Last Camillus Production ??

[tinroof]

I hate to expose my ignorance, but I can find no listing of this knife. My guess is that it has to be recent issue by condition, (factory closed in 2007, so surely all production has been published by this date). It has only Camillus tang stamp, and the model "WHAT A KNIFE" factory stamped in the handle. No commercial advertising, it is of the same design of military issue knives but smaller and only 2 blades.
As always I appreciate your information resources, and more experiance though I am learning. Thanks

[eveled]

One of the last for sure. They used those stainless dimpled handles on different knives, what-a-knife, dura-tool, US, or each military branch, NAHC, are some of the markings I know of. Some where dimpled and painted.

What-a-knife came in the double blade like yours or a single blade. (There may be others).

The top knife is like yours but from the dura-tool line. The bottom is a single blade advertising or promo knife. Marked "Warner"

[orvet]

According to the 1996 Camillus catalog the Dura-Tool line was new that year. The What-A-Knife is just a different name stamped on the same knife I have had both in the past and there’s really no difference of the name. I think the probable explanation for the difference is that the What-A-Knife was probably in SFO for someone like Smokey Mountain Knife Works. But the knife pattern appears as early as 1996 in Camillus’ Dura-Tool line, 11 years before Camillus closed their doors for good.

The What-A-Knife doesn’t appear in the Camillus catalogs because they would not have sold it directly it would of been sold by the company it was made for.

[eveled]

Interesting that What-a-knife was trademarked, but dura-tool was not.

Neat little knives that ride nice and flat in a pocket.

[tinroof]

Thanks, surely appreciate your info to help my question. I knew it had to be authentic but I found no refrence my support the history. I appreciate your time and memory as this forum.

[eveled]

Does anybody have this one? It's the only one I've seen. Are there any other What-a-knife models other than the three I've shown?

s-l400 (1).jpg (13.44 KiB) Viewed 6830 times

[zzyzzogeton]

Interesting that What-a-knife was trademarked, but dura-tool was not.

Neat little knives that ride nice and flat in a pocket.

What's also interesting is that a search of the USPTO shows

0 results for what-a-knife/whataknife/what a knife
20 results for whataburger, including 4 dead trademarks going back to 1971
4 results for duratool

So maybe what-a-knife never really got trademarked.

[eveled]

That is interesting, thanks for looking.

[Vit_213]

I found an interesting topic on Bladeforums - https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/tra ... se.519431/

[orvet]

For those of you who do not know who the last commentator in the B/F topic was; Phil Gibbs work worked for Camillus for many years. If memory serves his Father came from Sheffield to work at Camillus. When he said the other fellows post was right on, I take that as gospel.

[eveled]

Thank you for that link. I wasn't getting results when searching for What-a-knife. The words are too common.

What-a-saw was marketed by a company that rebranded things they had made for them by other companies. Coghlin saws, Opinel knives, and Camillus aparently.

One of mine is labeled Warner I assume it was a special order. Or promo knife. I'd like to know more about them too.

[tjmurphy]

There are currently five, "Camillus What-A-Knife", for sale on ebay.

[orvet]

Okay, I found my What-A-Knife and like the other ones posted here it has no lanyard loop.
The interesting thing is that it is not stamped Camillus. This knife is stamped SWORD BRAND/(over crossed swords)/USA.

In my February 16, 2010 interview with Tom Williams, Tom told me the “Sword Brand” name was first used in 1906. Sword Brand was the top of the line of all Camillus knives. Sword Brand knives had better material and more finish work than most of the other Camillus made knives. Prior to World War II, Sword Brand was stamped will on most all Sword Brand knives. After World War II the Sword Brand knives are generally not stamped but the name “Sword Brand” is etched on the blade, in most cases.

Obviously my Sword Brand What-A- Knife Was not made prior to World War II! This makes me even more certain that it was an SFO made for someone like Smokey Mountain because most generally if Camillus was producing a Sword Brand knife the name would been etched on the blade not stamped. I think this was an effort by a company, maybe SMKW or a hardware distributor, to make their product stand out a little bit and may be appealed to the collectors and old timers who remembered the higher-quality of the original Sword Brand knife.

Eviled, are one of your What-A-Knife stamped with the Sword Brand tang stamp? It would be interesting to know how prevalent the Sword Brand stamping is in the What-A-Knife line.

I have been scouring my notes for the last hour and I cannot find the dates, but I know at one time Camillus owned a part of Smokey Mountain Knife Works. Apparently it was at a time frame where Camillus was in good shape financially and SMKW is not. Camillus had invested in SMKW and of course if you have an investment in something you have an interest in seeing it succeed, this is why I believe that Camillus did a number of SFO’s for SMKW. I think Tom said it was in the 1990s that SMKW purchase the interest Camillus held in SMKW, thereby buying back the stock that Camillus held in SMKW. That’s all from my memory and not from my notes so I may have a few details skewed but I remember thinking when Tom told me about that but it made sense why I have seen so many Camillus knives or Camillus made knives for sale on SMKW, while Camillus was still in business.

