All About Pocket Knives

Evening Folks finally got a little time to post ,here’s latest in the mail . Received this High Carbon 3 blade bone covered piece . It’s tight ,no cracks in the bone,has some wear on main . Will clean it up ,sharpen it some and carry it now and then . Also show the 5 blade High Carbon bought awhile back from Cal here at the forum . May have shown that one here or in the Cattle knife area,either way here’s another pic or 2 . Both knives are 3 and 5/8 inches long and are very well built. The weight and feel of these oldies is something else that draws me to them ,some great craftsmanship back then .
Take care ,catch you all next time .

Pretty ole knives.

Ripster wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:34 am Evening Folks finally got a little time to post ,here’s latest in the mail . Received this High Carbon 3 blade bone covered piece . It’s tight ,no cracks in the bone,has some wear on main . Will clean it up ,sharpen it some and carry it now and then . Also show the 5 blade High Carbon bought awhile back from Cal here at the forum . May have shown that one here or in the Cattle knife area,either way here’s another pic or 2 . Both knives are 3 and 5/8 inches long and are very well built. The weight and feel of these oldies is something else that draws me to them ,some great craftsmanship back then .
Take care ,catch you all next time .

You've got some nice ones there, like your display case set up as well
Randy

Here’s a High Carbon Trapper . Not a big fan of trappers but this one is one will tote once in awhile . Solid knife ,solid half stops and great snap . Nice bone covers and no brass . Made in the 1930 s by Camillus . Thought would oil it up and slip it in pocket for a day or 2 .

Ripster wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:19 am Here’s.....

JP, that is one TERRIFIC LKING piece of pocket cutlery!!

Recently, this became the latest pocket knife to join my "general" CAMILLUS collection. It came in a large group of pocket knives that I bought, but not for this particular knife. It's a CAMCO USA, two blades, one tang stamp, 3 1/8" closed (not including the bail), fob or key ring style pocket knife. Except for a missing bolster, a tiny crack in one scale and some blade wear, it's in pretty decent shape. The blades needed to be cleaned. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Here’s a little piece with a few years on it . Two different stamps . The main has A KASTOR & BROS over NEW YORK and a full line under NEW YORK . The other Blade is stamped KASTOR over NEW YORK and a line under that and bottom line is GERMANY . Nice tight piece and the Scissors still cut very well !
So did the one blade come from Germany and built here ? Or other way around . Being the BROS is stamped on one blade would that put it early 1900 ,say before WW2 ? Any help with this one would be great.
Take care out there

Ripster wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:22 pm Here’s a little piece with a few years on it . Two different stamps . The main has A KASTOR & BROS over NEW YORK and a full line under NEW YORK . The other Blade is stamped KASTOR over NEW YORK and a line under that and bottom line is GERMANY . Nice tight piece and the Scissors still cut very well !
So did the one blade come from Germany and built here ? Or other way around . Being the BROS is stamped on one blade would that put it early 1900 ,say before WW2 ? Any help with this one would be great.
Take care out there

I like those two! Sweet!

Ripster wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:22 pm Here’s a little piece with a few years on it . Two different stamps . The main has A KASTOR & BROS over NEW YORK and a full line under NEW YORK . The other Blade is stamped KASTOR over NEW YORK and a line under that and bottom line is GERMANY . Nice tight piece and the Scissors still cut very well !
So did the one blade come from Germany and built here ? Or other way around . Being the BROS is stamped on one blade would that put it early 1900 ,say before WW2 ? Any help with this one would be great.
Take care out there

Can't help, but nice knife. I hadn't explored this thread before this morning, good stuff here.

Thanks much Phil and Ike . You Fellas been known to show some pretty nice stuff .
It’s fun learning this stuff about these older pieces .
Stay warm out there.

Sweet additions JP & Skip! Congrats friends!

TPK wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:53 am Sweet.....

Thank you, Tom.

These two pocket knives recently arrived in separate groups or lots of pocket knives that I bought. These two particular pocket knives were NOT the targets of my purchases. They are both SYRACUSE, both have a single blade with a cap lifter or bottle opener, both have a corkscrew, both have a single tang stamp, both measure 2 7/8" closed and both are "bartender" pattern or style pocket knives. The tang stamps read "SYRACUSE - KNIFE - CO. - USA" They are both in GOOD condition. The last picture shows the two, paired up.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Nice looking knives Skip thanks for sharing!

#goldpan wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 4:25 am Nice.....

I'm just a wee bit late in replying.
I apologize.
Thank you, Randy.

New_Windsor_NY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:00 pm These two pocket knives recently arrived in separate groups or lots of pocket knives that I bought. These two particular pocket knives were NOT the targets of my purchases. They are both SYRACUSE, both have a single blade with a cap lifter or bottle opener, both have a corkscrew, both have a single tang stamp, both measure 2 7/8" closed and both are "bartender" pattern or style pocket knives. The tang stamps read "SYRACUSE - KNIFE - CO. - USA" They are both in GOOD condition. The last picture shows the two, paired up.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Looks like 'bout the same as my Camillus stamped knife. I guess they made the blades all in the same area then stamped them accordingly down the production line.

My book says that Camillus was the maker for Henry Sears and Son 1865 brand. Was this knife made by Camillus? Any idea when it was made?

