CAMILLUS 70 Cattle Knife

[CheckSix]

I hadn't posted too much about this one yet... So, here is my short line #70, which I take is generally accepted as 1946 - 1950 time frame with the tang stamp it has. Somewhere in it's past, someone was pretty heavy handed on cleaning it up but that aside, it functions well and is very pleasing to look at with its bone handles. (lighting for photography was poor today, apologies!)

[FRJ]

That's got everything going for it, Dave. Very handsome knife.

[carrmillus]

........I have one of those, dave, and I carry it once in awhile!!!!....love the bone from that period!!!!...... .................

[jerryd6818]

Dave, the last catalog that shows up in (of the ones I have access to) is 1948. It's not in the 1955 and after catalogs. Camillus resurrected the #70 pattern in about 1973 as the #70 Hiker which was 2-5/8" closed and nothing like your knife.

[CheckSix]

Dave, the last catalog that shows up in (of the ones I have access to) is 1948. It's not in the 1955 and after catalogs. Camillus resurrected the #70 pattern in about 1973 as the #70 Hiker which was 2-5/8" closed and nothing like your knife.

Interesting that they re-purposed the pattern number to something completely different.

My knife is 3-5/8" closed, different blade compliment.

I see mine in the '46, '48, and a '51 hardware store catalog. I have not been able to find a Camillus catalog prior to 1946.

[edge213]

Six, that knife is a beauty.

[313 Mike]

Great looking knife, outstanding bone.

[CheckSix]

Thanks guys!

I've carried this knife today and used it several times. It's really cool to whip out a 70 yr old knife and use it as intended. The bone handles are lovely and it is eye candy when I pull it out.

By the way, the 1946 catalog calls the handles... "Bone Stag". Not sure I know exactly what that implies.

[jerryd6818]

By the way, the 1946 catalog calls the handles... "Bone Stag". Not sure I know exactly what that implies.

Jigged bone. In the mid-50s they came out with a brown synthetic they called "Brownstag". Seems like they liked to get "Stag" in the name of their handles. Probably never find out why.

[peanut740]

Old knife companies for some reason used the term bone stag, stag bone and in some cases stag for gigged bone.If it was actual stag they would call it natural stag.

[bighomer]

They made I guess they can it what they want, I call it one beautiful pocket knife.

[tongueriver]

By the way, the 1946 catalog calls the handles... "Bone Stag". Not sure I know exactly what that implies.

Jigged bone. In the mid-50s they came out with a brown synthetic they called "Brownstag". Seems like they liked to get "Stag" in the name of their handles. Probably never find out why.

The OP knife is very nice; may be bone by Rogers company? In the last decade of Camillus they made a faux stag handle in Delrin they called India Stag. It is one of the nicest colors and patterns of Delrin by any of the companies, in my view, but, of course, BONE is mo' betta.

[jerryd6818]

By the way, the 1946 catalog calls the handles... "Bone Stag". Not sure I know exactly what that implies.

Jigged bone. In the mid-50s they came out with a brown synthetic they called "Brownstag". Seems like they liked to get "Stag" in the name of their handles. Probably never find out why.

The OP knife is very nice; may be bone by Rogers company? In the last decade of Camillus they made a faux stag handle in Delrin they called India Stag. It is one of the nicest colors and patterns of Delrin by any of the companies, in my view, but, of course, BONE is mo' betta.

Introduced in 1973 on their Sword Brand knives, it was first called Indian Stag. By 1984 it was only used on the No. 88 "LOK-RANCHER" and called "India Stag". Most of the rest of their knives had what they called "Brown Delrin stag".

I have a couple of #14's that wear it and it is a fine cover.

[CheckSix]

By the way, the 1946 catalog calls the handles... "Bone Stag". Not sure I know exactly what that implies.

Jigged bone. In the mid-50s they came out with a brown synthetic they called "Brownstag". Seems like they liked to get "Stag" in the name of their handles. Probably never find out why.

The OP knife is very nice; may be bone by Rogers company? In the last decade of Camillus they made a faux stag handle in Delrin they called India Stag. It is one of the nicest colors and patterns of Delrin by any of the companies, in my view, but, of course, BONE is mo' betta.

Cal,
I don't know enough, to know if a bone handle is Rogers or not. I assume its determined by appearance, dye color and jigging? So, when a cutlery like Camillus bought Rogers bone, was it already jigged? and they just pinned it and final fit it? Or... was it shipped in rough and the cutlery cut it, jigged it and then did final fit?

Just trying to learn!

[jerryd6818]

I'm not Cal but Rogers had a special jigging machine they invented and built. Here's the story as written by Bernard Levine and published in Knife World, November of 1987.

