Camillus Military Knives

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:05 pm

Tom has suggested a Military knife Thread. What I hope to see here is all the collective Camillus mil knife information and pics we can generate in hopes of helping us, and future visitors, ID their knives or just learn more about them.

I'll start with one Tom pointed me to on ebay recently. He knows I enjoy Texas Toothpicks, and this emergency fishing kit features one of those, as made by Camillus, the only manufacturer producing them for the war effort. The kit is not complete, but it sure is cool. I could easily catch dinner with it.

Phil

Mossdancer · Post by **Mossdancer** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:15 pm

Hi Phil:
Not ignoring your post.
I just have to get them out of the salt air pickling solution and ready for photos. I have several. it will be a few days.
wb

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:30 am

I have to dig for mine also.

Dale

acourvil · Post by **acourvil** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:40 am

Here are some Tl-29s from the early 1940s to the late 1970s

lt632ret · Post by **lt632ret** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:18 am

Here is another entry into the military arena. these were the survival knives many of you are familiar with from the korean and vietnam era . this knife was made on contract by three firms. Schrade, Camillus and Logan smythe. Also here is a pic of a camillus a friend of mine took apart to make a single blade version and a single blade folding shroud cutter. By the way as I have mentioned before the Schrade and Camillus versions of the mil orange survival were fairly well made and are there fore still relatively easy to find. the Logan Smythe is really a piece of junk and usually falls apart however there price is going up faster than the others due to supply and demand since it is difficult to find one in decent condition. LT PS There are other military automatics however I believe you want to stick to camillus related.

jonet143 · Post by **jonet143** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:19 am

these are really great keep em comin

glennbad · Post by **glennbad** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:25 pm

Great examples so far!

I would be remiss if I did not mention the Pilot's Survival Knife, or PSK.

Made by both Camillus and currently Ontario. They are a good basic design, and a hard using knife. They can take alot of abuse.

Included is a pic (a poor pic, however) of one that my father used during his time in the USAF with EOD. He gave it to me for safe keeping. I rehabbed the sheath a little and stamped his initials onto the front of the stone pocket.

I don't recall the date, but it is probably 30 years old at least.

Glenn

CAMCO · Post by **CAMCO** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:50 pm

Logan/Smythe underbid Camillus and was awarded the contract for the MC-1, but the government rejected their knives because of poor quality. Camillus was then awarded the contract.

Camillus also made a model of this knife with only the shroud cutter (not spring activated) for civilian sales. These were not marked with the "Camillus" name. I will send Phil a copy of the S-Card to post on AAPK.

Tom Williams

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:07 pm

Thanks for the responses all.

Here is a page you'll find useful when it comes to recognizing the Camillus war knives from the reproductions.

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/camillus.htm

The pilots survival will always be my favorite knife. I aquired one shortly after arriving in the RVN and left it there with a friend. Like a good friend, it never let me down. Our member agteacher is doing a little work on one for me. I'll show a pic when I get it back.

Phil

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:41 pm

Here are a couple I have in my shop for handles. Actually what you see is all that is there. One is a Navy Mark I & the large one is a Marine Corps fighting knife (aka K-Bar). They are for WB here at AAPK.

The one with a handle is my USMC Camillus. Sorry no great stories to go with it, I didn't carry it in country. I traded $10 worth of cigars for it to one of my customers who found it beside the railroad tracks.

Dale

Mossdancer · Post by **Mossdancer** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:22 am

Hi
With the exception of two knives and the props these are all camillus.
I will try to label as the pics come up.
wb

PS; Hey Dale, while getting these out I found several KA-BARS. bring trading material when you come to coast next time. I didn't realize you have my only camillus mark 1 and 2. Thanks for showing them. He is going to make them whole again for me.

jonet143 · Post by **jonet143** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:35 am

thanks for sharing wb

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:34 am

Wow WB,
You never mentioned those before on the phone!
Thanks for the plug for the Marines!

Semper Fi,
Dale

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:33 am

Thanks everyone.

Mossdancer: Cat shots? Oh man, that must have been a thrill, getting catapulted off a carrier. And Camillus made a knife just for you guys, called the 'Top Gun'. I don't know, maybe Tom remembers as he is the one who told me, it was contracted for Westwind productions, or maybe United. Featured a list of the US Navy Carriers at the time it was made, etched on one side of the blade.

I have seen this knife, sans the blade etches, on ebay. Camillus must have sold out a lot of off the wall stuff before they went under. I've seen it described as a 'prototype' by unknowing or dishonest sellers on ebay. It is simply a knife that was not finished-etched. It was called a 'platform' knife, as it did not have the fullers, so it was a nice and neat 'platform' or bare canvas easy to etch. Aluminum pommel and guard as well.

