Give your suggestions

[Chief RID]

I got this very abused knife from a family member for Christmas. I want to do a restoration or a custom rebuild on it. Since it has no usable blades and replacements for the originals may be hard to come by, I was looking for suggestions on what to do. cato from the Camillus forum was good enough to give this identification and pics of a very nice one. ( its 9885 model all-purpose high carbon
made for sears) Of coarse mine is the ratty one. The bone handles look very good. The side plates springs and bolsters are pretty good also. I am open to all suggestions.

[muskrat man]

with enough time and scrounging you should be able to come up with enough blades to put it back in action. most of the blades can be sourced from camillus cattle and camp knives. In fact I've probably got a few of the blades you need ill have to check tomorrow

[Chief RID]

Thanks for the encouragement MM. I will be on the lookout for the Camillus cattle and camp knives. We just don't see that much Camillus in this area. I really don't know why. It seems that all I have ever seen, in 60 years that is Camillus is Sword Brand hawkbills and some scout knives and electrician knives. If a gent had a stockman, whittler, or jack knife in his pocket it was a Case or a shell knife, There was no in between. Just an observation. What is the chance that the tang measurements would match from a US made Imperial Camp King or Colonial camp shell knife? Those seem to be abundant. I have one of each on the shelf now, I bought for parts. I would gladly take them apart if there was a chance. I need blades for an old PAL that could be restored also. All are of slightly different length closed but within a few hundredths of an inch.

[orvet]

What is the chance that the tang measurements would match from a US made Imperial Camp King or Colonial camp shell knife? Those seem to be abundant. I have one of each on the shelf now, I bought for parts. I would gladly take them apart if there was a chance.

Shell knives were built for price point; to make a less expensive knife and probably have thinner blades.
You can get out your calipers or micrometer and measure the tangs, but I think that just by looking at the knives side-by-side you will find the shell knives are made of thinner steel. At least that is what I have found when I have looked at swapping blades from a shell to a standard slip joint.
However, I have worked mostly with Imperial shells. If you have some Colonial knives, you might check them and see if they will fit.

I think MM is right, you can probably find most of the blades from old Camillus Scout & cattle knives.

Good luck with that project!

[Chief RID]

Just got a good parts knife in the mail, with all 5 blades. This thing may turn out pretty good, even with an amateur knife mechanic. I will post pics as I start work.