WW2 Electrician's Knives

[Private Lugnutz]

Tom Williams, the Camillus Company Historian (and 30 year employee of Camillus Cutlery) shared these records with me. This may help prove your point.

I think it does and I want to thank you for devoting so much time and energy to this topic as well as for the scans themselves.

...it is apparent to me from the information out of the Camillus factory that the Camillus knives were made for the Army Engineers, Quartermaster Corps, and the U.S. Army Signal Corps, as well as the Marine Corps and Navy.

This makes some sense. The Quartermaster Corps, which preceded, and then worked hand-in-glove with the Ordnance Department later in the war in supplying hand tools to mechanics, might've been a source for a CAMILLUS made 41-K-370. For fuller satisfcation, I would be hoping to find something citing the ORD directly, but I suspect that would come from PAL and KA-BAR records.

The three sizes I have are; 3-1/2 inches, 3-5/8 inches and 3-3/4 inches. I was wondering if your collection follows these sizes or if you have other sizes in your collection?

I only own four (4) vintage electrician's knives and they are all either 3-5/8 or 3-3/4.

BTW - I got a nice response from Frank Trzaska to my query. Paraphrasing, he essentially said I have given him a lot of food for thought, that he had no knowledge of an electrician's knife with a Federal Stock Number 41-K-370 designation and vehicle mechanics' utility, and he doesn't think the knife collecting world does either, and he would like copies of the documentation, some of which I have already posted upthread. He also said that PAL and KA-BAR records were unfortunately lost.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Today, I came across this knife on a popular internet auction site.

It's a PAL BLADE CO. The front handle is clearly marked, "U.S. ARMY", but it's upside down. I have no explanation for that.

Left click once or twice to enlarge photos.

Charlie Noyes

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Charlie. Every PAL example I have seen was marked that way. I think they consider that configuration rightside up.
EDIT: Charlie - Do you have an exact item name or number for that knife? If so, please provide it... Unless you're referring to a different popular internet auction site - I can't find it searching any combination of PAL, PAL BLADE CO., US ARMY, TL-29 and knife...

[RobesonsRme.com]

Lugnutz, I didn't have it bookmarked and I cannot find it either.

I posted that on July 8th. The auction has probably ended.

You might find it searching for Completed Auctions.

Charlie

[Private Lugnutz]

Hi Dale, All,

A small core of the most active and ardent of us WW2-era hand tools collectors are very grateful for the Camillus company archives information, which are generating quite a lot of excitement. While the PAL and Ka-Bar still look like the best choice, it definitely helps explain and legitimize the placement of a Camillus "TL-29" marked knife in an Army GMTK.

Perhaps returning the cross-communities favor, I have a small update on this research topic y'all might find interesting...

Here is a scan from page 100 of the C. Houston Price knife guide book:


The entry highlighted by me with a box refers to a Camillus knife marked "R41-K-455" on a wood handle. That is a Navy knife.

See this scan:


"R41-K-455" is a Federal Stock Number for a hand tool (41 series) and a knife (K), like the 41-K-370 general mechanics' electrician's knife in the reference I cited on the first page of this thread. In this case, it is specialized with the 'R' prefix denoting the Navy's Aviation Supply Office (ASO).

I have never seen an electrician's knife with this marking. I have been told that a photo of one is inside the Cole book, but not identified as Navy. While there is no reference to such a knife in the Camillus archive information Tom Williams provided, it appears that Camillus was clearly making and selling knives to the Navy marked either "U.S.N" or "R41-K-455."