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.
I am by no means an expert or even very knowledgeable on Camillus knives yet (but working on it!! ) - but I cannot recall seeing this combination/configuration before?
Isn't this a little unusual - having a pen blade where "normally" would be a punch (on the cub scout type knives). It looks like this one was ridding hard and put away wet, but I think interesting none the less.
Or was this perhaps a modification/customization?
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.
Latin Proverb
That knife i believe is one of the knives made for the Navy during the war by Camillus
Its in pretty rough shape & missing the bail
Look in the 1946 Camillus catalog at the end in the knives made for the military it shows
that same pattern with a punch and with a spear
The spear has the 2 piece can opener on it and no shield
Thanks Travman, I see what you mean - it would be the one described as "Navy and Coast Guard General Utility Knife (Present)" - but in the pictures the seller is not showing the bottle opener blade although it does appear to be there if you look closely at the last pic. At first I thought the knife had only 3 blades...
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.
Latin Proverb
Thanks Trav, I was having trouble finding it in the catalogs.
Camillus used that same blade pattern in 1970 in the model 98, a camp knife with red plastic handles like a SAK. I know Imperial made a camper with a pen blade in place of the punch, as well as Camillus. They were probably for the Navy/CG as well. I know I have a couple made by Imperial & I think I have a couple made by Camillus as well.
It's a cousin to this #99 (with handles replaced), the difference being a pen blade in place of the punch. The fourth blade isn't shown but I believe it's a screwdriver/cap lifter. This is the third one with that tang stamp and the two piece can opener I've seen with handles that have completely gone to hell. Something in the water during the late '40s? The tang stamp is what's considered a 1946 - 1956 (Keep in mind Orvet's constant admonition against putting too much weight on Camillus tang stamps.) Comparing with the catalogs, it would appear the knife in the auction is 1946 or so to 1950. In the 1951 catalog the can openers are the new 'safety' type.
Attachments
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
Thanks gentlemen, I just love learning something new about knives every day! Jerry, is that a before and after pic? (Or after and before?) Who did the custom job on that knife? Great work.
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.
Latin Proverb
Generally you can copy pictures off of eBay by 1.) Enlarging the picture 2.) right clicking the enlarged picture 3.) a dialog box will pop up having as one of the options to "Save Picture As..." 4.) select this option 5.) another dialog box will pop up showing a suggested file name (the blue area) and the default location for pictures on your computer ("Save in:"), normally I give the picture a more descriptive file name at this point 6.) click on the "Save" button. Please remember that you have to enlarge the picture first, it doesn't work with the normal sized picture.
Hope this helps, and ask Sam Johnson how I'm doing.
Thanks Msteele6, I appreciate. My only problem is that often, even after enlargement, my browser does not give me that option to "Save Image..." dunno why, must have an especially bad version of Windows...
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.
Latin Proverb
smokepole wrote:Thanks Msteele6, I appreciate. My only problem is that often, even after enlargement, my browser does not give me that option to "Save Image..." dunno why, must have an especially bad version of Windows...
Are you using Google Chrome? Doesn't seem to work in Google Chrome. If so swithch back to IE and it will work
"There are none so blind as those that refuse to see"
God Bless America - Though I don't know why he would want to.
TJ, tell you the truth, I dunno First time for me to hear about Google Chrome I just log into e-Bay and roll from there - I use Mozilla Firefox as browser and on some pics it works, but on most it don't....
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.
Latin Proverb
) - but I cannot recall seeing this combination/configuration before?
I just log into e-Bay and roll from there - I use Mozilla Firefox as browser and on some pics it works, but on most it don't.... 