great for me. Took the rust off, used some Flitz and a Q-tip and ended up with a nice knife. It has brass liners to answer your question. The other knife has steel liners and bone handles. Bull

[Paul Tummers]

Hey Paul! Thanks for the comments. Believe it or not, I was fortunate not to have removed any metal on the 714 Muskrat. I covered the blades with a cleaner/lubricant called "Break Free". Left the blades like that for about 3 days. Also , put the same cleaner down iinside the knife to work thru the springs and liners, then blew them clean with air. I took a razor blade and scraped in one direction only on the blades. The Break Free works great for me. Took the rust off, used some Flitz and a Q-tip and ended up with a nice knife. It has brass liners to answer your question. The other knife has steel liners and bone handles. Bull

Break-Free I have; it is our issued gun/rifle lubricant these days in the Netherlands, works great as a lube, but i did not know, it worked that well on a rusty surface!!
I did mean the easy opener, have the same knife, see some postings earlier, mine also has steel liners and bolsters, even the chrome on the blade is still for 90% intact, it is a very good knife, but I really would like to have the same easy opener with brass liners, and nickel silver bolsters and a nice bone handle- no Delrin.
I wonder if those were made in their Sword Brand line??

[268bull]

Don't know about that Paul. That's one model ( Sword Brand ) I've yet to run across. Have seen some photo's here on this site of the Sword Brand. Nice looking knives. Surely there's someone on this site who could possibly answer that question. Bull

[travman]

Those are some great knives guys ::tu::gotta love them easy opens
To answer your question about whether they made it in the Sword Brand here is a pic of one ive got
It is the same size as camillus brand

[268bull]

That's a fine looking knife Travman. The shield really sets off the handles

[travman]

Thanks 268bull that shield really sets that knife apart from the others

[orvet]

It looks, we have the same knife as an edc knife, I like it very much, good blades, only do wonder wether those knives were also made with brass liners, new silver bolsters and real bone handles? I would trade mine in for such one if possible.

Paul,
Camillus did make variations of that pattern, including one with brass liners and nickel silver bolsters.

Here is a pic of three Camillus Easy-Open Jacks in my collection.

The top is the oldest with the pre-WWII three-line tang stamp.
It has brass liners and steel bolsters.

The middle is WWII era with the four-line tang stamp.
It has brass liners and nickel silver bolsters.
In the pile side tang it is stamped "33".
It is the only one of the three with a model number.

The bottom knife is Post WWII, probably the 1950s or 1960s.
This knife has brass liners and nickel silver bolsters.

So you see, the knife was made in several variations.
I think your knife was probably made during WWII, mid or later on in the war. I think mine was probably made earlier in the war before they ran out of brass for knives and switched to steel.

You should be able to find an Easy-Opener with brass liners and nickel silver bolsters, They show up often at knife shows and on ebay and usually sell for about $25-$50 depending on condition.
They do make a nice EDC. I have carried one and they take and hold a great edge.

I hope this helps.
Dale

[gino]

Here is a pic of a custom Bokote wood handled Camillus with the easy open noch added. The knife also has a nicely filed spring.

[Paul Tummers]

Yes, that is the type of knife I am looking for! Are those handles real bone?
Looks like the Sword Brand is the Top Of The Notch brand Camillus made?
Beautiful knife, just a pity, the blades show so much evidence of humid storage in the past!

[orvet]

Yes, that is the type of knife I am looking for! Are those handles real bone?

Yes. They are all real bone.

Looks like the Sword Brand is the Top Of The Notch brand Camillus made?

Sword Brand was the highest-grade Camillus knife made.
Before WWII the “Sword Brand” name was usually stamped on a knife.
After WWII it was usually etched.

Beautiful knife, just a pity, the blades show so much evidence of humid storage in the past!

These old Camillus knives were made to use, not to collect. They were made in a time when knives were a daily part of people’s lives. A knife was a tool of daily life. They were uses to accomplish necessary chores, much like we would use a screwdriver today. Since I used to make my living out of a toolbox, first working on cars then on industrial equipment, I really appreciate well-made tools. Being a collector at heart I have a lot more tools than I need, (especially since I don’t work on cars since they went to computers). However, I don’t collect screwdrivers because they are just tools to me. Someday screwdriver collectors will look at my screwdrivers and think, it is too bad he used those, those are vintage Craftsman screwdrivers!

