The All Scout Knives Thread

[ScoutKnives]

Here’s an interesting Remington junior scout I picked up with the top bolster customized , not sure if it was cast that way or if it was engraved , either way it was done very nicely .
Meverell Good . A little research with that name shows he was a Sergeant of the 10 mountain division .

[espn77]

Wow that's really cool.

[Quick Steel]

ScoutKnives, congrats on an exceptionally interesting knife.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Have any of you avid and knowledgeable Official Scout knife collectors ever seen such a bolster as that? I suspect Mr Good received the knife well before he joined the 10th Mountain Division, if it is the same person.

Did The Scouts ever award such a knife?

The reason I ask is because that looks to have been professionally done.

Charlie Noyes

[philco]

Charlie I've certainly never seen anything like it on another scout knife.

[ScoutKnives]

Thanks Keith and Quick steel .
Charlie it’s definitely professionally done , the knife dates pre WWII so the time line fits Mr Good as a younger gentleman .

[Willintheweeds]

Today the weather was nice, in the 50's, sunny, and I decided it was time to burn the brush pile I've been adding to for months, and while the fire was burning I put my Camillus Cub to work whittling on some dry Sycamore branches I was going to burn. Nothing like sitting by a fire, enjoying the nice spring weather, and whittling on a stick. I stripped the bark off of this one, leaving some of the inner bark, it seemed sturdy and the right size for a walking stick for my pretty active aunt Annie when she goes to a park. I'll sand it some and maybe stain and utherane it, maybe add a wrist strap.

Then I tried to make some fuzz sticks, the dried Sycamore doesn't curl real nice like some other wood, at least for me, so for grins I wanted to see it I could notch the stick all round without going all the way through, took awhile but the carbon blade on that little knife did fine.

Well I just had to use the caplifter and opened a bottle of root beer with it:

This Cub is a great little knife, and now I get the pleasure of touching up and oiling the blade. I'd carry it more but for the bail and I don't have the heart to remove it. I wonder how many Camillus made, I bet at least a million.

[RobesonsRme.com]

If you had told us you decided to try your hand at carving a donkey's head, we would have been really impressed....

Charlie Noyes

[DR_MAGOO]

Just picked up this Imperial Prov USA, CUB SCOUTS BSA. Needs a little cleaning. Stamping appears to be 1946-56.

[knifegnome]

Not an Official Scout, but "Scout " related.NYK Co with a store display sign.

[Mumbleypeg]

I like that Buffalo Bill scout knife! Nice to have the paperwork with it too.

Here's an unofficial scout knife I recently picked up. Nice etch on master blade says "Griffon" Boy Scout. Back of tang says Griffon Cutlery Works Germany. When I got it it had a lot of light rust and was so dry it had no snap on any blades. Cleaned it up a little and put some lube in the joints. Now all but the can opener have good snap. First Griffon scout I've seen.

Ken

[peanut740]

Nice pair John!

[RobesonsRme.com]

Ken, that's an interesting knife from Griffon. The shield seems too small for the frame. One has to wonder why that shield and not the larger escutcheon. Great bone, too.

Charlie Noyes

[gunhawk]

I need some help identifying a Boy Scout knife that I bought back when I was a scout. Here's the information that I can give:

1) I purchased the knife at either Gimble's or Macy's Boy Scout department in Manhattan NYC.
2) It was purchased in either late 1956 when I joined, or mid 1957 when I went to Scout Camp. I don't remember which.
3) It had a round Boy Scout emblem. Not a shield.
4) It had either black or very dark brown jigged scales.
5) If I remember correctly, it also had the "Boy Scouts of America" etched into the blade.
6) It had either 4 or 5 tools. Not three.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

[zzyzzogeton]

Gunhawk -

For that time frame, the knife would have been either an Imperial or a Camillus.

A few questions to try to narrow the options down from the dozen possibilities-

- bail or no bail
- jigged plastic or jigged celluloid or jigged bone or jigged wood
- bolsters or no bolsters

[gunhawk]

Gunhawk -

For that time frame, the knife would have been either an Imperial or a Camillus.

A few questions to try to narrow the options down from the dozen possibilities-

- bail or no bail
- jigged plastic or jigged celluloid or jigged bone or jigged wood
- bolsters or no bolsters

It had a bail and bolsters. I'm not sure what the scales were made of. They weren't bone, and i'm pretty sure that they weren't made of wood. I assume plastic or celluloid, but i'm not sure which. I thought that the Imperial Scout knives had a shield, not a round emblem. Was Camillus making a scout knife in the mid 1950's?

Here's a photo of one that looks the same:

[zzyzzogeton]

Both Camillus and Imperial made BSA Scout knives with the FC or First Class rank shield and the round TF or Tenderfoot rank badge shield.

Camillus started making BSA folders in 1946.

Imperial started in 1948.

Both made them in various flavors until shutting down, Camillus in 2007 (no knives made in 2007) and for Imperial, 2004, with the last knives made in 2003.