"ROGERS BONE (c)1987 | WINTERBOTTOM BONE (c)1990

by BERNARD LEVINE * BOX 2404 * EUGENE OR 97402 * 541-484-0294

KNIFE WORLD * PO BOX 3395 * KNOXVILLE TN 37927
WHUT IZZIT NUMBER 119 NOVEMBER 1987

Rogers bone was made by the Rogers Manufacturing Company of
Rockfall, Connecticut. On the telephone I interviewed Mr. Vincent
Bitel, Senior, president of the Rogers Manufacturing Company, and his
son, Mr. Vincent Bitel, Junior.
Mr. Bitel, Senior, informed me that the firm started in business in
1891, making manufactured bone products, and also bone fertilizer.
They began to make jigged bone pocketknife scales around the turn of
the century. Other manufactured bone products included combs,
toothbrush handles, baby pacifiers, and one of their biggest sellers,
corn-cob pipe bits. This particular item was discontinued in the
1950s.
Early in the century, one of this firm's competitors in the bone
business was Rogers & Hubbard. About the time of the First World War,
Rogers Mfg. Co. traded its bone fertilizer operation to Rogers &
Hubbard, and received in return the other firm's manufactured bone
products business. From that time forward, Rogers Mfg. Co. was the
nation's largest maker of manufactured bone products.
At first, all of the bone used by Rogers Mfg. Co. came from domestic
cattle. By the 1920s, and perhaps even earlier, all of it was coming
from overseas, mainly from Argentina.
Most of Rogers's pocketknife handle material was made in the
distinctive jigging pattern that collectors call "Rogers bone," but
that the firm in fact called "Rogers Stag." Rogers Stag was made
using a specially designed jigging machine which the company still
has, but that has not been used since 1962 (they have no interest in
starting it up again). They also made small quantities of other
styles of jigged bone for pocketknives.
Rogers Mfg. Co. also made jigged bone for hunting knives and for
kitchen utensils. For hunting knives, they made a style of jigging
they called "Indian Trail." This is a long random "worm" style of
jigging. Their biggest customer for bone kitchen utensil handles was
Landers Frary & Clark, who used the bone mainly on kitchen forks.
During the Second World War, Rogers's production of jigged bone
handles continued without interruption. Many of those handles wound
up on cutlery items made for the government.
The bone used by Rogers during the war was all imported. It came
from Argentina, Brazil, and a new source: Australia. The Australian
bone came mainly from old (15+ years old) tough range cattle, and so
was very thick and dense and strong. This heavy Australian bone was
used mainly for hunting knife handles.
In the 1950s, cost-conscious cutlery manufacturers began to
discontinue the production of bone handled pocketknives. Rogers Mfg.
Co. changed with the changing times, and began to offer synthetic
pocketknife handles. Mr. Bitel, who started with Rogers in 1955, was
involved in the transition. He states that Rogers Mfg. Co. was the
first firm to produce pocketknife scales made out of Delrin (a DuPont
acetal resin). One trademark Rogers used for synthetic handle
materials was Romco.
Rogers Mfg. Co. last sold bone pocketknife handle material in 1962.
The firm still supplies limited quantities of synthetic handle
material to the cutlery industry, but domestic and foreign competitors
have taken most of that specialized business away."

[carrmillus]

.......very interesting, jerry!!1..thanks for posting this!!....... ................

[CheckSix]

So, while we are on Rogers bone... I have this 4 Line Camillus that I was told had Rogers bone on it. Its a Swell End jack with punch and spear. I look at the jigging on this one, versus the #70 in post #1 and it appears to be very different. I would imagine this knife is from the '30s.

Reading the BL article Jerry posted, it says that the Indian Trail worm groove bone is Rogers also. I have that style on an old Cattaraugus knife. Interesting!

[SteveC]

I picked up one of these a few months ago. Not a lot of info out there on this model.



As found

After a little cleaning

[gsmith7158]

That's a nice one SteveC. I missed out on one just the other night on the bay. Here's the catalog cut from the 1946 catalog.

[SteveC]

Thanks Greg ! I was watching that one tovsee how much I it would go for. Sorry you missed it !

[eveled]

As of 1987 they still had that machine..........I wonder where it ended up.

I bet they didn't want to start it up because it was to dangerous. That is about the time osha was cracking down on factories and lots of great old equipment got scrapped due to a lack of guards, and safety switches.

I'd love to see that old machine and how it worked.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Are there any more 70's out there? I have several, one of which is "in the shop" for some new handles. Still looking for a nice bone one.


This is one I found that had factory edges and is unused but it had shrinky dink handles, so I had it rehandled in ebony to better suit this fine knife. Now it's perfect. I really like it.

This is my first 70 that I found at a gun show and it's what put the pattern on my map. I like to carry it.

[cody6268]

Mine is probably the worst one that is still usable, but I love it. It's the perfect size for me, and feels great in my hand. Handles have shrunk (to the point the shield could easily be dislodged) and two of the three blades have heavy wear. Tang stamp has nearly worn off the master blade. I have carried it so much, I had to touch it up before throwing it in my pocket today.

Did these survive past the short line stamp date range? I've never seen an example of the 70 with any other stamp.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Mine is probably the worst one that is still usable, but I love it. It's the perfect size for me, and feels great in my hand. Handles have shrunk (to the point the shield could easily be dislodged) and two of the three blades have heavy wear. Tang stamp has nearly worn off the master blade. I have carried it so much, I had to touch it up before throwing it in my pocket today.

Did these survive past the short line stamp date range? I've never seen an example of the 70 with any other stamp.

e2N8TdY.jpg

That's not a bad one at all; I have seen some that were quite rough.

The short line stamp is the only one I've seen too. I can only find the 70 in the 1946 and 1948 catalogs. In 1946 it's listed with bone stag handles and 1948 is listed as stagged, which would probably be the shrinky dink stuff. 1954 is the next catalog on collectors of camillus after the 1948 catalog and the 1954 has no 70's.

[SteveC]

Mine is probably the worst one that is still usable, but I love it. It's the perfect size for me, and feels great in my hand. Handles have shrunk (to the point the shield could easily be dislodged) and two of the three blades have heavy wear. Tang stamp has nearly worn off the master blade. I have carried it so much, I had to touch it up before throwing it in my pocket today.

Did these survive past the short line stamp date range? I've never seen an example of the 70 with any other stamp.

e2N8TdY.jpg

Yes, great size. Same frame as the Heavy Jacks #16 & #17 and also the army engineer knife. As nice as the smaller Junior Cattle knives are, like the Schrade 856 this bigger size just feels right in the hand.