Imperial Military Utility knife

Codger_64 said:
I am not a dedicated collector of this pattern, but have owned them as users, then picked up examples of them with my favorite makers stamps after I found out Camillus was not the only maker. I think even the civillian issues have date stamps, but I am not sure. And I think even they are made to Milspec, though they may have an odd scale stamp, other than U.S. . I have now seen examples back as far as a 1958 date, so I have no idea when they were first made. They have always been a great "bang-for-the-buck" knife, even if a bit larger than my EDC stockman. It will take treatment I wouldn't expect of my stockman.

This from a dedicated collector: "They were made by Camillus, Case, Imperial, Kingston, Queen, Schrade, Stevens, Ulster, Utica, Western, and probably some others I have not found yet. ......"

Codger
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Thanks Codger. I think the one I saw had USMC on the handle, if I remember correctly. I'll get back there within the next few days & see if it's still there. Would that make it a military version/issue if it does have USMC on it?
 
Don Luis said:
Interesting, I have two from 1997 (the commercial version marked USMC), one is stamped Camillus and the other one Western.
Luis
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Note here that Camillus owns Western.

Codger
 
I reprofiled the tip on the main blade of that one I picked up. It wasn't missing much so it was easyto get back to spear point. Sharpened up pretty nice too. It will make a good user. Checked with one of my buddies who was in service in the early '70's. He agreed with what Redshanks pointed out about not seeing them in active service. As he recalls it, they were supposed to be included in toolkits but would always be missing.
 
Mick57 said:
Thanks Codger. I think the one I saw had USMC on the handle, if I remember correctly. I'll get back there within the next few days & see if it's still there. Would that make it a military version/issue if it does have USMC on it?
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Mick, I am no expert on this knife but I have one that says USMC on the handle. It is a Camillus 1989. I bought it because it says USMC, though I never saw one like it while I was in the Marine Corps.

Somewhere I saw some info that the ones marked USMC were made for the civilian market, but I don't know how accurate that is.

Dale
 
orvet said:
Mick, I am no expert on this knife but I have one that says USMC on the handle. It is a Camillus 1989. I bought it because it says USMC, though I never saw one like it while I was in the Marine Corps.

Somewhere I saw some info that the ones marked USMC were made for the civilian market, but I don't know how accurate that is.

Dale
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Thanks Dale. I appreciate it. Codger's previous post does confirm that it is a civilian version.
 
Ask in the Camillus forum here? There are several other Military knife sites. You might get some more definate info there. Or from the Oregon Knife Collector's site. Those guys are good!
Codger
 
:foot: :foot: :foot: :foot:
Here is a piece by Ken Cook on the "Demo" knife.
Ken Cook said:
Regardless of what the user chooses to call them, Camillus simply calls these knives “Model Number 1760” for the “U.S.” marked model and “Model 1763” for the “USMC” version. The US Military, in its own unique and even less prosy style officially refers to this little gem as the “U.S. Military Knife (United States Government Spec MIL-K-818D” or less musically, the “Knife, Pocket NSN: 5110-00-162-2205.” Whether the term “Demo Knife” is accurate or not, I think it’s safe to say this was a knife desperately in need of a good nickname!
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http://www.donrearic.com/demoknife1.htm
An informative article!

Codger:foot:
 
Interesting article, but I think it might have the Swiss Army influence confused. While the US military knife might have been influenced in general layout by the swiss knife, if the dates are right the utility knife might also have influenced the switch by the swiss to all metal handles in the post World War II period. I believe prior to the early 1960's the swiss military knives had composition handles with bolsters at one end. Of course, it could be me who is confused.
 
Have been absent for some time, came across codgers post and a question came to mind.
Have one of these with a nick only on beer lifter, easier opener notch on back for awl. otherwise same as Codgers except mark is Q1986. Is that the Queen mark. Thanks,
Mossdancer
 
Here's one of mine, I believe I read somewhere that the one marked US, model 1760 is issued to all military branches while others marked USMC, USN, USAF are for the civilian market. I have also heard it referred to as "Demo knife" apparently because it was included in demolition kits, though it seems from Mr. Cook's article that it probably wasn't so.

Luis


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I went back to the gun shop yesterday & they still had the Camillus. It was dated 1971 with US on the handle, not USMC as I thought. It looked to be in decent shape but there was very little snap in the blade (or openers) & the blade had alot of side to side play in it. He was asking $40 for it, but he's flexible on his prices. I've never really paid too much attention to these knives. Are they plentiful & easy to come by? (at gun shows?)
 
Mick,

The Camillus are pretty easy to come by, but not necessarily in a 1971 vintage. Personally, I would not offer $20 for it as described. I think you can do better on ebay or keep looking around.

Just my .02

Glenn
 
I don't know about relative rarity values, but that 1964 one that I picked up was nine bucks.
 
They were being produced just after WWII (if not during) usually with serial numbers. Mil-spec changed and they went to dates. Again it changed, and the lifter was gone. Sellers try to scalp buyers with anything they can claim to be "Vietnam era", often claiming that the item was "over there". Thus the premium on '63-'73 Mil-K knives. For a user example, get a later date...1980's - 1990's. Or snap one on eBay and take your chances. If you aren't a date collector of them, the later the date, the better condition they are likely to be in. And the "civillian" models are made of the same materials by the same people on the same machines, IMHO. $20 is tops I would pay for any of them in near mint condition. But I am a user, not a collector.
Codger
 
I have to agree with Codger, $20 is about tops in price that I would pay for one, especially a used one. Camillus has them on their web site at a MSRP of $25.95 now. I bought a new 1989 last summer for $19.

Dale
 
I found a photo of a black version, gotta love those black knives.

t6-032202WinCE.jpg
 
I have an old one, probaly world war 2 that was made by Imperial and has bone handles and a round shield with USMC marked on it.
 
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