All About Pocket Knives

It could be wrong but my tang stamp reference shows that Camillus starting using that long under line tang stamp on that Camillus scout knife in 1960. A pre-1960 tang stamp would be the short under line wouldn't it?

Aimus

Ya' got me there. They had the BSA center at our Sears Store, and that's were we got all of our scouting stuff. I know my Dad was cheap, but I doubt he hunted down a Chinese counterfeitor in 1958 to save a buck on my scout knife! LOL. But you never know...

It has been in my possession ever since, I am the only user. Are there any more examples out there from that era to which we can compare?

Edit: BTW, by 1960 I was ten years old. I was not a scout then. I was already attracted to big noisy chrome things.

My reference could be wrong and not exact to the 1960 year date. Camillus was owned by the same man that owned Schrade, and with Schrade anything is possible. Maybe Camillus had a touch of that too. AAPK member Camco would know for sure as he was a Camillus employee.

Aimus

The short line stamp was used from 1946-50

A no line stamp was used from 1946-56.

As Aimus said the stamp with the full line was used from 1960-76.

This all according to Goins book.

Well what happened from 1956-60?

If Chico got his knife in 1958 then maybe, just maybe they started using that stamp starting in 1957.

Cutlery history is incomplete at best

Clearly, we have to find another 1958 Camillus Scout knife.

BTW, mine is a Cub Scout Knife. Were all of the Camillus canoe style knives made the same way?

Edit: I found one just like mine, and the ricasso stamp is the same.

http://collectiblepocketknives.net/vint ... cketknives

I think it will be hard to find a Camillus knife nailed down to the exact year it was made. Camillus, unlike Case 1970 and forward years knives, used tang stampes that marked era years, not an exact year.

Aimus

I wasn't interested in scout or camping knives at all until I was exposed to them here.
Also, Philco is partly to blame for his nice posts and pictures over time.
These are nice well made knives. So I recently got these three.

Top knife: Western, with the ugliest plastic handles I have ever seen. Unsharpened
Second: A very nice Ulster. Official Boy Scout knife. Etch on blade. Unsharpened.
Third: Used and sharpened 4 line Camillus.

Aimus Moses wrote:Camillus, unlike Case 1970 and forward years knives, used tang stampes that marked era years, not an exact year.

Well, that's not all together bad news.

I know I was eight years old. If the knife is a 1970, that means I am now only 49 years old. And as a younger man I will finally be able to understand computers and cell phones...

Nice knives Joe

Here is an old catalog cut from L.F. & C.

Here is an ad for a nice old Campfire Girls Knife, made by New York Knife.

As many of you know I have been a member of Oregon Knife Collectors Association for several years.
Bernard Levine is also a member. Bernard sends around the email reminders of our monthly meetings. It is his habit to send a picture or two that are knife related with his email.

This is the picture I got today with the reminder email.
I am posting it here with Bernard's permission for your enjoyment.

Wouldn't you like to find one of these?
They don't make them like this anymore.

Look at the price difference for MOP!

Dale

Those old catalog pages are great guys. Thanks for posting them.

Joe, those scouts are sooooo addictive. I started with two Boy Scout knives I picked up at a flea market a few years back and now I've got somewhere approaching 200 of the darned things. But they sure are fun to round up.

Nice finds by the way.

Phil

Don't know if the stamping history coincides with Official Scout knives or over-the-counter four blade scout/utilities, but the stainless handled U.S. military issue knives were dated every year from some point in the fifties until Camillus ceased making them. So, a dated 1958 issue knife might answer the above question. However, it is my understanding that the 1957,58,and 59 issue knives are the most difficult to acquire.
CNoyes

Scout knives-

Camp Knives-

Colonial, Imperial, Kutmaster, Camillus & Western (I think).

Beautiful scouts. .....The last one with the long pulls is a Western.

Thanks! Yeah, it also has a broken punch.

Thought it looked a bit short.....still looks like a nice clean knife though.

1967redrider wrote:Thanks! Yeah, it also has a broken punch.

That may be a design flaw.
I have one with the punch broken as well.
The other blades are good, but the punch is broken on the tip.

I've gathered up several scout knives in the past few years and the most common "injury" that I see on that design is the punch being broken. I've wondered why that was the case and the best answer I can come up with is purely speculative but I'll share it nonetheless. I think it's just too much temptation to use that punch as a prizing tool. A lot of knife blades get broken that way for sure and it just strikes me that very likely, the punch seems even more suitable for prizing than the spear blade. This leads to a lot of broken punches when using them as a mini pry bar proves too much force on the punch. If the punch was used as intended I doubt you'd see many of them getting broken. The same goes for knife blades.

Phil

I agree,Phil....that is the most common flaw that I also have seen on used scouts.

I concur.

I'm surprised anyone even uses the punch. Maybe they get misused; used like a screwdriver, pry bar, hoof pick, amateur dentistry tool, etc?

used like a screwdriver, pry bar, hoof pick, amateur dentistry tool, etc?

Thats exactly what we mean..

There is nothing more abused than pocketknives, unless it would be small motorcycles. JMHO

I use the screwdriver blade mostly on my knives when it comes to prying. Have not broken one yet...