All About Pocket Knives

Grant -- That knife deserves a thread of it's own. You cause me to commit the sin of envy.

Shearer wrote:

Colonel26 wrote:Mark is right, that's a foul!

Here to make up for it and get you back in the straight and narrow, I'll send you the 72 I've been packing the last few days and you send me that old thing. And just because I'm a great guy I'll even foot the postage both ways.

Colonel
I only put it under 72's because I knew that's where the conasures of Camillus would be.
Grant

Hehe, I couldn't help myself.

All jokes aside it is a mighty fine knife and I sure am glad someone who appreciates it got hold of her.

What the...

Can someone tell me what made this $35-$50 knife worth $72? I admit it's a very nice example but now and then someone falls and hits their head.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

Edited to provide the proper link.

.......jerry, it looks like delrin.......if it were a short line, bone handled one, it might be worth that much............. ......................

Don't know why?? Your link goes to another knife which seems like a pretty good deal

Tommy, I too believe it's Delrin. That's the main reason I'm so astounded it went for that kind of money. The knife is pre-1976 but I believe it's also post 1965 or so. I could be wrong about that but I don't think Camillus started using Delrin until the mid to late 1960s.


Well sugar. Thanks for getting my mind right T.J. The Rem is an excellent deal in my opinion and if I didn't already have one of that variation, I'd be on that like a duck on a bug.

Try this link for the Camillus. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

......jerry, I don't know how to go back to ebay and look at ended items, but several months ago there was a short line, bone, with the coping blade on the opposite end from the primary, which was in almost new condition that sold for around $150.00. I bid on it, but I wasn't even close!!!........... ..............................

jerryd6818 wrote:Tommy, I too believe it's Delrin. That's the main reason I'm so astounded it went for that kind of money. The knife is pre-1976 but I believe it's also post 1965 or so. I could be wrong about that but I don't think Camillus started using Delrin until the mid to late 1960s. ::shrug
Well sugar. Thanks for getting my mind right T.J. The Rem is an excellent deal in my opinion and if I didn't already have one of that variation, I'd be on that like a duck on a bug.

Try this link for the Camillus. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

The Sword Brand, four line stamp, split back whittler that Tommy sent me has some sort of synthetic handles, not Delrin, of course, but synthetic just the same. What do you reckon they are??

tjmurphy wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:Tommy, I too believe it's Delrin. That's the main reason I'm so astounded it went for that kind of money. The knife is pre-1976 but I believe it's also post 1965 or so. I could be wrong about that but I don't think Camillus started using Delrin until the mid to late 1960s. ::shrug
Well sugar. Thanks for getting my mind right T.J. The Rem is an excellent deal in my opinion and if I didn't already have one of that variation, I'd be on that like a duck on a bug.

Try this link for the Camillus. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

The Sword Brand, four line stamp, split back whittler that Tommy sent me has some sort of synthetic handles, not Delrin, of course, but synthetic just the same. What do you reckon they are??

That black hard synthetic they used before WWII? All I know it as is some sort of early plastic. I was just thinking about that this morning.

Seems the handle material evolution was:

• Celluloid,
• then in the 1930s the black synthetic you mentioned,
• followed by that shrinky dink crap during WWII and maybe the late 1940s.
• Maybe the shrinky dink was paralleled by or followed by rough black in the late 1940s and 1950s,
• then rough brown in the late 1950s and early 1960s
• and last but certainly not least, Delrin starting sometime around 1965 or a little later.

It's a work in progress. Anyone have any comments on that proposed timeline?

tjmurphy wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:Tommy, I too believe it's Delrin. That's the main reason I'm so astounded it went for that kind of money. The knife is pre-1976 but I believe it's also post 1965 or so. I could be wrong about that but I don't think Camillus started using Delrin until the mid to late 1960s. ::shrug
Well sugar. Thanks for getting my mind right T.J. The Rem is an excellent deal in my opinion and if I didn't already have one of that variation, I'd be on that like a duck on a bug.

Try this link for the Camillus. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

The Sword Brand, four line stamp, split back whittler that Tommy sent me has some sort of synthetic handles, not Delrin, of course, but synthetic just the same. What do you reckon they are??

..t.j., years ago,an old gentleman at the local knife show here looked at mine, and told me it wasn't synthetic, that it was in fact dyed bone...... ......... I've never had a magnifier strong enough to tell for sure, but that's what he told me. he had the biggest collection of Camillus knives I've ever seen........

jerryd6818 wrote:
Seems the handle material evolution was:

• Celluloid,
• then in the 1930s the black synthetic you mentioned,
• followed by that shrinky dink crap during WWII and maybe the late 1940s.
• Maybe the shrinky dink was paralleled by or followed by rough black in the late 1940s and 1950s,
• then rough brown in the late 1950s and early 1960s
• and last but certainly not least, Delrin starting sometime around 1965 or a little later.

It's a work in progress. Anyone have any comments on that proposed timeline?

That looks about right to me Jerry.
I will ask Tom Williams next time we talk about the timing of these.