I'm kinda stumped by your details, however. Your description seems to have features from both FC and TF eras. I'll have to keep looking later wen I'm not so tired.

The information I have collected over the years indicates official BSA products shifted from the FC rank badge to the TF badge across the board in 1960-1961, from knives to whistles to bugles to chow kits to.........

The BSA Knife book I have indicates that the TF shields on knives starts in 1961s. While very voluminous and relatively complete, there are errors. (The author did the best he could with the tech available to him in the 1980s/ early 1990s.)

It has one reference to a TF shield on an Imperial 5 blade in the November 1957 issue of Boy's Life scouting magazine, but I've just finished going through Nov/Dec 57 and Jan 58 issues. Only the 4 blade FC shield knife is depicted. The same book also indicates that all Imperial 5 blade knives were bail-less and all other references to TFs indicate 1961 as the earliest date for TF shields. So.....

[ronfish]

Gunhawk -

For that time frame, the knife would have been either an Imperial or a Camillus.

A few questions to try to narrow the options down from the dozen possibilities-

- bail or no bail
- jigged plastic or jigged celluloid or jigged bone or jigged wood
- bolsters or no bolsters

It had a bail and bolsters. I'm not sure what the scales were made of. They weren't bone, and i'm pretty sure that they weren't made of wood. I assume plastic or celluloid, but i'm not sure which. I thought that the Imperial Scout knives had a shield, not a round emblem. Was Camillus making a scout knife in the mid 1950's?

Here's a photo of one that looks the same:

Are you certain that your recollection of the shield and year is correct? The knife example that you showed did not exist prior to 1961/1962 based on all of the documented records. Camillus was not making the knife at that time, it was Ulster and I do have an example of one with an imperial blade from the early 60s.

Do you recall if your knife came in a two piece box, one piece box or a plastic tube?

[gunhawk]

Gunhawk -

For that time frame, the knife would have been either an Imperial or a Camillus.

A few questions to try to narrow the options down from the dozen possibilities-

- bail or no bail
- jigged plastic or jigged celluloid or jigged bone or jigged wood
- bolsters or no bolsters

It had a bail and bolsters. I'm not sure what the scales were made of. They weren't bone, and i'm pretty sure that they weren't made of wood. I assume plastic or celluloid, but i'm not sure which. I thought that the Imperial Scout knives had a shield, not a round emblem. Was Camillus making a scout knife in the mid 1950's?

Here's a photo of one that looks the same:

Are you certain that your recollection of the shield and year is correct? The knife example that you showed did not exist prior to 1961/1962 based on all of the documented records. Camillus was not making the knife at that time, it was Ulster and I do have an example of one with an imperial blade from the early 60s.

Do you recall if your knife came in a two piece box, one piece box or a plastic tube?

[gunhawk]

Sorry. I screwed up that last reply. Memory is funny, and frequently faulty. I wasn't trying to say that the knife I showed was exactly the same. Just that it *looked* like that one. My years are absolutely correct. 1956 or 1957. I quit the Scouts in 1958. I know that the emblem is correct. It was *not* the shield. It was round. I have one with a shield that we have been discussing in Q and A. I know that it had at *least* four tools. It's *possible* that it didn't have a bail, memory being what it is. I don't recall the box that it came in, except that it wasn't a tube. I found a site that showed the various companies and scout knives that they produced with the years, but I didn't bookmark it, and now I can't find it again. In any case, there's no way that the knife could have been from the 1960's as I was 14 years old in 1960 and had become an Air Explorer.

Thanks for your help.

[ronfish]

The only one that I believe fits the time period would be an imperial five blade deluxe knife that has handles that look similar to the one you posted and it does have a round shield. I believe it fits the 1957 timeframe - It came in a fancy orange box with the cellophane viewing window. There was an alternate version With a round shield that had smooth handles that I believe was designated as “simulated wood”. I will post a pic - I have I have a half dozen in the original boxes with the original display carton.

[ronfish]

Front and center:

[gunhawk]

The only one that I believe fits the time period would be an imperial five blade deluxe knife that has handles that look similar to the one you posted and it does have a round shield. I believe it fits the 1957 timeframe - It came in a fancy orange box with the cellophane viewing window. There was an alternate version With a round shield that had smooth handles that I believe was designated as “simulated wood”. I will post a pic - I have I have a half dozen in the original boxes with the original display carton.

Wow! Very impressive collection! That is most likely the one then. How much would one in nice condition go for? And what's
in the red, white and blue boxes?

[gunhawk]

The only one that I believe fits the time period would be an imperial five blade deluxe knife that has handles that look similar to the one you posted and it does have a round shield. I believe it fits the 1957 timeframe - It came in a fancy orange box with the cellophane viewing window. There was an alternate version With a round shield that had smooth handles that I believe was designated as “simulated wood”. I will post a pic - I have I have a half dozen in the original boxes with the original display carton.

Can you identify this one?

[ronfish]

Camillus 5 blade deluxe, made in the 90’s.