All About Pocket Knives

When the things in the Camillus factory were auctioned off, the intellectual property (brand names, the right to make a knife and call it Camillus, etc.) was sold also.
Acme United Corp. purchased the intellectual rights to Camillus.

A year or so ago I signed up to be kept informed of their products (when they became available).

I got my first reply to with info about their company today.
http://www.camillusknives.com/

You can read the website and know as much as I do, but if you are interested, take a gander.
You can sign up as well if you wish.
Better yet, check them out at the SHOT SHOW in a couple weeks, if you happen to be in Las Vegas.

Dale

Must be these guys here:
http://www.acmeunited.com

I'm a little worried. Where are CLAUSS knives made now?

They have a report about who will be running the show with the Camillus brand. Rick Constantine.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zht ... highlight=

And I thought they only made stuff for Wile E. Coyote...

The fact that this Rick Constantine's title is 'Director of Marketing' tells me that they are having this stuff made by someone else (probably off shore) and they just market & sell it.

The statement below from their site would seem to confirm that idea.

"ACME UNITED CORPORATION is an innovative supplier of cutting devices, measuring instruments, and safety products for school, home, office, hardware and industrial use."


I guess we will have to 'wait & see'.
No doubt the old Camillus Cutlery Co that we all knew & loved is gone for good.

Dale

what a strange line of knives to sell under the camillus name.
i don't remember camillus ever making a big name for themselves selling "tactical" knives.

they ought to commission an American company to make some nice slip joints.
kinda like the primble and winchester knives queen made years ago.

actually, they ought to get bear and son to make them.
didn't they end up with all of camillus' tooling?

mito0 wrote:what a strange line of knives to sell under the camillus name.
i don't remember camillus ever making a big name for themselves selling "tactical" knives.

I guess that depends on how you define "tactical."
Remember Camillus made more knives for the US Military during WWII than any other knife company.
Camillus wartime production exceeded 17 million knives.
I generally classify bayonets, Marine Raider Stilettos, Mark I & Mark II fighting knives, etc. to be "tactical."
Camillus made the Old School Tactical........the stuff that was Battle-Tested the hard way, in real battles.

Someone once said that whatever knife you have in your hand becomes a "tactical knife when you need it!"

Dale

orvet wrote:I guess that depends on how you define "tactical."
Remember Camillus made more knives for the US Military during WWII than any other knife company.

there's a big difference between the fighting knives camillus used to make, and these little tinker toys.
camillus used to make weapons for soldiers.
these new ones just look like cheap redneck pocket candy to me.

I would have to agree with you on that!

Dale

Sure don't look like a Camillus . They say those mall ninja things are all the rage
I have to wonder who the buyers are gonna fight with???? Think i'll go cut some leather.


Regards

Robin

"mall ninja things"

mito0 wrote:"mall ninja things"

Given a conflict I'd rather be packin one of my old timey spike hawks , not an easy open scary lookin toy.

REgards

Robin

Sorry, this is not a Camillus hawk, hope I havent transgressed.

No worries Canuk! Nice Hawk!

Give me a USMC Mark II Camillus or a Ka-Bar any day over the 'mall ninja' stuff.
Too many of those knives are one-trick-ponies.
They may open fast but the MK II is bigger and always open.

The MK II can:
-take out a bad guy
-be used prepare your meal
-dig a slit tench (to dispose of your meal)
-hammer in a tent peg
-BE the tent peg
-open a rations tin or pouch
-be driven into a tree to aid in climbing
-be used with a baton to split wood
-be used without a baton to split wood
-be used as a pry bar and remain undamaged
-pry open packing crates
-hammer closed packing crates
-sever a seat belt
-break safety glass (pommel)
-function as a small machete
-etc...etc...etc....you get the idea...

But most of all the MK II can:
-make your enemy wish he had bought a MK II instead of a p.o.s. mall ninja knife.

Dale

Hi Dale
I love this place. I forged the hawk blade from an old Sorby chisel, the spike was the tang and the "crown" was the integral ferrule.


I have a bit of a problem with these new fangled "tactical" knives. I really believe that many non knife folks would be quite intimidated if someone pulled one out of their pocket whereas a slippy never seems to get that reaction. On top of that, they're stupid lookin things ..
They sure are popular though and make up a huge part of the industry. OH well, all the more slippies and oldies for us.

Best reagrds

Robin

Canuk sheathmaker wrote:I have a bit of a problem with these new fangled "tactical" knives. I really believe that many non knife folks would be quite intimidated if someone pulled one out of their pocket whereas a slippy never seems to get that reaction. On top of that, they're stupid lookin things ..
They sure are popular though and make up a huge part of the industry. OH well, all the more slippies and oldies for us.

well said!

Canuk sheathmaker wrote:
I have a bit of a problem with these new fangled "tactical" knives. I really believe that many non knife folks would be quite intimidated...........

That does pose a problem, or has in the US.
About 1956 or 1957 the US government passed a law outlawing "Switchblade" knives.
This was in response to a couple Hollywood movies, "The Young & The Restless" & the "The Wild Bunch," or something like that. In these movies young hoodlums carried "deadly" switchblade knives.
They were movies and they were fiction, but the politicians could not let an opportunity to seize power pass by. So they enacted a law that banned switchblades.

Now if you are a student of knife history you know anything about these "deadly" & "dangerous" knives, you would know that they were sold as Safety knifes which locked closed and did not come open in pocket or purse. Since they were spring opening, granny didn't break have finger nail opening them. Since they locked closed they didn't pop open in her knitting bag. They were much safer than a pointy pair of little scissors! These little knives were barely 2 inches long! Hardly a threat, especially in the hands of an 80-year-old woman! The longer knives, the cool looking fishtails were so cheaply made as to be useless in a serious fight!

But our politicians, ever vigilant and never wanting to waste a crisis, even a perceived crisis, quickly enacted laws to protect us from 80 year-old grandmothers wielding “deadly” weapons!

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “We are fortunate we do not get all the government we pay for.” Thank God for that!

We have already had one attempt in the US to ban assisted opening knives and we haven’t even had a scary movie! Thomas Jefferson’s words are true ten-times over today!

We must be ever vigilant or we risk having our old slipjoints banned along with ‘scary looking’ tactical knives.

Dale

Dale:
You are showing your years "The Young & The Restless" & the "The Wild Bunch,". The first is a Day Time soap and the second about Butch and the Sundance Kid. Respectfully I think you might be thinking 1955's Blackboard Jungle and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause as two prime examples.
Here is some trivia for you. I worked as a Construction Electrician in 1964, my foreman was driving the Vehicle on his way home from College that Dean ran into and splintered his Spyder. What was his name. A clue, it wasn't Rutabaga Bean.
moss

You are right Moss.

I was a little kid when those movies came out.
I was obviously too young to remember the names!

Dale

I remember "Blackboard Jungle" One Two Three O'clock Four O'clock Rock....We're gonna rock around the clock tonight, we're gonna rock rock rock till broad day-light, we're gonna rock gonna rock around the clock tonight. One of my old Favs, Bill Haley and the Comets. Man, them was the days.