All About Pocket Knives

http://www.news10now.com/content/top_st ... ArID=96716

Our own Tom Williams. During the video you will see some old photos. Note the nice lady sittng at the typewriter... that is Tom's mother, who I think was the second generation of the family to work at the cutlery.

Tom, anything else for us?

Phil

Coming soon! I will be photographing some early Camillus knife boxes. I also have some early photos of the cutlery and village of Camillus. For the last several weeks I have been searching for a blueprint that I have showing the buildings that comprise the manufacturing facility at Camillus. The old celluloid building with the hinged roof (designed to open in the event of an explosion) is shown. I recently found knives, program guide and a catalog celebrating Camillus' 100th anniversary. Is anyone interested in seeing photos of the awards banquet from 1943 when Camillus received the Army/Navy "E" AWard?

Tom Wiiliams

Thank you Phil for sharing that with us..It really makes you sad to watch the clip but it sure is nice to put a face on Tom Williams..

Thank you Tom for your great knife history knowledge..

Regards,

Sunburst

tom, is there anything we can do to help preserve your first hand knowledge?

CAMCO wrote:Is anyone interested in seeing photos of the awards banquet from 1943 when Camillus received the Army/Navy "E" AWard?

Tom Wiiliams

I would be interested in those photos Tom. Please show them, at your convenience of course.

Thank you for all the work you are doing to preserve the history of such a grand old company.

Dale

I've long heard stories of the clever roofs on celluloid buildings. This I gotta see.

The war department back in the days of world war 2 were skilled at both making the folks at home feel important, needed, -- part of the fight-- and getting production up, up, up. Things like the 'E' award and banquets when they were presented helped immensely.

Phil

CAMCO, Great to have you around! We all know that knife collecting

wouldn't have very much charm, without the knife history and the

historians such as yourself. Keep up the good work.

It is people like Tom & LT who know the stories of the people who made the knives, that makes the history of the knives so interesting, and makes collection them so much fun.

There is an interesting bit of history in the making. You can see it at BladeForums, (pardon the crossforum post, but it is worth the read) http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... p?t=457918
It seems a fellow named Ron P., known to everyone as Kong, went above and beyond the call of duty. It seems he has on his own time completed all the repairs waiting at Camillus.

I think LT shared a similar story about the close of Schrade. A fellow who used his own money to mail repairs back to customers.

It is stories like these that make the grand hobby of knife collecting so much fun. You can see the pride the workers have in their product. It is this pride in their craftsmanship that makes American made knives the best.

Dale