Some Camillus Knife Lore

[Phil Gibbs]

Phil,
Welcome to AAPK.
As collectors we all grieve the loss of yet another great American Cutlery Company. I wish you and all the workers from Camillus all the best.

I do hope that you will stay around AAPK and share some of your memories of Camillus, good & bad. Hopefully the story of the people who made Camillus Knives will be told, and also the important part they played in the defense of this country in several wars.

It is nice to know something of the people who made the knives we have loved for years.

Thank you and welcome,
Dale

Thanks for the welcome! I think I will feel very much at home here.
On the topics of Camillus history, I doubt I will be able to come close to Tom Williams expertise. Having had the pleasure of working with Tom for 27 years, I can tell you know one is more passionate & knowledgeable of Camillus history than him!

Hopefully I will learn to take better pictures & be able to share some of my collection with you all in the future.

[Gr8Scout]

Welcome to our forum, Phil Gibbs! A pleasure to have another former Camillus employee join us.
Phil

[Bob W.]

...before they are made in China!

According to one newspaper article, the bank turned down Taylor's offer to buy the Camillus brands. The bank would like to find a single buyer for the entire package.

But I don't hold out hope that will happen. Who's going to want an oudated production facility with no employees, no contracts, no relief from New York corporate taxes, and brand names with a mediocre reputation? Camillus land-mined any buy-it-all deals by botching each of these issues, IMO.

-Bob

[MITCH RAPP]

Mr. Gibbs, Welcome aboard, I have read many of your posts on

BladeForums and they have all been Great! I think you will find a much

nicer and friendlier atmosphere here as opposed to that other

forum.

[Phil Gibbs]

Thanks Mitch!
You are of course right, definitely the knife place to be!
I am so glad I found you all.

[CAMCO]

Phil,
Thank you for the kind words. It was truly a great experience working at Camillus in the old days. I remember some of the great people at Camillus like Dave Brookfield, Maria LaTone, Ed Hudack, Don Cook, Dave Chapman, Tom and Pam Liggett. I almost forgot Bonnie Clark!

I was at the Camillus factory on 2/27/2007 and they cleaned out your office. All the projects that you worked on were piled up in the hallway.

Please show the members of AAPK some of the knives that you made. Movie knives?

Tom Williams

[Gr8Scout]

Phil..
Movie knives? Projects? Knives you worked on?

We're all ears. We love this kinda stuff.
Phil

[Phil Gibbs]

Thanks Tom!

Yes those were wonderful times! And I believe that together we achieved some really great things.

Please don't worry about the pile in the hallway, those were just the empty shells!

Phil, thanks for the kind words, I'm not sure where to start! & I don't want to seem to be a show-off either. Almost every accomplishment of mine at Camillus Cutlery Company was due to the help, support & friendship of all the fantastic people around me.

[upnorth]

I'm thinking of bidding on this Craftsman knife, and wonder if anyone knows if it's a Camillus. It looks like it to me, but I don't feel expert enough to be sure.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :FSEL:US:1

[SFC ADP]

there was a lengthy discussion here about a month ago about Spiral Punches, and I believe it was agreed Camillus dominated those knives with the spiral punches,
here is the link that talks about that conversation:

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 59&start=0

[upnorth]

Thanks for pointing that out for me, Sarge!! I lost that thread somehow and missed a bunch of it! It helps fill in my punch data!!

[Gr8Scout]

Phil Gibbs,

Please, and I mean like begging- please, do jump right in. Start where ever you would like to. First hand knowledge is valuable to collectors like us.

Let me start you off with a few questions: What was your job(s) at the Cutlery? Your first projects? Your favorite ones?

Phil

[Mossdancer]

To all of you recent members who worked at Camillus:
We, the other members are always trying to learn anything out there
about cutlery. We have listened, asked questions and myself anyway
with great awe discoursed with Tom Williams. He has become along with his parents our treasure. If you folks would be so kind as to join in with
he and other knowledgeable ones! To best describe what it would mean to me. It would sort of be like reading the bibliogrphy sources for a
major unpublished work on Camillus mfg. So please give us a short bio and tell us your stories.
wb

[Phil Gibbs]

Phil,

I look forward to sharing some of the knife development history with you all.
I am just about to move the family from Syracuse, NY to Rogers, AR so all my knives are currently packed up ready to go.

I should be a little more organized in a week or two! I hope!!

[upnorth]

Hope you enjoy Arizona, Phil!
I lived in Syracuse for 4 years while attending Lemoyne College! There's some beautiful motorcycling country there. What little I've seen of Arizona is equally spectacular in a very different way, and I'm going back to see more one of these days!!
Look forward to seeing your knives when you get settled in!
Charlie C.

[upnorth]

Maybe someone will see these great knives that came from Camillus, and revive the tradition of well-made American cutlery from the limbo it is in!

[Phil Gibbs]

From the book "Among the Hills of Camillus"
By Mary Ellis Maxwell; 2nd printing, July 3rd 1976

[upnorth]

Nice slice of Camillus history, Phil! I enjoyed reading that! Too bad I wasn't a knife collector when I lived near there (Syracuse, N.Y.) from 1962-1966.
I was less than 10 miles from the factory!!
I used one of Moritz Mayer's patented punch designs for one of my Special Order Harness Jacks, from Queen Cutlery. I didn't know he was the manager of Camillus up to 1922.
I love it when history unfolds for us.
Thank you, thank you!!

[dannyb]

I'm turning BLUE here - this waiting with "bated" breath - for more from the Williams' or how the Gibbs' "exodus" from New York to Arizona (WOW !) went!!

Simply; I wish the best for all impacted by the closure. Thanks for taking the time, in these times of turmoil for you, to share your experiences....

Interesting!! Desirable!! Valuable!! Thanks Again !!!

regards,

dannyb

[CAMCO]

I will be sending some more info to Phil (Gr8Scout) to post here. I recently acquired my files from Camillus.

Phil Gibbs moved to Arkansas, not Arizona. Phil ws a great asset to Camillus and many of his designs made up the Camillus (as well as other knife companies) lines. Phil can you post some info on the new bayonet?

Tom Williams

[W5RWU]

Hello can anyone help with info on a camillus cuda 2s tanto?
The blade is etch cuda ats 34 usa . what years did camillus make these?
Thanks for any help Randy

[orvet]

I was looking through some old knife magazines and I found something that I thought might be of interest to Camillus aficionados.

This is a short article that appeared in Blade Trade Magazine , Winter 1991.

I thought some of you might enjoy this. Click twice on the picture to see the large version.
Dale

[Phil Gibbs]

Hello can anyone help with info on a camillus cuda 2s tanto?
The blade is etch cuda ats 34 usa . what years did camillus make these?
Thanks for any help Randy

The CUDA Quick Actions were introduced in 1998.

[MITCH RAPP]

Dale; Very Cool! I even like the Rubber Snakes in the top right hand

picture

[W5RWU]

Phil thank you iam not a tactical knife guy but do like this one!
dale cool article keep the good info coming
Thanks again Randy