Found this knife on a family members farm it is a cutlery co knife made 1925-1940 (cutlery co was a company used by camillus)

JohnR wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2016 8:55 pm Picked up this Fairmount, normally I don't buy celluloid knives but this one was in such good shape and the celluloid so pretty I went ahead. From what I understand Fairmount was a Camillus brand before WW2.

That is a beauty! Thank you for sharing!

A couple of days ago, this pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased. It now becomes my latest example to be posted under this topic or thread. I did NOT purchase the group or lot of pocket knives to obtain this particular pocket knife. However, it definitely turned out to be a keeper. It will be a most welcomed addition to my general, CAMILLUS, pocket knife accumulation. It is a KENT, two blades, one tang stamp, 3 3/8" closed, a long blade pull, two springs, pocket knife. The main blade front tang stamp says, "KENT (over) N.Y. CITY (over) U.S.A." The main blade has a CRISP half stop, a GOOD opening snap and a GOOD closing snap. The secondary blade has a CRISP half stop, a GOOD opening snap and a GOOD closing snap. Overall, this pocket knife is in VERY GOOD condition. I gave it a VERY minor cleaning. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

That is a very excellent looking knife sir. What would be the approximate age of it?

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 12:06 pm That.....

Thank you, David.
As far as age, per GOINS'.....

Questions for the holders of lore here. I picked up a fantastic 'coffin bolster' 4-line I had never seen before, that led to questions about its provenance. This led to a rabbit hole about the 'other brands,' after reading orvet's very interesting post about a display on Camillus "coffin bolster" knives at the 2016 OKCA show. This led to the questions I pose here below

Some relevant background - my interest in Camillus stems from growing up down the pike from them, in South Onondaga/Onondaga Hill NY. I collect certain Camillus knives that catch my eye. My preferences are largely 1. utilitarian, i.e. I actually use them, and 2. aesthetic, i.e. I don't like the final post '89 stamp they used so don't collect any of those if I can help it, lol. In other words there's no completist logic operating here, and I'm only interested in knives made where I'm from. This bears on my questions.


First: that pdf linked in the first post on this thread with the big list of brands doesn't open for me. Is the link dead? If so, does anyone have access to the full list anywhere?

Second: is there a list of, or knowledge about, knives *exclusively* made in/by Camillus, or that provides clarity about which of the many other brands are
1. knives imported from Europe
2. knives manufactured to spec for outside brands/companies (e.g. Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Company) that were *also* made by many other suppliers, making it impossible to say for sure whether x or y knife was actually made by Camillus
3. Specific knives, like the Buck 301, that are known with certainty to have been made by Camillus in such-and-such a range of years?

Reason for the above being, it's becoming clear to me that many of the 'other' brands are Camillus knives in such a loose sense that for my purposes I don't think they can reasonably be considered as such. For example, the many Kastor import brands (Wadsworth? Morley?) that appear to be exclusively German-made, or the many domestic brands (e.g. Henry Sears & Son) that contracted out to many different knfe manufacturers, and so on. It appears that any brand associated with the Kastors, whose business dealings seem to have involved importing knives from Germany, Austria, and even the UK, is included here, given their ownership of Camillus. That makes sense on one level, as an interest in any knives associated with the company that owned Camillus. For someone who wants only to collect knives manufactured in his home town by people working at Camillus, however, this presents complications.


From what I understand, the following non-Camillus brands appear to be exclusively made by Camillus, in Camillus NY:

• Syracuse
  Fairmount
  Camco
  Federal
  Sta-Sharp
  Stainless Cutlery Co.
  Streamline
  Sears Roebuck (High-Carbon, Kwik Kut?)
  Cornwall Knife Co.
  Any & all "Sword Brand"
  *Some* Clover Brand, marked "Syracuse"
  *Some* Kastor, marked NY

These are Camillus-associated brands, made by many other possible manufacturers - are any exclusively Camillus (e.g. Kent?)

• Kent
  Hibbard, Spencer, and Bartlett / OVB
  Henry Sears & Son
  Shumate
  Van camp
  Curtin & Clark
  Keen Kutter
  Lipic
  Sears Roebuck (Craftsman & Dunlap?)
  Diamond Edge
  Mumbly Peg

These are Kastor imports and as far as I can tell, have little to no relation to Camillus NY. Am I mistaken?

• W.H. Morley
  W.M. Endersmer
  Germania
  J. Koster
  Most Clover-marked knives
  Most Kastor

I welcome corrections and any other light-shedding. Thanks!

Not too recently, this pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased. It now becomes my latest example to be posted under this topic or thread. I did NOT purchase the group or lot of pocket knives to obtain this particular pocket knife. It did get tossed into my box of “broken” pocket knives. I am posting this pocket knife because it can still be USED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. It is a KENT, two blades (main is broken), one tang stamp, 3 3/8" closed, two springs, pocket knife. The main blade stub, front tang stamp says, "KENT (over) N.Y. CITY (over) U.S.A." The main blade STUB does have a GOOD half stop. The main blade STUB does have a GOOD opening snap. The main blade STUB does have a GOOD closing snap. The secondary blade does have a GOOD half stop. The secondary blade does have a GOOD opening snap. The secondary blade does have a GOOD closing snap. Even with the broken main blade, this pocket knife is still in FAIR condition. This pocket knife did NOT need cleaning. I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is. This pocket knife is a CAMILLUS, “OTHER BRAND” pocket knife.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.