All About Pocket Knives

What's the story on this CAMILLUS,WESTERN,WTX???

It looks like your regular old CamiWesteRemingBuck to me j/k I've never seen one of those, it looks like Camillus made a knife for Western using Buck and other Parts that were lying around or was it a end of Camillus factory parts knife? Right now I would call it unique but someone will probably come in and know the whole story about it and how many thousands were made... Very cool though.

Camillus bought Western in 1991. Many Western & Camillus knives were built on the same frames in later years; the muskrat is a good example. Western blades fit the Camillus frames. While Camillus muskrat blades are harder to find new, I have a big pile of Western stamped blades that fit the Camillus #20 muskrat.

Camillus made Remington for many years. I am not exactly sure when they started doing that, but I think it was 1982. It is quite expensive to make the tooling for a knife pattern, so once Camillus made the tooling they owned it unless Remington paid for the tooling, (this very rarely happened). After making a run of Remington knives, Camillus was free to use the tooling however they liked since they had made it, paid for it & owned it.

The series of Remington knives with the green & yellow Delrin handles eventually ended up being made with the Camillus name and with slightly different colored handles. I would guess that a Western blade was substituted by mistake for the Camillus blade on that knife. Or perhaps they were out of Camillus stamped blades and finished up a run with Western stamped blades.

Now, I can’t tell for sure from just the picture if that is the same frame as was used for the Buck knives or not, but Camillus made Buck slip joints for many years. After they stopped making Buck’s knives they still had the tooling for them (I believe), so it is quite possible that a knife frame could have been produced, through the years, with the Buck name, the Remington name, the Camillus name as well as the Western name. This is what sets the stage for such a strange knife as the one you have here.

I think Tom Williams will be back on AAPK soon and I am hoping he can shed some light on this knife. He would know the story behind it is anyone does. Perhaps he can also tell us about the WTX stamping on the back of the Western blade. I am unfamiliar with that stamp.

I remember that crazy green color think they sold em at Kmart I know it was before Wallmart came around here

Thanx Orvet.Cant wait till he returns. That makes since about the green scales Donny all most died when Kmart left the area

Its a neat little knife.

The "WTX" stamping on the blade was used on Western Texas Ranger knives. The knife looks like it was assembled from left over parts and most likely made for Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Camillus owned 50% of SMKW and we would regularly make knives for them from what ever parts were available to keep the cost down.
Tom Williams

CAMCO wrote:The "WTX" stamping on the blade was used on Western Texas Ranger knives. The knife looks like it was assembled from left over parts and most likely made for Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Camillus owned 50% of SMKW and we would regularly make knives for them from what ever parts were available to keep the cost down.
Tom Williams

Tom -- Do you know if Camillus ever made a 1047 with genuine pearl handles?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... SS:US:1123

I doubt that Camillus ever made a Boy Scout model #1047 with geniune pearl handles. It most likey had a new handle installed after the knife left the factory. It may have been a special gift for someone. Pearl would not be an ideal choice for a knife handle because it is very fragile and very expensive. The knife may have possibly been made by somebody that worked at Camillus for thier own use or for a friend. Someone at Camillus may have had it made and given it to one of the Boy Scout buyers.
I have seen all kinds of one off custom knives. Employees at Camillus would take one of the American Wildlife knives and put a custom emblem under acrylic in the knife handle. I had several of them made with different inserts like a John Deere tractor, Ford blue oval emblem or Harley Davidson motorcycle logos. Rarely seen are the knives that have a Camillus Cutlery employees service anniversary pin in the handle embedded under acrylic. We received service pins for 10, 20, 25, 30 and 40 years of service. I remember seeing many of them being made, but I have never seen one for sale.
Tom Williams

Thanx Tom very interesting. She is a neat knife,quite leke my Buck 303

Here is some more info on the WTX or Western Texas Ranger knives from Camillus.
Tom (CAMCO), sent me the information to post for him.

Thanks Tom.

I had a conversation with my mother today about the pearl handle model #1047 BSA Whittler's knife and she said she never heard of one being made. My mother worked for Camillus for 53 years and handled the Boy Scout account. She said if she gave a knife to a buyer it may have his name or initials engraved on the knife. We frequently gave the model #862 or #864 Silver Sword knives to customers with a special engraving on the handle. Unfortunately there are a lot of one off knives that have lost thier history.
Tom Williams

Thank you Tom. That's valuable information. And tell your mother thank you also. She's a treasure.