All About Pocket Knives

Welcome to the CAMILLUS CUTLERY COMPANY Forum!

I asked Bryan to add Camillus to the Brand Specific Forums because of the increased intrest in Camillus knives.
Sadly Camillus closed it doors in February 2007, bring to an end this fine old brand that has yet to be fully recognized for it's contributions to the cutlery industry spanning across parts of 3 centuries, from 1876 to 2007.

I am working with Tom Williams who was the Company Historian for Camillus Cutlery. We are hoping to get the story of Camillus told so that collectors will have a source of reliable information about Camillus.
Tom worked for Camillus Cutlery for over 30 years and his mother worked for them for over 50 years.
As I have the time and information from Tom, I will be posting information here in this forum.
I hope to involve Tom in this forum as well.


Here is a picture of the First Camillus factory in 1894.


So set back and enjoy and please join the forum with pictures of your Camillus knives, questions, and especially stories of your Camillus knives.

Dale

All right! Who has the tang stamp pictures?!?!?!
I have a total of 2 Camillus knives, know NOTHING about them - Both have broken blades. One I just took apart today. Was thinking I would sacrifice it to make the other one my carry knife.
Blue

YES!!!! Thanks Bryan and Dale!!!

rangerbluedog wrote:All right! Who has the tang stamp pictures?!?!?!
Blue

Blue-
Workin' on it!

Dale

Dale,Bryan:
Great thinking, great forum. I will, probably after the holidays put at least the ten in this post.
moss

Thanks for starting this greatly needed site, I have had an interest in Camillus knives for over 25 years and have collected a few along the way. I would be thrilled to learn the History behind the Company and to see the progress which lead to a multitude of knifes of great quality for the hunter every day user and collector.

Here are a few of my smaller Camillus knives.

I think I may have one or Two

Interesting history of a company that was around for a long time..
I have a few, and here is one of the oldest....stamped

CAMILLUS
Cutlery CO
Camillus NY
USA

Anyone know a close age to this one? Just wondering.....Its a split spring whittler with gorgeous bone grips....one of the pen blades is short...but kinda par for the knives it shares a home with....
Pic isn't the best....have a new camera on the wish list for christmas...sorry

That 4-line tang stamp was used up until WWII.
In fact it was used for part of WWII, I am not sure when they dropped that stamp.
It goes back into the 1930s. but I don't know for sure how far back it goes.

In talking to Tom Williams: he said it is very difficult to date Camillus by the tang stamps.
Tom's words; "They never threw anything away at the cutlery."
They kept things and used them again.
So, it is possible that that stamp was used later, possibly for a commemorative, but I do not know that to be a fact.

Basically your knife is WWII or before, back to perhaps the early 1930s.

Hope that helps,
Dale

Here's a couple of mine with tang stamps. According to Dale's info, the four line stamp should be circa 1930-1940?

Thanks Dale!
Was wondering how old this one was.
All blades are stamped with the Camillus stamp at the time....Have had newer ones and just the main blade is stamped...something I guess some knife co.'s stopped doing?
Love the whittlers...maybe thats another forum!

Craig

i only have a handful of camillus knives, but it's really nice to see this forum.
camillus played a huge part in the story of U.S. knives, and it's nice to see them get some recognition.

Was digging through the stuff for some Cams and came across this old fella that I got in a box lot several years ago. I just pitched it in a drawer thinking it was an old Utica, You just got to check every time. I am reasonably sure these were made by Camillus Cutlery Co. in the 1930's.
moss

edit: after careful viewing of this knife, it may not be made by Camillus after all.I along with a far more knowledgeable person are doing further research.

Goins' says; "CORNWALL KNIFE CO. NEW YORK USA G 1900-1920"

The "g" in front of the date in Goins means “guesstimates” as to the date based on John Goins knife knowledge and his knack of remembering most every knife he had seen.
This is from the Introduction (page iii) to the 1998 edition, written by his wife, Charlotte.


Bernard Levine, in LG4, lists this as a manufacturers brand of Camillus, made by Camillus circa 1930s.

So, it may be a Camillus after all.

Dale

Camillus wrote:Thanks for starting this greatly needed site, I have had an interest in Camillus knives for over 25 years and have collected a few along the way. I would be thrilled to learn the History behind the Company and to see the progress which lead to a multitude of knifes of great quality for the hunter every day user and collector.

Here are a few of my smaller Camillus knives.

Nice group!
What is the rightmost knife in the bottom row? Never seen one before.

Hey, Glad to see the new Camillus threads. I got a little interested in the brand about two years ago when I bought a box of Camillus knives from a dealer. There were about 80 knives, all NIB, and I paid $1000. I've been selling them at gun shows for $30 - $50 and I have about 20 left. I picked out 3 or 4 that I like, and will hang on to those.

Desktop....

The knife pictured in the bottom row far right is a Model #7 CAM-LOK Camillus Sword Brand.
Push up the locking tab to lock blade. This is an OLD KNIFE and I don't see many of them around.
Hope this helps!

Camillus

I also have a Cam-Lok if anyone is looking for one.

Nice to see this!!

I will try to contribute as my time allows,

Best to all,

Phil

Thank you Phil!

We Camillus lovers will certainly appreciate your input!

Thanks for joining us,
Dale

Camillus wrote:Desktop....

The knife pictured in the bottom row far right is a Model #7 CAM-LOK Camillus Sword Brand.
Push up the locking tab to lock blade. This is an OLD KNIFE and I don't see many of them around.
Hope this helps!

Camillus

I have a 3 blade stockman that's about 4 inches long that has the same lock for the main blade like your knife Camillus. Has the same type handles. I don't know exactly where it is at this moment but it's around here some place. They are nice knives, I like them.

Aimus

Is the Yellow Jaket 707 (Copperhead Double Locking Blades) rare?
Picked one up last weekend. Thought it was unusual. I have a similar one sold by Moore Maker.
I assume Moore Maker contracted with Camillus for the 707.
I believe MM contracts with Queen now.

nifenut wrote:Is the Yellow Jaket 707 (Copperhead Double Locking Blades) rare?
Picked one up last weekend. Thought it was unusual. I have a similar one sold by Moore Maker.
I assume Moore Maker contracted with Camillus for the 707.
I believe MM contracts with Queen now.

Yes, Camillus made several knives for Moore Maker.
We did not make many of the 707, IMHO the yellow delrin & delrin stag knives are quite rare.

The Moore Maker knives were made alot later, & I believe the patented spring system was not used on this version.

THANK YOU for the info.
Jim (nifenut)

Not sure which thread to put this so let's try this one. Sherwood Camillus NY jack.