Old Camillus 99 pocket knife

[Greg92]

Any information on this old Camillus 99 pocket knife would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks in advance for your help..

[carrmillus]

..........welcome to aapk, greg!!......the tang stamp is 1960-1976, and it looks like someone replaced the handles on it. looks like oak and they did a great job!!!............... ...............

[Vit_213]

Original #99

I like this pattern

By the way.
Greg, your knife not only re-handled but also re-bladed. Camillus did 2-piece can openers only until 1948.

[carrmillus]

...vit, mine has staglon handles and slanted bolsters, and I was wrong about the pattern no., it's pattern#97, also marked sword brand on the primary blade................... ..............

[Vit_213]

...vit, mine has staglon handles and slanted bolsters, and I was wrong about the pattern no., it's pattern#97, also marked sword brand on the primary blade................... ..............

Sorry, but I do not understand. What are you talking about?

[jerryd6818]

Welcome to AAPK. Glad to have you aboard.

I agree with Tommy (carrmillus) in that I'm sure the handles have been replaced. During the era your knife was made, the handles were a jigged synthetic that Camillus called "Brownstag®". Vit's knife is a good example.

Tommy also mentioned the tang stamp is what is commonly referred to as a "long line" meaning the line beneath Camillus extends from the 'C' to the 's' (previous to the "long line" stamp, there was a "short line" and after the "long line" there was a "double line"). The "long line" stamp is generally accepted as being used from 1960-1976 but I've seen examples that lead me to believe it was used before and after those years.

Check out the can opener. Note it's the two piece and the '65 catalog shows the knife having a later safety opener.

All that said, I believe your knife was made sometime in the late 1950s to sometime in the very early 1960s.



Your knife.

These are cuts from the Camillus catalogs of 1957 and 1965.

[jerryd6818]

...vit, mine has staglon handles and slanted bolsters, and I was wrong about the pattern no., it's pattern#97, also marked sword brand on the primary blade................... ..............

Sorry, but I do not understand. What are you talking about?

Vit, Tommy was confusing the OP knife with a different knife.

[carrmillus]

..........jerry, I stay CONFUSED!!!.......vit, every knife you post photo's of looks MINT!!!....how in the world were you able to get so many mint Camillus knives living as far away from the source as you are?????.................... .....................

[Vit_213]

Check out the can opener. Note it's the two piece and the '65 catalog shows the knife having a later safety opener.

I think that Camillus in catalogs could use old pictures.

Tom Williams quote:
"Camillus primarily used the two piece can-opener on the four blade camp knives, including the official B.S.A. knives, from 1946 to 1948. In 1948 we began using the one piece can-opener that is still used today."

[jerryd6818]

Thanks Vit. Now that you bring it up, I remember him saying that.

BUT I don't think the long line stamp went back to 1948.

And you think your memory is bad, Tommy?

[Vit_213]

...how in the world were you able to get so many mint Camillus knives living as far away from the source as you are?????.................... .....................

My source is the Ebay. I spend too much time there

[Vit_213]

BUT I don't think the long line stamp went back to 1948.

I, too.

First official BSA knife by Camillus

[carrmillus]

....now I'm totally confused!!....I've got what I thought was the first model of the Camillus scout-4 line stamped, banner-type shield which reads-"scout knife", with the compass in the handle and a completely different 1 piece can opener. its supposed to be 1919-1941(look on page 4 of this forum under "early 4line Camillus scout w/ compass"........ ................

[orvet]

And now we all know why Tom Williams said the best way to date Camillus knives is to look at the materials, technology and manufacturing techniques used in the production of the knife. Tom had no real trust in the tang stamps as a method of dating the production of a Camillus knife. He told me he knew of employees getting the wrong tang stamp off the shelf and then a whole run of blades were made with an old tang stamp. And of course the blades were then used as Camillus never threw away anything.


I know I have posted this before but it fits in quite well here. It is from a phone interview I had with Tom Williams in February 2010.

"Tips on Dating Camillus Knives

Part of the purpose of this interview with Tom was to help establish some guidelines for dating Camillus knives by tangs stamps. Tom maintains that dating Camillus by tang stamps is next to impossible, as Camillus never threw tang stamps away. They were kept on a shelf factory. Tom told me that there were times when someone would get the wrong stamp off the shelf and they would produce a run of knives with an old tang stamp. Add to that the fact that there were often many extra blades produced in a production run; some for warrantee claims, and perhaps because they anticipated additional sales. If the overrun blades were never used up in the original production run, or by a reorder, they were nonetheless kept and usually used at a later date in other knives. The World War II cancellation of the ML-K knife is an excellent example of this.

Tom suggested the best way to date Camillus knives is to look at the materials, technology and manufacturing techniques used in the production of the knife in question.