This is my Dura-Tool and my What-a-Knife. The Dura-Tool is clearly stamped Camillus and the What-a-Knife is clearly stamped Sword Brand.

Does anyone else have any tang stamp variations of these two knives or other knives in the Dura-Tool line?

Camillus listed the Dura-Tool #396, the jack pattern we have here, as new in the 1996 catalog. Also listed was the Dura-Tool #397, the Dura-Tool version of the electrician’s knife.
In the 1998 pricelist there is a model #398 but I do not have a 1998 or a 1999 catalog, nor do I have a catalog or pricelist for the year 2000. I do have the 2001 pricelist but the Dura-Tool knives are not to be found in the 2000 pricelist nor in any of the subsequent pricelists are catalogs I have. Apparently they were around from about 1996 to about 2000, 4 or 5 years. It’s kind of sad.

I did some looking before I posted this and I found what appears to be a hawkbill pruner with the Dura-Tool name on the side. I think it is a #398. I have made the seller an offer, will see if he takes it. Obviously the seller had really bad pictures, this is the best one I could get and it doesn't show the blade.

[eveled]

Argh! Just when I thought I had a complete set, a variation pops up.

Lol! The life of a knife collector.

All of my what-a-knife's have Camillus tang stamps. Including the one with Warner embossed on the handle. None of them have bails.

I have 6 dura-tool models all have bails, and Camillus tang stamps.

Blade and bottle opener.

Electricians tl29 pattern spear point

Electricians tl29 hawk blade

Large single hawk linerlock.

Tl29 with flag handle

Tl29 flag handle main blade embossed with "handyman club of America"

The dura tools with flag handles are not dated, but it is the same style as the 2001 God bless America knives that I believe where released after 911. Riding the patriotic wave.

Interesting to me that most, of the dura-tool, and What-a-knife models I have seen show no use at all. They all look like new old stock.

Orvet, are you dismissing the what-a-saw connection? It makes a lot of sense.

[orvet]

Orvet, are you dismissing the what-a-saw connection? It makes a lot of sense.

I don't know anything about it... do you have some links?

[eveled]

See vit213's post in this thread on Dec 19. It links to a BF thread. When I googled what-a-saw, I got results that made sense. They contracted rebranded items from other manufacturers and sold them.

Found another BF link. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the ... s.1150683/

I don't understand the QVC connection. Isn't that the home shopping network?

[deltaboy]

They seem to be well built!

[orvet]

Since my last posting to this topic I found two or three more knives, the hawkbill pruner I bought on eBay, the red, white & blue electricians Dura Tool (the blue is on the back handle) and the single blade What-A-Knife jack were some I found in a cigar box on the top shelf of my bookcase.

I have seen other red, white and blue Dura Tool knives from Camillus as well as some metal knives that were not of the Dura Tool line.

It was interesting to see that one What-A-Knife had a Camillus tang stamp and the other had a Sword Brand tang stamp. I suspect they probably assembled the order with whatever blades they had on the shelf in stock without making a new batch.

I didn’t find the red, white & blue Dura tools in the Camillus catalog, but they could’ve been and SFO for Smokey or someone else.
Does anyone else have any information on this?

[Vit_213]

I didn’t find the red, white & blue Dura tools in the Camillus catalog, but they could’ve been and SFO for Smokey or someone else.
Does anyone else have any information on this?

This series was produced from 2002 to 2004. We do not have catalogs for this period, only pricelists, and there it is present.

[Phil Gibbs]

For those of you who do not know who the last commentator in the B/F topic was; Phil Gibbs work worked for Camillus for many years. If memory serves his Father came from Sheffield to work at Camillus. When he said the other fellows post was right on, I take that as gospel.

Albert Baer hired my father when he bought Rodgers/Richards/Wolstenholm.
I came from England to work at Camillus in 1979.
My father stayed in England!

[New_Windsor_NY]

This pocket knife has a new owner, it's a Camillus DURA-TOOL. My first one of this style of Camillus knife. Looks like it's in very good condition. I'll give it the once over when it arrives. I'll take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[New_Windsor_NY]

Besides the Camillus DURA-TOOL knife pictured above, which I haven't received yet, I already have one Camillus, WARNER knife and two Camillus, WHAT-A-KNIFE knives. A new collection forms, a new hunt begins. Click a picture to ENLARGE.

[New_Windsor_NY]

I received this Camillus DURA-TOOL yesterday. It is in fantastic condition and required no cleaning at all. Here are the pictures.

[New_Windsor_NY]

I just purchased this Camillus WHAT-A-KNIFE. It looks like it's in good condition. I'll check it out, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[New_Windsor_NY]

Today I'm adding another Camillus WHAT-A-KNIFE to my collection. It needed no cleaning at all. I took some pictures and here they are.