All About Pocket Knives

I have about a dozen or so Camillus USA knives and a few Buck’s that Camillus made for them. I really like these as Camillus made terrific knives at a great price. Which company picked them up after the bankruptcy?
It’s still a good quality knife but not the same being made overseas. And their traditional slip joint pocket knives have for the most part given way to newer designs. Remaining USA knife makers are getting few and far between.

Not a company I would want to do business with.

Yeah, don't bug me unless you want to buy something.

I've bought a couple of their knives, and they just felt cheap. Most American-made original Camillus knives are inexpensive, so I try to buy those. Almost all my EDC knives are becoming Schrade USA and Camillus USA. I've even gotten into some of their more modern offerings; like the Schrade Lake and Walker and Cliphanger and the Camillus Pro Master lines.

They are makng a line of American made OHO folders and fixed blades for the BSA, and they have also had a couple fixed blades that were made in the States, but that's it. At $150, you're getting into Spyderco Paramilitary and Bark River (as well as GEC) money with these, so I would personally rather go with one of those.

https://www.scoutshop.org/nsearch/?q=ca ... agle+scout

It appears they want to take advantage of the rich Camillus history, but no responsibility.
Even though I realize that might be a difficult task.

Hate to say it but I doubt they have much choice. I know nothing about the situation aside from what I read on the posted link, but assuming that is all true, and there is no reason to believe it’s not, I’m not sure what else the company can do.

They bought the name. They did not buy the tooling or spare parts. I suppose they could have some tooling made - as an old manufacturing guy I can testify that is very expensive. They would have to make and sell a lot of knives to reach break even. Old surplus parts? Assuming you could find and employ cutlers having the skills to repair knives, and convince them to re-locate to your facility, eventually you run out of those surplus old parts. Which brings us back to the expensive tooling.

Although I certainly understand the sentiments, it’s seldom as easy as it seems. Continuing support for a discontinued product is one of the more challenging tasks for any company. Been there, done that. You can’t win.

Ken

Mumbleypeg everything you say is true. Comes down to why even buy the name?

eveled wrote:Mumbleypeg everything you say is true. Comes down to why even buy the name?

That would be for "marketing" purposes. I still run into people selling at the local flea market that don't know that Camillus has been out of business since 2007. They think they are still selling the same old American made as before. You can try to tell them that they are made in China now, but they don't want to believe it. In the link above, they make the statement about purchasing designs, patents, and trademarks and go on to say:
"This has allowed us to give new life to this trusted brand and combine the Camillus heritage with our innovative material technologies and design capabilities". Which of course brings up the question "exactly what part of the old company (the Camillus heritage) did they combine with the new company? By their own admission they do not have any of the parts, machinery, patterns, and certainly not any people from the old company. It is just to sell their modern made Chinese product to people who recognize the name from the past and don't bother to look at the country of manufacturer. Kind of like a famous band from back in the 1970s had a 40th anniversary tour even though not one of the current band members was there 40 years ago. They bought the name. That's the way business works in the 21st century.

It’s a shame. We not only lost a great American cutler, but a large piece of cutlery history. I have about 15-20 Camillus USA knives, and I’ll buy more at every chance I get. Other brands are more collectible (I don’t know why) but not nearly as well made IMHO. Besides making great traditional knives, Camillus was very innovative. This one is an ultra light folder, using electronic circuit board for scales.

Whenever I am reminded that ACME of China now owns the Camillus name (and Western as well), I remember all the boxes of crap Wile E. Coyote bought from ACME to try to capture the Roadrunner.

And they never worked against road runner either. About like “Acme” Camillus knives. It’s a shame.

zzyzzogeton wrote:Whenever I am reminded that ACME of China now owns the Camillus name (and Western as well), I remember all the boxes of crap Wile E. Coyote bought from ACME to try to capture the Roadrunner.

........... !!!..............

...all kidding aside, it's a sad ending for a great AMERICAN company!!!!........... ..............

And one of the most underrated. They probably made more knives for others than under the Camillus name. And a ton for the US military. All in all, one of my very favorite knives.

...my grandfather was chief of police in tupelo for 28 years..he looked and acted exactly like burl ives, the sheriff character in "east of eden"- I don't know how many times as a kid walking downtown with him, if he passed a suspicious looking character on the street, he would reach out and grab them and say.."lemme' see yer knife", and if it wasn't a Camillus he would break the blade out and give it back!!!....if it was a Camillus , he would keep it and he had a huge cardboard box full in his closet, and that's where I got my first Camillus!!....I think about him every day!!!....... ..........

Schrade was even less fortunate. Taylor makes official fakes that an inexperienced buyer will not be able to distinguish from the original . Camillus also has such examples, but not many.

Now that Queen Cutlery has gone belly up, that just leaves Case, Buck and Bear as the primary American cutlery firms. Buck makes some of their lines overseas. Queen was pricey but excellent quality. Buck and Bear are the ones I primarily get for American made knives. At the risk of committing an act of heresy, I’m not a great fan of Case. Yes I have a number of them but, I think they are overpriced for what you get. Not that they aren’t well made, but at what they charge I’d expect higher quality.

What about Kutmaster? They also do a huge amount of contract work, largely for Klein Tools.

I forgot about them. I’m sure there are others I can’t think of. Smaller companies. I do think that over time, more will close due to cheaper labor overseas. Not that many imports aren’t well made, but I do miss the classic knives that were made in America.

