All About Pocket Knives

Anyone have any idea when these may be from? Nothing fancy but they are nicely made inexpensive American made knives. They are near mint and they were cheap.

Mike, my understanding is that they started making Camco knives in 1948 and continued all the way until the plant closed in 2007. They may not be quite as hefty as the Camillus branded ones but I agree with you they are great American knives. Yours are really nice and I think anyone would be proud to own them. Here is a picture of my Camco barlow, cut down and rebladed by Muskrat Man with a single Kutmaster blade.

Thanks Trail. I guess they are too generic to really date. They are just honest pocket knives meant to use and were affordable to the average guy. They are well built and would look good with better scales on them.

Nice job on your Barlows, do you collect them? They are a long time favorite of mine.

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... =2&t=20026

Thought I might chime in with mine......

Camco was the economy line for Camillus. Generally they are the same steel and quality as the Camillus branded knives of the same era. The main saving in the manufacturing process was on the finish work. The Camco 551 Barlow is generally not as highly finished as the Camillus #51 Barlow, but I believe the parts are interchangeable.

If you were to dissemble a Camillus TL-29 and a Camco TL-29 and put a piece of electricians tape over the tang stamp of the blades, I don’t think I could tell the difference in the parts, as long as both knives were from the same timeframe.

I tend to think of Camco as being equal to Camillus in every significant way except price.
I also think the Camco line was used to experiment with new and different manufacturing and design techniques.
A case in point is this interesting red Camco Barlow.
In this knife they experimented with 2-piece flat springs. They also extended one piece of the spring beyond the end of the knife and used it to form a lanyard hole without putting a hole in the knife itself.
I think the handle material in this knife may also be a new type of material they were experimenting with when the knife was made.

In this one Camco you see a different design as well as a new and likely more cost effective method of manufacturing the knife.
As I recall, this red Barlow had good snap and functions as well as any other 551 Barlow, or 51 Camillus Barlow. (I don’t have it in my hand as I write this; it is sleeping in its cigar box with his Barlow brethren).

I like that term....Barlow Brthren!

So the bolsters are solid? I always guessed they were ... for lack of a better term ... caps.

Citytransplant Welcome to AAPK!

Yes, the bolsters on the Camco 551 Barlows are solid steel.
I have not seen any Camco Barlows that are nickel silver, but I suppose it is possible that Camillus make some.

The bolsters on the red Barlow I posted above are steel also.

Most of the pre-1960 (or so) Barlows in my collection have steel bolsters (excepting the shell handles knives like some of the Imperials). I think that was because the Barlow was traditionally a workingman’s knife and a pattern often given to young boys. They were knives built for hard work and not for looks. The long bolsters, especially steel, give the frame more strength for a knife that is used hard, or perhaps misused by young boys.

Orvet you just gave me a great nugget. The longer bolsters on barlows have always seemed curious to me until you mention the added strength it gives the frame. Makes perfect sense after experiencing how flexible the liner bolster combination of some knives are when disassembled.

Thanks


So much to learn

Citytransplant welcome to the best place for folding steel fever.

Hey Dale that's a cool red CAMCO you have there.

Thanks Mike.
The way it is put together is what really interested me even more than the color.

Gentlemen, please excuse my ignorance, but I am one of those who believes there are no stupid questions... Anyway, I have two questions here:
One, how are the bolsters fixed to the liners - were they soldered, riveted, brazed ....?
Two, orvet makes mention that the red Barlow shown was an experimental model and that it features two flat half springs - how were the other Camillus/Camco Barlows made? One flat spring for both the blades?

I agree Willem, there no stupid questions, except those you don’t ask which causes you to make a mistake.

A normal backspring in a Barlow is square or nearly so in a cross section. It is one bar of spring steel that runs the length of the knife and keeps the blade in the open & closed positions by spring pressure.

If you look at the bottom of the red Barlow you will see the spring is made of 2 thinner (flat) pieces of spring steel and the end of one of them extends out beyond the end of the knife to form a hole for a lanyard. I thought this was ingenious!

This knife has only one blade with the two flat springs.
The Camco #551 ahs two blades and also has two backsprings, one spring per blade.

Most Schrade knives (Camillus too as I recall) have bolsters held on by a pin. Usually this is a piece of the bolster (call it a stud for lack of a better term) that fits through a hole in the liner. The stud is peened or pressed so that it solidly attaches the bolster to the liner.

Soldering is sometimes used. I see it mainly on German and Italian knives. They use hollow bolsters that are usually made of cast nickel silver, which is soldiered to the liner.
They are a royal pain to repair because when you try to peen down the new pivot pin, sometimes the bolsters will crack. They also have a tendency to come loose and fall off. I have a nice vintage German jack with a missing bolster.
To replace them you have to pin a piece of 3/32” sheet nickel silver onto the liner and shape it by hand. It takes hours of hand filing and sanding to make them look right! I just went through that with a Henckels whittler. I probably have 15 hours in that repair for a customer.

Thank you Dale. Interesting knife that and I agree with you on the one spring extending to house the lanyard hole - quite ingenious! Let me just see if I have this right - the blade on the red Barlow "walks" on both of the springs? If so, that is quite ingenious too - you could break one and still have a functional knife!

smokepole wrote:Thank you Dale. Interesting knife that and I agree with you on the one spring extending to house the lanyard hole - quite ingenious! Let me just see if I have this right - the blade on the red Barlow "walks" on both of the springs? If so, that is quite ingenious too - you could break one and still have a functional knife!

Yes, the blade does walk on both half-spings.
However, the strength of one spring would not give it very good snap & if the broken piece fell out the blade might get wobbly. It might work in an emergency, but would probably not be trustworthy for long term use.

I see what you mean if you had to loose a spring. Makes me wonder why they would consider going that route? I cannot see how it would aid ease of manufacture, or save money? Anyone have any ideas as to why this was done/considered?

I could see how it might be easier for mechanized assembly.
It may have been merely an experiment, produced in limited numbers.
The one I have is the only one I have seen like it.

Mechanization might be it... All I know is I'll be on the lookout for one of those!

Well, it looks like this might be one of these with the split springs:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VI ... 0797155125

It looks to be in great condition - but all I will say about the price is that it is a little rich for my blood at the moment!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Vintage-C ... 19cc066b35

Would be a nice one to add to a collection though..

This is where I should have put my first Camco barlow.

It's a nice one - is it numbered? And if so, what number is on the blade?

No number, smokepole.
Just an arched CAMCO over USA on the main blade and BARLOW on bolster front and back.
Oops, I just realised that I ignored the 551 on this thread.
What's a 551 Camco?

Greetings old thread. I too have newly acquired a Camco Barlow with no number on it. Is that odd or rare? Seems most have "551"