Kamp King

[cody6268]

Would it be safe to say that in the era it was made, more Kamp Kings were sold than SAKs? It seems you see a ton of them. Provided, with inflation to be considered, SAKs were pricey compared to today (almost 3-4 times what they are now!), and the Kamp King was an inexpensive, but excellent knife.

[deltaboy]

I agree there are a Ton of them out there

[stumpstalker]

I hate it that I am the guy that knocks Kamp King knives. They work just fine don't they?

One of them was among the last knives my grandfather had. It followed his four-blade, green bone-handled Ulster Utility knife that was kind of high-end for a man of his means. I have both now.

Eventually, he wore that Ulster out, with too-aggresssive sharpening; so on came the Kamp King, a Regular Jack pattern with black plastic handles and with a big, serviceable spear blade -- almost a jumbo willow-leaf.


Among the Boy Scouts in my Troop in the early 1960s, there had not developed any advanced connoisseurship in knife appreciation. But, that did not stop one from being ridiculed for showing up with a Kamp King. As unsophisticated as we were, there was still some appreciation of fineness in a knife, and those hollow-sounding Kamp King shell handles were just a little too suspect.

[philco]

Would it be safe to say that in the era it was made, more Kamp Kings were sold than SAKs? It seems you see a ton of them. Provided, with inflation to be considered, SAKs were pricey compared to today (almost 3-4 times what they are now!), and the Kamp King was an inexpensive, but excellent knife.

I can recall a time when knives such as this were available for sale most anywhere men gathered. They had cards that held maybe a dozen knives and you could buy one right off that card. The hardware store had them. The barber shop had them. The auto parts store sold them too. They were everywhere! They weren't expensive but they did have excellent blade steel and they performed a variety of functions that made them desirable to boys and men.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Would it be safe to say that in the era it was made, more Kamp Kings were sold than SAKs? It seems you see a ton of them. Provided, with inflation to be considered, SAKs were pricey compared to today (almost 3-4 times what they are now!), and the Kamp King was an inexpensive, but excellent knife.

I can recall a time when knives such as this were available for sale most anywhere men gathered. They had cards that held maybe a dozen knives and you could buy one right off that card. The hardware store had them. The barber shop had them. The auto parts store sold them too. They were everywhere! They weren't expensive but they did have excellent blade steel and they performed a variety of functions that made them desirable to boys and men.

Right you are, Philco. I can recall seeing them back in the 1960s and buying for about 75 CENTS!!!!

[kootenay joe]

Regarding your question about Kamp King outselling SAK's, i'm sure many more SAK's were sold in any one year than Kamp Kings.
kj