All About Pocket Knives

I recently came into a Camillus folding Hunter. I've always been under the impression tang stamping with the shorter line underneath Camillus was 1946-1950. I had a smaller folding Hunter a while back that had the same stamping. I was assuming Camillus was still using bone pre-1950 and neither of these knives appear in a Camillus catalog until the 1973-1974 catalog. Good new is that the guy that bought the first knife from men(it had one day left on the auction when I figured it out and contacted him) once I told him of the misinformation on dates I had, he didn't care if it was made yesterday he still wanted it. Must have been my 500 word description I used. Anyway I pulled off a couple of other Camillus knives I had on eBay and cancelled them because they had the same stamping although I'm sure they were made pre-1950. Apparently they started using that stamping again unbeknownst to me. Am I the last man on earth that knew this. I know neither of my knives were in any catalog until the 1973-1974. That was the last catalog they had that showed a tang stamp on this knife. So I don't know how long they used it. I can normally figure it out thanks to some decades of knife collecting I can be pretty sure on most knives if they're pre-1970's or not. The charts all over the internet being used by thousands I'm sure. Okay. Is there a Camillus guy that knows Camillus like Charles Noyes knows Robeson. Any help or comments would be appreciated. Thanks....I don't know if the photos uploaded or not yep, they did

CORRECTION CORRECTION. CORRECTION

I ALREADY HAVETOORRET MYSELF. MY #26 2-Bladefoldig Hunter did have the long line after all even in the 1972 catalog. But I was right about the #8 that I sold. It did show the short line on that one and I don't believe it was in the 1972 catalog. The next catalog was 1965 when neither folding hunters was offered. Sorry for the confusion but it's still a problem on the #8.

I do not consider myself an expert on dating Camillus knives, in fact Tom Williams who worked at Camillus for 30 years and was the official company historian said that you cannot date a Camillus by the tang stamps. He maintained the materials, technology & manufacturing techniques were far more accurate in dating a Camillus than the tang stamp.

The handles are just one example:
How are they attached, pin, prong or post method?
What are the handles made of, bone, celluloid, other composites, Delrin, or the Indian Stag on the knife you posted? BTW, Indian Stag is really Camillus' registered name for that type of Delrin made to look like stag.

Tom was working on a better way to date Camillus knives when he passed away unexpectedly in 2014.

..glad to find out I'm not the only one confused!!.........I've got a #89 stockman with the indian stag handles(1970's), and the tang stamp is short line(1946-1950)............... .................

Thanks for your help. I remember seeing before about the Camillus tang stamp charts being unreliable. I've temporarily stopped buying or selling Camillus knives until someone can provide more clarity in dating them. Fortunately this folding Hunter is in excellent shape no matter the date. I've been handling pocket knives for over 30 years and thus accumulated a little knowledge about dating knives properly. However almost all that time was spent on Case knives until the last couple of years. Thanks again....

Selling Case knives all these years has spoiled you. (no insult intended) In the Camillus world, if you can get within a decade or two, that's acceptable. They're a great old knife so don't get discouraged.

I may be way off base but in observing the blade pivot pin and the tang stamp that doesn't jive, I've formed the opinion that there was a blade change somewhere in this knifes history. Reason's I say that? The short line stamp was used from ~1946 until sometime in the 1950s. Delrin wasn't used as handles until ~mid to late 1960s forward. And as Dale pointed out, the Indian Stag wasn't introduced until ~1972. So give up your Case facts, accept the Camillus maybes and possibles and sell that great looking Camillus for what it "may be".

As Bernard Levine is fond of saying. "Read the knife"

I own several of these Indian Stag handled knives. Two of them have the short underline stamping. I don't believe that the blades have been messed with. One is a 26 the other is an 89.

There is a thread on the Indian Stag knives in this forum and the two knives I mentioned are posted there, in addition, there is some discussion (by carrmillus) on the short line stamp being used on these knives.

........so, they made more than 1 like this, huh??............ ......................

...msteele6, i accidently hit the send button before I was through with that last reply- what I was going to ask was, is the yellow portion of the staglon on your short-line stamped #89 darker???.........I have several long-line stamped staglon knives and the yellow portion on them is much brighter!!......the darker one looks a lot more like real stag than the lighter-colored ones!!................. ........................

carrmillus,

Photos of the knives I mentioned are posted in the Indian Stag thread, you can blow the pictures up and get a pretty good idea of the color. You can also see the tang stamps pretty well.

m

........thanks, m, I found it!!!........... ................

...the yellow portion of the indian stag seems to vary all over the place, but the darker yellow color seems to be prevalent in the older knives!!!...... ..........