Camillus WWII and before!

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.
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travman
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Picked up this Sword Brand rope knife recently
and other than someone useing a electric sharpener on it
it seems to be in great condition
3-1/4"
Sword Brand
Camillus
4 line stamp on back of main
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orvet
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by orvet »

Very nice Trav! ::tu::
Do you know if it is circa WWI?
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Miller Bro's
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by Miller Bro's »

travman wrote:Picked up this Sword Brand rope knife recently
Nice one! ::drool:: ::tu::

Do you have a Farmers jack?
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Thanks Guys
Dale i can only assume it is ww1 knife, nothing on it that can confirm that it was

MB
i dont have any Farmers Jacks ,i am always looking for something that i dont have
as many knives that Camillus made through the years one would think it would be
easy to find some of these patterns.
It doesnt help that around here there are not very many good knife shows?
The flea markets and yard sales seem to produce a good amount of the common patterns

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Miller Bro's
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by Miller Bro's »

I have one but it is in "parts" condition, someone really abused it :(

I thought you may have a nice example to show. Old knives are hard to find just about everywhere now. The knife shows around here are not that great.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Here is a oddly jigged bone handled easy open
It sorta looks like Robenson jigging ::hmm:: any thoughts on this ?
It is 3-5/8" closed
4 line stamp
CAMILLUS
CUTLERY CO.
CAMILLUS N.Y.
USA


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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by Miller Bro's »

Looks like the blades have been changed, look closely at the pivot pin.
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travman
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Yes i see it now :(
Using a loop it looks as if the pin
had something done ?

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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by smokepole »

OK Trav, I am officially jealous!! Man, you have the nicest collection of old Camillus knives - and the nicest patterns! I know you work hard to find them, so well done!
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travman
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Thanks Smokepole
I am glad that people enjoy the knives
as much as i do, i feel Camillus is an underated
player in the collectors eye.

Here is Camillus sailors spike knife #7065
Made for lend or lease to British Navy
to use for general utility,splicing ropes,opening knots and emergency
Camillus made aprox. 65,000 of these between 1941 -44
half stops and hard blade snap
4-7/8" closed 5-1/4 to tip of screwdriver
stagged rosewood handles
4 line stamp
CAMILLUS
CUTLERY CO
CAMILLUS,N.Y.
U.S.A

Trav
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by travman »

Here is a 4 blade congress
Seems like the liners and bolsters are steel
all blades with 4 line stamping even the file
all blades have half stops
3-3/8" closed
CAMILLUS
CUTLERY CO
CAMILLUS,N.Y.
U.S.A.

Trav
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by orvet »

Another nice one Trav! ::tu:: ::tu::
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busterdarr
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by busterdarr »

Found this old Camillus in an estate we cleaned out a couple weeks ago. 4-line tang stamp. Can anyone identify it?
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by Mossdancer »

busterdarr:
Looks to be a 1925 to 1945 equal end pen with real pearl handles. The blades appear to be pretty full. At least there seems to be a choil showing on both. More pics with closeups while using a tripod might reveal more. In current market it might be worth several dollars. Probably will not pay any college tuition.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by orvet »

busterdarr, Welcome to AAPK. ::welcome::

Camillus changed from the 4-line tang stamp to the 3-line stamp about 1945 or 1946.
Though they did use a 3-line stamp before 1925, but when they dropped the 4-line stamp they dropped the work "CUTLERY" from the stamp. If you see a 3-line stamp with the word "CUTLERY" in it, then it is probably pre 1925.

Is there a Sword Brand stamp on the tang opposite the 4-line tang stamp?
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by busterdarr »

Mossdancer
Thanks for the info. I suspected it was pre-WWII, based on the the other items that were stored with it. Pics were from my cell phone. Will break out the real camera this evening.

Orvet
No Sword brand, so from what I understand, it wasn't one of their high-end knives. Will post better pics this evening.
Thanks again!
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by orvet »

Here is one I got this week-
A Sword Brand tang stamp on the mark side tang and the 4-line Camillus stamp on the pile side tang.
It is only 2-3/4", one of the smallest 4-line jacks I have seen.
The handles are attached by the prong method.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by Mossdancer »

Dale:
Great old Jack. Good looks, great appearance, lots of character and a cutting edge, Recreational and a work horse. Not much more a person could ask for back then and a treasure to have now.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by tjmurphy »

Here's one I won off eBay last night. WWII Utility/Camper/Engineer's knife. It looks like the screwdriver/cap-lifter blade is broken and the punch has been broken and reprofiled, I think, and he says the main blade has just a little snap closing, but I had to have for the handles if nothing else.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by trail »

I wholeheartedly agree, TJ, it's worth it for that pretty bone. I wonder if anyone has ever done a single blade conversion off a scout knife?
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by tjmurphy »

Don't know, but you'd sure have a lot of parts left over ::nod::
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by orvet »

trail wrote:I wholeheartedly agree, TJ, it's worth it for that pretty bone. I wonder if anyone has ever done a single blade conversion off a scout knife?

It could be done, but you would build to build a spacer for the end to replace the blade.
The springs are double ended so it would need a spacer to offset the spring from the pin to make up for the missing blade.
Without it there would not be enough tension on the spring to operate the one remaining blade & it would look strange. :lol:
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by 268bull »

I just picked up this TL - 29 signalman's yesterday for a song! The worst that was wrong was a little surface rust. Applying a bit of elbow grease took care of that. I have a number of black composite handled TL -29's, and 2 or 3 wood handled ones, but this is the first one I found with bone handles. The tang, as I mentioned is Camillus, over Cuterly Co., over Camillus N.Y., over U.S.A.. It has the snap of a p.o.'d 12 ft. gator ::nod:: . Nice knife though. ::tu:: Dale H.
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by garddogg56 »

A retired Ironworker gave me this today same tangstamp as bulls 1940-46 8)TL-29
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Re: Camillus WWII and before!

Post by 268bull »

Nice gift Garddogg ::nod:: Bull
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