Another Grand Old USA Knife Company Gone

dogwhisperer5 · Post by **dogwhisperer5** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:04 pm

"Foreign competition" rears it's head again!
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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Camillus Cutlery to close for good Wednesday
Camillus Cutlery Co., the oldest maker of folding knives in the country, will shut its doors for good Wednesday, according to a union official who works at the company.

About 35 people are employed by the company, which has dwindled from 200 employees a decade ago and more than 400 in the 1970s.

Management employees were told of the closing Monday afternoon, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, which represents 16 employees at the plant. Westcott said managers told her the plant would close Wednesday.

The company was founded in 1876 in New York City by Adolph Kastor, who started by importing knives. In 1902, he acquired a small cutlery in the village of Camillus and began manufacturing knives there.

Camillus Cutlery weathered a six-month-long strike last year. Westcott said the company was crippled by competition from low-cost foreig

jfarmer · Post by **jfarmer** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:40 pm

I knew Camillus was having problems and I have been wondering how their situation is. I guess I know now. Thanks for the info.

James

sunburst · Post by **sunburst** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:43 pm

Well a very sad day for the American Knife Industry and one that will leave a hole that will be hard to replace..

Sunburst

petesknives · Post by **petesknives** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:35 pm

very sad day indeed.

Ken

Diligence · Post by **Diligence** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:17 pm

I know nothing about US unions. Nor am I bashing them, they certainly have their purpose.

However, I have to wonder if the 6 month strike affected the company's ability to respond to market demands?

Too bad to lose a good on-shore company.

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:16 am

Here is a link to a story about the closing.
http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/st ... xml&coll=1

The workers at Camillus made 15 million knives during WWII.
You would think at a time when our country is at war, the government would like to keep a couple companies around that can produce quality knives at a very reasonable price. I guess they expect the troops to buy their own knives from Pakistan or China, like they had to buy their own flak vests at the beginning of the war.

It doesn't make sense to me. It is an absolute shame to see this fine old company close it's doors.

Just my $.02,
Dale

muskrat man · Post by **muskrat man** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:36 am

Another good knife company bites the dust. I wonder what this will do the the value of cammilus knives, will they skyrocket in a few months like schrade did? All the old knife companies are slowly dying out

WcrownR · Post by **WcrownR** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:27 am

Which of the old (vintage name) companies are left, and what is the status of each?
Thanks.

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:45 am

...thanks to the onslaught of weak Asian CRAP!!!

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:09 am

WcrownR wrote:Which of the old (vintage name) companies are left, and what is the status of each?
Thanks.

K-Bar is still around. So is Buck, but both companies have some stuff that is made off shore.

Dale

justin hosier · Post by **justin hosier** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:28 pm

Another one bites the dust.

This is a classic example of why we need to support onshore companies as much as possible. To add to the list Case and Queen are also still making US knives. You have to watch Buck and Kabar closely as a lot of the lower end knives are being made overseas. Any way 3 cheers for the few companies that are still struggling along

It will be interesting to see what happens to Camillus knife prices over the next year or two. I had noticed that they seemed to be going up recently, Iwonder if someone knew

radicat · Post by **radicat** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:42 pm

Get an Historical Landmark designaton as soon as possible. Stop the crooks from carrying stuff out the door.
Don't allow a sell-off of anything.
Set up a not-for-profit organization using previous employees.
Let the employees vote on who the management personnel will be. Vote out of office any government official that resists.
OR, sit back and do nothing while the bleeding continues.

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:08 pm

justin hosier wrote:It will be interesting to see what happens to Camillus knife prices over the next year or two. I had noticed that they seemed to be going up recently, Iwonder if someone knew

There was a good deal of speculation as to whether or not Camillus would survive last year when they had the strike. I know several people, myself included, who bought a bunch of Camillus then. I was able to get an example of each of the Gran'pa series, which are Camillus knives that are patterned after some of the most popular Old Timer patterns and a few Beckers.

I think people who were following the American cutlery industry suspected this would happen. I had dared to hope that they might actually be able to pull out their reorganization, but apparently my hope was in vain.

Dale