Camillus Buford Pusser Commemorative knives

[Vit_213]

"Camillus first made the Buford Pusser knife in the 1970's and a second version was made about 2003.
Mr. Fred Robertson of Finger, Tennessee placed an order with Camillus to make 5,000 commemorative knives honoring Buford Pusser who was a Sheriff in McNairy County. This knife was a large Camillus 2 blade trapper pattern knife with brown Delrin handles and a special Buford Pusser shield. Each knife had a serial number engraved on the bolster and came packed in a special brown Buford Pusser knife box. A #9380 sharpening steel was packed in the box with each knife. The original order was for 5,000 knives but not all of the knives were made. Approximately 3,500 knives were made and shipped to Mr. Robertson. The customer would call and place an order when he wanted some of the knives and usually he would take 100 or 200 knives at a time. Not all the knives were made so some serial numbers were never used.
Buford Pusser became very famous when he was the Sheriff and several movies, such as "Walking Tall", were made about his life story. He was killed while he was a Sheriff and his daughter owned the rights to the "Buford Pusser" name so she granted r. Robertson permission to use her father's name on this knife. She was paid a fee for the use of the name. His daughter most likely trademarked the "Buford Pusser" name so if anyone used the name on a product she could collect a royalty."
Tom Williams

[Vit_213]

"The second Buford Pusser knives were made for Smoky Mountain Knife Works around 2003. One of the blades that was used in this knife is stamped "1986" and these blades were originally made for the Sears-Roebuck 100th anniversary knife (Model #95113). Camillus had extra blades and parts left over after the order for the Sears 100th anniversary knife order was filled and these parts were used in several other knives. The Buford Pusser knife is a #5754 pattern that was a very popular knife and was made for several customers in addition to Sears. The Camillus "American Wildlife" Model #10 knife is the same pattern as the Buford Pusser knife. The use of the Sears "1986" blade in a knife that was made many years later in 2003 shows how Camillus never threw anything away and found a use for these extra parts. Camillus made many knives for Smoky Mountain Knife Works that used parts that were left over from earlier knives.
Check this BF posting in a few days and you will see the Camillus records for the Buford Pusser knife. These records are for the first Buford Pusser knife that was made in the 1970's for Mr. Fred Robertson of Finger, TN. The first knife had a blade etch, serial number, #9380 sharpening steel (Big Stick) and a specially printed box with a molded platform. The second Buford Pusser knife did not have a serial number or special box."
Tom Williams

[carrmillus]

...good information, vit, I did not know this!!!...... ...........

[edge213]

Very cool.

[Vit_213]

Camillus records for the Buford Pusser knife by Tom Williams

[carrmillus]

...that's really neat, vit!!....... .............

[gsmith7158]

Too bad they didn't get a hold of some of his big sticks and use them for knife handles.

[carrmillus]

..I think it was when I was overseas in france(1960-62), my dad said he gave a speech at the miss-ala. fair & dairy show that was one for the books!!!.............. ...............

[kootenay joe]

Now i know who Buford Pusser was. It is such an odd name i had thought it was a made up name.
kj

[carrmillus]

...nothing about him was made up, he was the genuine article!!!.., my grandfather, who was chief of police here in tupelo for 28 years would have loved him!!!........ ............

[Vit_213]

...that's really neat, vit!!....... .............

I prepared well before creating this topic .
This is a piece of Camillus history for everyone.

[carrmillus]

...you did a great job, my friend!!!!!.......... .............

[knifeaholic]

I recently posted one of the later version knives on eBay and someone contacted me about it to tell me that "Buford" was spelled incorrectly in the blade etch - "Bufford".

Pretty embarrassing mistake for Camillus.

[Ripster]

I recently posted one of the later version knives on eBay and someone contacted me about it to tell me that "Buford" was spelled incorrectly in the blade etch - "Bufford".

Pretty embarrassing mistake for Camillus.

Steve , are you saying the knife you have is spelled with 2 F s on the blade etch ?. that’s quite the mistake ! Just noticed the spelling of the second knife in above post that it is spelled with 2 F s on the etch as you have said . Never noticed it before. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

[knifeaholic]

I recently posted one of the later version knives on eBay and someone contacted me about it to tell me that "Buford" was spelled incorrectly in the blade etch - "Bufford".

Pretty embarrassing mistake for Camillus.

Steve , are you saying the knife you have is spelled with 2 F s on the blade etch ?. that’s quite the mistake ! Just noticed the spelling of the second knife in above post that it is spelled with 2 F s on the etch as you have said . Never noticed it before. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

Yup, same as that one. They must have all been that way.

[Vit_213]

I recently posted one of the later version knives on eBay and someone contacted me about it to tell me that "Buford" was spelled incorrectly in the blade etch - "Bufford".

Pretty embarrassing mistake for Camillus.

Nice! I didn't notice this before. Thank you! Another piece of Camillus history!