All About Pocket Knives

Here's a sweet tip bolstered pearl. 3 1/8"
No brass to be found.

That's a beauty Joe. Are the liners nickel silver?

Thanks Greg,
I think they are nickel silver. They are of a different hue than the blades. Wish now I had taken a picture of them.

If they are they won't attract a magnet. Of course being Stainless Cutlery Co. They could be steel.

Indeed a sweet tip bolstered pen Joe ... Any info as to company history - was Stainless just the name or were all their knives made of stainless?? Cool - that's a company I never heard of before...

Nice one Joe. I think they are connected to a major manufacturer some way.Seems they were a Camillus mark. Boy those Kastor Bros. were all over.

Nice one, Joe! Lyle is correct, Goins says it was a mark used by Camillus from 1924 to 1940.
Dan

Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

Very nice knife, your pics show rainbow colors. I am most partial to Pen knives and grateful that most knife collectors go for Jacks. I have a few similar high quality Pen knives marked "Stainless Cutlery", all from ebay. All very well made. I think Camillus created this line to promote acceptance of Stainless steel knife blades and the best way to do this was to make a superior knife.
Keeping the name "Camillus" off these knives made sure that no one would associate stainless steel blades with Camillus until some acceptance of stainless was gained.
This is my take on Stainless Cutlery so take with salt please.
kj

Thank you, KJ.
I think your remarks on Camillus' promotion of Stainless Cutlery is valid. They are a well made knife.
But we should expect that from this era of Camillus. I think I have two Stainless now.

Here is a 4 blade Stainless Cutlery Co.I just picked up. I would say that bone pretty much seals the deal on being a Camillus product.

Very very nice Greg!!

woodwalker wrote:Very very nice Greg!!

Thanks woodwalker! I have one other Stainless Cut Co., a single blade lockback with similar bone handles. They are high quality knives.

A very handsome knife, Gregg.
Thanks for showing it here.

FRJ wrote:A very handsome knife, Gregg.
Thanks for showing it here.

Thanks Joe! I didn't notice until after I took that pic but it still has a partial etch on the master that says stainless.

I had to look, Gregg, but yes, there it is. Nice!

Well this seems to be becoming a habit. Another addiction in a sub set of a collection within a sub set of a brand I had never heard of up until 3 years ago. They are interesting knives and I find myself drawn to each one I see. Another Stainless Cutlery Co. New York
The three I have so far.

I have a few Stainless Cutlery pen knives, mostly with pearl handles. The quality of workmanship and materials make these the very best knives Camillus was making. i.e. they made "Stainless" a separate line to 'protect' the Camillus image, and then made the Stainless Cutlery such fine knives that customers were sure to be impressed with the idea of stainless steel knife blades. There was, and still is, a resistance to stainless steel for blades.
Here is a 3 1/8" senator Whittler, marked on tang: "Stainless/Cutlery Co/New York City" and back side "Stainless/Shield" in a shield. "Stainless Steel" is etched onto master flats. Semi sunk joints, tip bolsters and milled liners. There is a natural crack in pearl surface at one end.
But don't tell anyone about these knives.
kj

The mailman just dropped off this little pen knife by Stainless Steel Cutlery Co. Looks unused with etched blade. 1920-40 with what look like celluloid handles.

A very clean little pen, Greg. Nice one.

Thanks Joe!

Very nice 90 yr old knife, with cell handles looking just as they did on day one. The old celluloid handles hold up very well especially compared with that from about 1940's onward.
I sure like the Stainless Steel brand knives.
kj

They are very well made Roland. I'm hooked on them.

I thought this one was interesting. The tang stamp is a bit different. Not STAINLESS CUTLERY CO but STAINLESS STEEL USA.

Not sure whether it was a Camillus made knife but it looks like it could be.

A nice knife with a unique stamp with a nice etch.
Thanks Steve.