I just got a box of old Imperial Schrade papers from Tom yesterday.
I have not had time to absorb much yet, but there was one memo from Albert Baer that really (I thought) showed the marketing brilliance of his mind.
I think he was a knife sales genius!

carrmillus wrote:..t.j., years ago,an old gentleman at the local knife show here looked at mine, and told me it wasn't synthetic, that it was in fact dyed bone...... ......... I've never had a magnifier strong enough to tell for sure, but that's what he told me. he had the biggest collection of Camillus knives I've ever seen........

While I can't speak to the one you sent T.J., I just went and hauled out the one you sent me and took a look at it one more time through the 45x mini-microscope. It is definitely some sort of synthetic.

To satisfy my own need to know, I did the hot pin trick, and the handles are indeed synthetic. The synthetic handles may have only been used on the Sword Brand knives of the era, since the 1946 CAMILLUS catalog lists nearly all bone handles on their knives.

tjmurphy wrote:To satisfy my own need to know, I did the hot pin trick, and the handles are indeed synthetic. The synthetic handles may have only been used on the Sword Brand knives of the era, since the 1946 CAMILLUS catalog lists nearly all bone handles on their knives.

....o.k., i'll take your word on this, t.j.,the one I have is identical to the ones you and jerry have!!....another bubble bursted!!!............ ...............

The one you have left, Tommy, is it a Sword Brand?

This is my only Camillus and I got in a "bundle" with something else. I would be grateful for any opinions regarding its collectability. Although I don't notice any significant blade loss, it has been sharpened. It also seems to have synthetic handles.

Anyway, I am considering making it a user knife. Just checking to see if anyone might have a bad reaction to that idea

Thanks for your consideration.

tjmurphy wrote:To satisfy my own need to know, I did the hot pin trick,

T.J. I thought you had one of those little 45x mini-microscopes.

jerryd6818 wrote:

tjmurphy wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:Tommy, I too believe it's Delrin. That's the main reason I'm so astounded it went for that kind of money. The knife is pre-1976 but I believe it's also post 1965 or so. I could be wrong about that but I don't think Camillus started using Delrin until the mid to late 1960s. ::shrug
Well sugar. Thanks for getting my mind right T.J. The Rem is an excellent deal in my opinion and if I didn't already have one of that variation, I'd be on that like a duck on a bug.

Try this link for the Camillus. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Knife-C ... true&rt=nc

The Sword Brand, four line stamp, split back whittler that Tommy sent me has some sort of synthetic handles, not Delrin, of course, but synthetic just the same. What do you reckon they are??

That black hard synthetic they used before WWII? All I know it as is some sort of early plastic. I was just thinking about that this morning.

Seems the handle material evolution was:

• Celluloid,
• then in the 1930s the black synthetic you mentioned,
• followed by that shrinky dink crap during WWII and maybe the late 1940s.
• Maybe the shrinky dink was paralleled by or followed by rough black in the late 1940s and 1950s,
• then rough brown in the late 1950s and early 1960s
• and last but certainly not least, Delrin starting sometime around 1965 or a little later.

It's a work in progress. Anyone have any comments on that proposed timeline?

I seems alright to me .The only thing I can add is before Camillus closed it produced a few 72's with black bone handles.Special edition( Ducks or geese ,Ole Smoky and I have one with out and etch on the blade )
Grant.

tjmurphy wrote:The one you have left, Tommy, is it a Sword Brand?

....yep,as far as I could tell, yours, mine and jerry's are identical!!.....I do have two others, 4 line, not sword brand, that ARE rogers bone......... ................

RalphAlsip wrote:This is my only Camillus and I got in a "bundle" with something else. I would be grateful for any opinions regarding its collectability. Although I don't notice any significant blade loss, it has been sharpened. It also seems to have synthetic handles.

Anyway, I am considering making it a user knife. Just checking to see if anyone might have a bad reaction to that idea

Thanks for your consideration.

Ralph, great find. Of course, it's a Camillus #72 Carpenter's and Whittler's knife (but you probably already knew that), although by the time this one came along I think they had dropped the "Carpenter's" part and was just calling them Whittlers. Made sometime after they stopped pinning the handles in 1976, the handles are Delrin. Blades look full, the knife looks to be in excellent condition. If the blades have good snap, I would pay $20 - $35 for that knife but then I'm a tightwad still living in the 1960s.

They are a great EDC. The biggest little knife you'll ever carry and according to T.J., "just about the perfect carry knife".

Shearer wrote:I seems alright to me .The only thing I can add is before Camillus closed it produced a few 72's with black bone handles.Special edition( Ducks or geese ,Ole Smoky and I have one with out and etch on the blade )
Grant.

I'm missing the plain Jane bone handle one of those.

jerryd6818 wrote:

tjmurphy wrote:To satisfy my own need to know, I did the hot pin trick,

T.J. I thought you had one of those little 45x mini-microscopes.

I do, but I was going cross-eyed trying to look for pores in the handles, so I bit the bullet and put the hot pin to it.

...I had the same problem when I looked at the handles with a magnifier, t. j.............. .........

tjmurphy wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:

tjmurphy wrote:To satisfy my own need to know, I did the hot pin trick,

T.J. I thought you had one of those little 45x mini-microscopes.

I do, but I was going cross-eyed trying to look for pores in the handles, so I bit the bullet and put the hot pin to it.

Thats why you couldnt see any pores!
Cause theres none there!
Mark

Mark, I wish I'd thought of that.