In my opinion, only Case and GEС remained. The quality of the 300 series of Buck and Bear & Son is depressing. Kutmaster has nothing interesting.

OSCAR wrote:Now that Queen Cutlery has gone belly up, that just leaves Case, Buck and Bear as the primary American cutlery firms. Buck makes some of their lines overseas. Queen was pricey but excellent quality. Buck and Bear are the ones I primarily get for American made knives. At the risk of committing an act of heresy, I’m not a great fan of Case. Yes I have a number of them but, I think they are overpriced for what you get. Not that they aren’t well made, but at what they charge I’d expect higher quality.

Queen quality was very spotty for the last several years. During that time toward the end it most certainly was not “excellent”, or even consistently good, which is probably a big reason for their ultimate demise. Case was in the same situation for several years during the late 1980s - early 1990s. Case quality is much better now but still not up to what it was for most of the company’s history up to about 1985. I’m a fan of older Queens and have many. IMHO at no time during Queen’s history was their quality better than pre-1980s Case. Maybe as good, but not better.

Is Case overpriced for what you get? Today, maybe. I generally don’t buy the new ones, but I generally don’t buy new GECs either. (Now there is an overpriced knife! JMO. I’d be interested to see what happens to GEC values as long-term collectibles, 30-40 years from now. Unfortunately I won’t be around to find out.)

Ken

OLDE CUTLER wrote:

eveled wrote:Mumbleypeg everything you say is true. Comes down to why even buy the name?

That would be for "marketing" purposes. I still run into people selling at the local flea market that don't know that Camillus has been out of business since 2007. They think they are still selling the same old American made as before. You can try to tell them that they are made in China now, but they don't want to believe it. In the link above, they make the statement about purchasing designs, patents, and trademarks and go on to say:
"This has allowed us to give new life to this trusted brand and combine the Camillus heritage with our innovative material technologies and design capabilities". Which of course brings up the question "exactly what part of the old company (the Camillus heritage) did they combine with the new company? By their own admission they do not have any of the parts, machinery, patterns, and certainly not any people from the old company. It is just to sell their modern made Chinese product to people who recognize the name from the past and don't bother to look at the country of manufacturer. Kind of like a famous band from back in the 1970s had a 40th anniversary tour even though not one of the current band members was there 40 years ago. They bought the name. That's the way business works in the 21st century.

I get what you are saying. It just seems crazy to buy something with the intent of ruining it. Why take over a name if you can’t put out the quality that name is known for.

It is a very short term business plan. Also very sad.

Mumbleypeg wrote:

OSCAR wrote:Now that Queen Cutlery has gone belly up, that just leaves Case, Buck and Bear as the primary American cutlery firms. Buck makes some of their lines overseas. Queen was pricey but excellent quality. Buck and Bear are the ones I primarily get for American made knives. At the risk of committing an act of heresy, I’m not a great fan of Case. Yes I have a number of them but, I think they are overpriced for what you get. Not that they aren’t well made, but at what they charge I’d expect higher quality.

Queen quality was very spotty for the last several years. During that time toward the end it most certainly was not “excellent”, or even consistently good, which is probably a big reason for their ultimate demise. Case was in the same situation for several years during the late 1980s - early 1990s. Case quality is much better now but still not up to what it was for most of the company’s history up to about 1985. I’m a fan of older Queens and have many. IMHO at no time during Queen’s history was their quality better than pre-1980s Case. Maybe as good, but not better.

Is Case overpriced for what you get? Today, maybe. I generally don’t buy the new ones, but I generally don’t buy new GECs either. (Now there is an overpriced knife! JMO. I’d be interested to see what happens to GEC values as long-term collectibles, 30-40 years from now. Unfortunately I won’t be around to find out.)

Ken

Ken, I have to agree 100% . Generally speaking, everything (not just knives) was made better years ago. And as many companies turned to cheaper labor overseas, they made a greater profit. Some of those companies were able to turn out a fantastic product at a great price. I have some Chinese AG Russel knives that are superb. They are either less collectible, or not collectible at all if you wish to sell in years to come at a profit. I buy for myself with no expectations of selling them so it doesn’t matter. I won’t be around that long to see a profit anyway. To me, Camillus was always consistent, as well as reasonably priced. I have 20 or so Camillus USA. I wish I had more. I have several Buck, as well as Craftsman, made by Camillus under contract. Whatever preferences anyone has today, I believe they missed the golden age of collecting. The same can be said for other things besides knives.

Colonial is still hanging in there too.

If Camillus was an Italian Restaurant. They made great food at a fair price. Nothing too fancy but quality and value.

It goes on for multiple Generations. Ups and downs but pretty consistent. Due to a variety of reasons they are forced out of business.

Then a Chinese couple buys the business. Do you want the stoves and ovens and pots and pans? Nope we have a better way. All our food will be prepared by an Italian Chef. Do you want our recipes? Nope our Italian Chef has his own recipes.

The new owners take over. The kitchen is fully stocked with Chef Boyardee. And a can opener.

For a few years the loyal patrons still come to the restaurant. Full of happy memories and full of hope. They are let down.

The new generation of customers are happy with the food. They don’t know any better.

Once you’ve had veal scalapini spaghetti O’s will never be edible.