All About Pocket Knives

Can anyone give me any help/info on this Camillus Auto. The Guy I bought it from says that it is a Paratrooper's Knife. Any idea if this is true? That would make sense, as to the Rope Cutting Blade, but why is the Bail on the Top of the Knife? And why the Bright Red Scales? Any help such as Age, Model or Value would be Greatly Appreciated! Thanks in Advance! donjr

It is a paratrooper's knife. Bright orange for visibility. The bail is out of the way of the shroud cutting blade. Very important to get to the most important blade fast.

Thanks Wayne!! Any idea on Age and Value? Thanks! donjr

I think they were produced during Vietnam perhaps earlier. The quality of those whether they are made by Camillus, Schrade Walden or (the third company whose name escapes me at the moment), is really mediocre-at-best. Truthfully the quality is closer to abysmal. I have seen them sold for as few as $10 and for one that really works well, closer to $100. In my opinion as a knife, you can get a better $10 Chinese import then those. The tolerances were so bad that even new they often didn't work properly.

Your knife is an MC-1 parachute knife. They were issued to aircrews that were equipped with parachutes, not to paratroopers. They were first issued in 1958, and the oldest ones I've had were made by Schrade-Walden. The Schrades were generally the best quality. The Camillus knives were next in line, and the quality was not as consistent. The contractor Orvet couldn't remember was Logan-Smythe, and the best description of those is JUNK! I have a couple of the knives that were "removed from government service" by Vietnam vets. For more info simply google MC-1. Most of the prices I've seen in the past year or two vary around $75.00, or so.

Thanks V42.
Somebody told me there are three things that go when you start to get older; the first was your memory and I forget the other two.

I agree with your quality ranking also: Schrade Walden being the best, Camillus being number 2 and Logan-Smythe being the worst quality. Ironically one authority on switchblades told me the Logan-Smythe was the most valuable of the three because they were such poor quality that few of them survived and one that actually operates properly is rare enough to be worth two or three times what the others are.

Thanks for assisting my failing memory!

Thanks Dale and V42,
V42, you were spot on with your info! I would have never guessed, Parachute Knife. They way it is put together makes sense though! Seems to me that the Shroud Hook should be the Auto Blade! But anyway, Thanks for the Help! Dale, look forwad to seeing you at the OKCA Show on the 7th of Apr. Don

That's great Don, I'm looking forward to seeing you too. It seems like every year we get more and more folks from AAPK at the show.