To me a screwdriver is just a tool I use to turn a screw and nothing more.
To the people who first owned these old Camillus knives, they were just tools that they used everyday to cut things and maybe to occasionally scrape a gasket. They were no more special to them than my Craftsman screwdrivers are to me.

Since these people viewed the most knives as tools that they used everyday, they were not particularly worried if one should break or become rusty. They would buy another one and throw the old one away or give it to a grandkid, just as I do with old knives and screwdrivers.

I hope this answered your questions,
Dale

[Paul Tummers]

These old Camillus knives were made to use, not to collect. They were made in a time when knives were a daily part of people’s lives. A knife was a tool of daily life. They were uses to accomplish necessary chores, much like we would use a screwdriver today. Since I used to make my living out of a toolbox, first working on cars then on industrial equipment, I really appreciate well-made tools. Being a collector at heart I have a lot more tools than I need, (especially since I don’t work on cars since they went to computers). However, I don’t collect screwdrivers because they are just tools to me. Someday screwdriver collectors will look at my screwdrivers and think, it is too bad he used those, those are vintage Craftsman screwdrivers!

To me a screwdriver is just a tool I use to turn a screw and nothing more.
To the people who first owned these old Camillus knives, they were just tools that they used everyday to cut things and maybe to occasionally scrape a gasket. They were no more special to them than my Craftsman screwdrivers are to me.

Since these people viewed the most knives as tools that they used everyday, they were not particularly worried if one should break or become rusty. They would buy another one and throw the old one away or give it to a grandkid, just as I do with old knives and screwdrivers.

I hope this answered your questions,
Dale[/quote]

Iknow what you mean,Dale.
As a young student at the Technical school we had a reglement; one of the things in it was, the student has to carry a sharpened pocket knife to accomplish small tasks like sharpening pencils. Nowadays you are removed from school if you carry a pocket knife!
I also did, like you wrote it down so very nicely, lived out of a toolbox for many years as a master-machinist, know about the attitude towards tools.
I also do have a lot more tools as I ever will use in my life, my wife being worried sometimes were to go with them when something happens to me- my children are non-technical educated and do not know a good tool from a bad one, let alone know how to use them in a proper way!
You will for sure agree with me, that looking well after your tools sometimes is more rewarding than looking after people, and this also goes for a good knife, not much fun carrying a rusty bunch of steel around, let alone using it.
I do have another question;Is there something , one can apply to the bone handles to "feed" the bone, like lanoline oil does for leather?
Those old bone handles can be so dried out that they cannot stand any violence anymore without chipping or bursting sometimes.

[orvet]

Well Paul,
I had a friend, Johnnie Fain (jonet 143) who wiped down his collection twice yearly with mineral oil.
You can get it here in the USA at a pharmacy as it is sometimes used as a laxative. It is relatively inexpensive.
When Johnnie passed away I sold (am still selling) his knives for his widow. He had some very old knives that had been abused, but his mineral oil treatment seemed to keep them in good condition.

I have a product I use on dry stag and bone. It is called Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment.
http://www.formbys.com/products/lemon_oil.cfm
It is made for wood but seems to work well to put some moisture back into stag and bone that has dried out.

I hope this helps and that you can find some.
If you can't find the Formby's then I would recommend the mineral oil.

Dale

[Paul Tummers]

Well Paul,
I had a friend, Johnnie Fain (jonet 143) who wiped down his collection twice yearly with mineral oil.
You can get it here in the USA at a pharmacy as it is sometimes used as a laxative. It is relatively inexpensive.
When Johnnie passed away I sold (am still selling) his knives for his widow. He had some very old knives that had been abused, but his mineral oil treatment seemed to keep them in good condition.

I have a product I use on dry stag and bone. It is called Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment.
http://www.formbys.com/products/lemon_oil.cfm
It is made for wood but seems to work well to put some moisture back into stag and bone that has dried out.

I hope this helps and that you can find some.
If you can't find the Formby's then I would recommend the mineral oil.

Dale

Thank you!

I'll try the mineral oil, hope, this does not give the same effect, I once had with Ballistol on a Case knife with Sambar grip; despite dry storage, the Ballistol caused the brass of the liners and pins to oxidize and the sides of the stag grips turned green.

[carrmillus]

"i have to wait for one of my kids to show up to post photos, but i have a camillus tuxedo knife-ebony wood scales, bar shield,3 1/2" closed, 2 blade. both blade tangs are marked with the arched 3 line stamp. according to goin's, this is the oldest marking-am i correct????"

Here's some photos, anyone have any info?