Looking at the handles is an excellent way to apply this method of dating.
Delrin was introduced to Camillus knives in the early 1970s.
Early scales were pinned onto the liners.
Later a prong construction method was used. In this method a piece of the liner was stamped and bent outward and the hot prong was pushed into the handle material.
A third method of attaching handles to the knife was called stud construction. In this method a piece of handle material (the stud) was pushed through a hole in the liner. I have observed this method on many the later production TL-29 electrician knives. It appears to me that a heat source was used to flare the end of the stud so that it would not pull out of the liner. I have worked on a number of knives with this method of construction and generally the stud type handles are very secure and difficult to remove from the liners. It was a very effective method.

Tom pointed out that even these methods of dating Camillus knives are not foolproof. Changes could be made in the middle of a production run depending on the availability of parts. If they had an order for 10,000 knives and they had pre-made 5000 liners for prong type handles they would begin the production run with the prong type parts and switch over to stud type handles when they had exhausted the pre-existing supply."

[carrmillus]

.......thanks for this info, dale, this is very interesting!!!.now, I'm REALLY confused!!........... ....................

[jerryd6818]

.......thanks for this info, dale, this is very interesting!!!.now, I'm REALLY confused!!........... ....................

Tommy, that's why I accumulate and don't collect. If I like it, I get it. If I don't, I walk on by. All that detail makes my head spin. I'm a facts kind of guy and there are very few facts in the knife world.

[Greg92]

Thanks A lot guys for all the great info..

[Vit_213]

Dale, thank you for your post. All of us will always remember Tom. His passing is an irreplaceable loss for fans of Camillus.

Tommy, first official Boy Scout Knife Camillus did in 1947. Prior to that, he was doing only not-official or semi-official scout knives.

I am amazed that so far we do not have a separate threads about Boy Scout knives.

[orvet]

I am amazed that so far we do not have a separate threads about Boy Scout knives.

Actually we do have a thread dedicated to Scout knives, it is over 150 pages long now:
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 35&t=12874

[Vit_213]

Thanks Dale, but I was referring to Camillus Boy Scout knives.

[Greg92]

And now we all know why Tom Williams said the best way to date Camillus knives is to look at the materials, technology and manufacturing techniques used in the production of the knife. Tom had no real trust in the tang stamps as a method of dating the production of a Camillus knife. He told me he knew of employees getting the wrong tang stamp off the shelf and then a whole run of blades were made with an old tang stamp. And of course the blades were then used as Camillus never threw away anything.



I know I have posted this before but it fits in quite well here. It is from a phone interview I had with Tom Williams in February 2010.

"Tips on Dating Camillus Knives

Part of the purpose of this interview with Tom was to help establish some guidelines for dating Camillus knives by tangs stamps. Tom maintains that dating Camillus by tang stamps is next to impossible, as Camillus never threw tang stamps away. They were kept on a shelf factory. Tom told me that there were times when someone would get the wrong stamp off the shelf and they would produce a run of knives with an old tang stamp. Add to that the fact that there were often many extra blades produced in a production run; some for warrantee claims, and perhaps because they anticipated additional sales. If the overrun blades were never used up in the original production run, or by a reorder, they were nonetheless kept and usually used at a later date in other knives. The World War II cancellation of the ML-K knife is an excellent example of this.

Tom suggested the best way to date Camillus knives is to look at the materials, technology and manufacturing techniques used in the production of the knife in question.

Looking at the handles is an excellent way to apply this method of dating.
Delrin was introduced to Camillus knives in the early 1970s.
Early scales were pinned onto the liners.
Later a prong construction method was used. In this method a piece of the liner was stamped and bent outward and the hot prong was pushed into the handle material.
A third method of attaching handles to the knife was called stud construction. In this method a piece of handle material (the stud) was pushed through a hole in the liner. I have observed this method on many the later production TL-29 electrician knives. It appears to me that a heat source was used to flare the end of the stud so that it would not pull out of the liner. I have worked on a number of knives with this method of construction and generally the stud type handles are very secure and difficult to remove from the liners. It was a very effective method.

Tom pointed out that even these methods of dating Camillus knives are not foolproof. Changes could be made in the middle of a production run depending on the availability of parts. If they had an order for 10,000 knives and they had pre-made 5000 liners for prong type handles they would begin the production run with the prong type parts and switch over to stud type handles when they had exhausted the pre-existing supply."

Thanks a lot for your kind words and the information friends!!!

[New_Windsor_NY]

Thanks Dale, but I was referring to Camillus Boy Scout knives.

You started this one 5 years ago.
viewtopic.php?f=63&t=46492

[Vit_213]

Thanks Dale, but I was referring to Camillus Boy Scout knives.

You started this one 5 years ago.
viewtopic.php?f=63&t=46492

I see the date and am completely discouraged . I didn't write this yesterday. I wrote this in 2015 .

[Hideaway Knives]

Love the design great handle!

[bleasure]

So am I gathering from this thread that if I come across, say, a mid-century Camillus camp knife (99) with wood scales, the scales were never factory? Did they ever realease camp knives with wood scales during the 40s or 50s, or were they entirely bone/synthetic?