As mentioned earlier by me, I carried a Jet Pilot way back in the day. I recently made a deal with our great knife customized 'agteacher' who rehandled one for me. He hafted it with walnut in coffin shape and replaced the double guard with a single brass one. I'll get a nice sheath made for this and it will once again ride on my belt, providing usefullness and comfort during my outtings in Michigan and points north.

Also am showing one of three 'John Wayne at War' knives produced by Camillus. This is the Jet Pilot, of course, tied in with the movie 'The Flying Tigers' (never mind the knife was not developed until after WW2). There was a Navy Mark one and a Mark two as well, also commemorating Waynes war movie roles as a Marine and a Navy Seebee.

As long as I am burning up so much of Bryan's bandwidth, I show an SRU vest I recently sold on ebay, along with attached holster and Camillus knife and sheath.

Phil

sunburst · Post by **sunburst** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:05 pm

I am really enjoying this topic...Thank you gents for taking the time to share it...

Sunburst

W5RWU · Post by **W5RWU** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:32 am

Nice knives guys ! Phil, the Wayne at war is my favorite Thanks for sharing it!
Randy

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 2:28 am

Tom sent me these for posting here. Copies of the original 'S Cards' for the parachute knife. Keep in mind these were once kept locked in a safe. What we have been posting here is probably the first time they have ever been publicly shown off.

Also, a question was asked at another knife forum about the USmarine parachutist knife. I did a little online looking around and guess what I find: BR Levine's article on these, but also, take a look at who he thanks for his help.

The parachute knife described in this article is not the hook and auto that we discussed above. It was a small, (smallest fixed blade ever issued by our military) inexpensive knife made by Western, called the W31.

The W31 is a valuable knife (I found one that sold for $2800)

http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/usmc42-1.txt

Big thanks Camco.

Phil

W5RWU · Post by **W5RWU** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:18 am

Phil & Tom Thanks for the post ! This is a good history lesson!
see ya Randy

CAMCO · Post by **CAMCO** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:29 pm

Phil,
The two S-Cards are for the #5728 Parachute knife with only the shroud cutter. These knives were made for the civilian market and were not a switchblade. This knife was made from the parts from the MC-1 paratrooper's knife and were not marked with the Camillus name. This model is rare and only a small quantity were made.

Tom Williams

LRV · Post by **LRV** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:51 pm

Both Camillus and Schrade were presented with E awards for their efforts during WW-II. Here is a copy of the presentation at Ulster July 1945 with some pictures.

http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/ ... wpicts.pdf

TTYL
Larry

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:09 am

Thanks for sharing that Larry.
Very impressive!

Dale

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:39 pm

The Marine Raider Stiletto.. It is a beauty. Originals are rare, and you won't see one in this condition very often. Tom Williams just donated this to the Camillus Historical Society. It was made in 1942

Tom, what can you tell us about this one?

Phil

PS,,, the wartime photo of the Camillus Post Office was already posted in this forum, but I thought I'd add it again, to show how proud Camillus-- both the city and the company-- were of their efforts.

CAMCO · Post by **CAMCO** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:44 pm

The USMC Raider Stiletto was made in 1942. Only 14,370 were produced in two producton runs. Most of these knives were issued to the Marine Raiders (Carlson and Eddson) and an unknown quantity were parkerized "black" and issued to the Canadian Airbourne Troops.
Camillus featured the Raider Stiletto in the first post WWII catalog. This knife was also used in the WWII movie "Gung Ho" starring Randolph Scott and Robert Mitchum.
I joined the Camillus Historical Society in March of this year and they did not have a Camillus knife in their collection so I donated this USMC Raider Stilleto. The sheath is a reproduction of the M6.

Tom Williams

Phil Gibbs · Post by **Phil Gibbs** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:15 pm

Well done Tom.

Is that one we made in the 90's with the pewter handles, or is it an original in zinc?

The blades of course are all original, as we found 2 55 gallon drums of original blades when we cleaned out the HGB building!

Very best wishes old friend,

Phil

Gr8Scout · Post by **Gr8Scout** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:46 am

Had someone come to me locally with a few knives to sell... two dozen all steel military utility knives, as a matter of fact. I assumed all to be Camillus, but you know how that assuming goes. With some help from CAMCO, I have narrowed down the oldest one (a WW2 US Marine issue) as either a Kingston or a Stevenson. So began my crash course on these plentiful, rather ordinary knives. Turned out another one wasn't a Camillus either, but a Queen. I didn't know that company made them.

Phil

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