All About Pocket Knives

I have a 26 folding hunter, tang stamp on larger blade reads
CAMILLUS
STAINLESS
USA

Stamped on opposite side on smaller blade is 26

3 lines, no sword brand engraving. Can anyone date it?

Without good pictures of the tang stamp we could not give any accurate information. The font, the presence and/or length of a dividing line, all make a huge difference.
Here is a link to a thread dedicated to pictures of Tang Stamps that will help you identify your knife.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... hp?t=39799

Please post pictures of the whole knife, including that tang stamp. Not only can we then help, but we love to look at pocket knives!!

I have never seen this stamp before, I am not able to locate it on any of the charts. I

Joey

That tang stamp is common but usually on the old #5 fish knives and knives meant to be used around water. I wonder if the blade has been replaced. But with Camillus there is always a mystery showing up.

I’ve been researching this online this morning. I have found a couple of #26 folding hunters with the same stamp. I have seen pics of the modrl 26 as a sword brand a few times. Here is a pic of another 26 with the same stamp.
And another

Anyone else?

Dude68 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 7:37 amAnyone else?

Check out Camillus catalogs on the Camillus collectors r us website . Should find it in the 1970s thru about 2000 year catalogs . There was a whole series of different models with that style of synthetic jigged handles.
Nice folding hunter .

Thanks. I looked at the catalogue and noticed the first appearance of the model 26 big jack is in the 73-4 catalogue as a sword brand knife. I saw a tang stamp matching mine in the 1976 catalogue on a model 6 single blade huntsman. The big jack and huntsman are referred to as folding hunters in later catalogues. This is the first year I noticed this tang stamp. Of note, I counted four different tang stamps in the 76 catalogue. Every catalogue shows this 2 bladed folding hunter or “big jack” as a sword brand knife with sword brand etched in the main blade. Here is a pic of the 76 huntsman

Model #26 was produced from about 1972 (maybe a little earlier) until the plant closed. The first samples were made of carbon steel. Somewhere around 1973-1974, carbon steel was replaced with stainless steel. At that time, Camillus made few knives from stainless steel, and a special tang stamp was introduced for them. During the 70-80s, this tang stamp received several varieties for different models. In 1989, there was a rebranding and the tang stamp became the same for all models (almost).
Below are some examples of knives with "Stainless" tang stamps.

Vit_213 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 26, 2024 1:28 pm Model #26 was produced from about 1972 (maybe a little earlier) until the plant closed. The first samples were made of carbon steel. Somewhere around 1973-1974, carbon steel was replaced with stainless steel. At that time, Camillus made few knives from stainless steel, and a special tang stamp was introduced for them. During the 70-80s, this tang stamp received several varieties for different models. In 1989, there was a rebranding and the tang stamp became the same for all models (almost).
Below are some examples of knives with "Stainless" tang stamps.

Great to see your post Vit ! Thanks for the details
Hope you are well

Does this mean that a Camillus knife with the “stainless” stamp is 1988 or older? Or maybe sometime in 1989 or older?

BigAl62 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:28 am Does this mean that a Camillus knife with the “stainless” stamp is 1988 or older? Or maybe sometime in 1989 or older?

Not necessarily! As Vit stated above ,in 89 they changed the stamp (s) for MOST models.In the 90 s Camillus was using up inventory as they were already in financial trouble. Have seen a lot of “variety “ in the stuff from that period . The older no line stamp had some stainless steel but wasn’t marked stainless anywhere. Makes it interesting .

I currently have three #26’s. And a 4th coming in from the bay. 3 of them are the 3-line stainless stamps and the 4th is not. It looks like carbon steel due to the pitina. I’m guessing the 4th is pre-1973/74. The others could be up to 2006 then. I’d take pics but I’m traveling all week. I’ll try to remember to upload pics next weekend.

BigAl62 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 1:01 am I currently have three #26’s. And a 4th coming in from the bay. 3 of them are the 3-line stainless stamps and the 4th is not. It looks like carbon steel due to the pitina. I’m guessing the 4th is pre-1973/74. The others could be up to 2006 then. I’d take pics but I’m traveling all week. I’ll try to remember to upload pics next weekend.

I finally remembered to upload the pics. . .