A nice experience at the 'Camillus Knife Show', and a Camillus/Western W49 Bowie knife score...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
3,989
I only live about six to eight miles away from downtown Camillus NY, (which was the home of Camillus Cutlery until it went out of business in 2007).
Anyhow, today they had a knife show there that I attended in order to peruse their wares. It's been held there during the past few years, and although it's a very small show, they do tend to have some very nice knives for sale.
One of the vendors, which I have purchased from before, is Wallace Rockwell, a gentleman that was an important figure at Camillus Cutlery when it was in business. He remains very much involved with knives, running a small knife shop in downtown Camillus, (right across the street from the building that remains of the defunct Camillus Cutlery company). He not only sells knives there, he offers knife sharpening services, and can repair pretty much any knife that one may want repairing done on. I have purchased knives from him at his shop, at the Camillus Knife Show, and at the local Gun Show that he also attends when it's in town.
So, this takes me to my purchase from him today, this new in the box Camillus Cutlery made 'Western' brand W49 Bowie Knife.
It's a knife I have wanted for a long time, but when the price was good, the knife condition was not... And, when the condition was good, the price was not.
In this case, the price and condition were both good, so I was able to take her home with a smile on my face! 😃
Although it is not marked with the steel type, Wallace did tell me that it's indeed a stainless steel version. I did a little bit of research, my finding out that the stainless steel used on this knife was 420HC.

It's a very nicely made knife, and like I mentioned above, it's in mint/unused condition 👍

Mr. Wallace Rockwell gave me a deal I could not refuse... $140 OTD!
That's more than just a fair price, it's actually quite the bargain. These knives in NIB condition tend to fetch quite a bit more money than that, so that made my buying experience at the show an extremely positive one! Of course there was also a lot of chatting about knives with the vendors, and that alone was worth my having gone there today... The Camillus/Western W49 Bowie was just the icing on the cake! 👍👍




 
Last edited:
Very Nice. 👍
Quite the Iconic Knife there.
Like a fool in the early years ( and still today I’m sure) I let go of a couple of the Early W49’s that were in very nice condition, I did have a few of these in the years after the early ones as well.
 
Invoice said:
What is the name of Mr Rockwell's store. Love to give him some business.
Neal
Click to expand...
Rock USA Cutlery
Camillus, New York 👍

Here's another knife that Mr. Rockwell sold to me a few years back. It was during one of the Gun Shows held at the NY State fairgrounds in Syracuse NY.
I have seen Mr. Rockwell there many times before, so it does seem that he makes that show one of his norms for setting up and selling knives.




I had paid him $200 OTD for this stiletto/dagger knife, which seems fair, since they don't come up for sale very often.
I believe what makes it most unique, is not it's limited run of 2000 pieces, but it's handle material, which is a solid pewter casting.

Mr. Rockwell is very knowledgeable about knives in general, but he's especially worth his weight in gold when it comes to his knowledge of Camillus Cutlery and it's products 👍
 
Last edited:
Campbellclanman said:
Very Nice. 👍
Quite the Iconic Knife there.
Like a fool in the early years ( and still today I’m sure) I let go of a couple of the Early W49’s that were in very nice condition, I did have a few of these in the years after the early ones as well.
Click to expand...
Thank you, sir! 😊

As to selling off some things that one later regrets doing, I totally feel you on that one.

I know this may seem odd to some folks, but I actually wanted to acquire the New York made Camillus Cutlery/Western W49 Bowie, over the earlier Western W49 made in Boulder Colorado.
I think it's because I really don't have too many Camillus Cutlery made knives, but am a fan of their products and of it's history. I personally like Camillus' execution of the W49, and find them appealing on their own merits.



The following video showcases a bit of info about Mr. Wallace Rockwell, (the gentleman that sold me the Camillus Western W49 Bowie knife). He gives some pretty cool insights about his time with Camillus Cutlery...


One thing is certainly sure, whether a knife was made by Western in Boulder Colorado, or by Camillus in Camillus New York, their objects are now a part of history. They were made by two iconic USA cutlery firms that went defunct. These knives can still be owned and kept for purposes of use and/or posterity, but will no longer be manufactured out of those once famous American knife factories.
 
Last edited:
My doing some digging into the Camillus Cutlery made W49 Bowie knives, I was able to find the following information about them...
The specifications of the “standard” Camillus produced W49 (post-1994'ish) were...

Camillus model number: WW49.
The extra "W" was only used by Camillus for their model inventory/catalog purposes, but the Ricasso was still stamped with just the one "W" in the model designation, W49.

Model name: Bowie

MSRP: $129.99 (in year 2005)

Blade: 420HC high carbon stainless steel, 57-58 Rc, (From 1991 to about 1994, they were making the blades out of carbon steel)

OAL: 14-7/8”

Blade Length: 9.5"
(I have seen them listed as being 8-7/8" long, but I believe that may be the cutting edge measurement, with the actual blade length being almost 9-1/2" long)

Laminated Rosewood handle, brass guard and rivets

The two line ricasso stamp, on the mark (left) side of the blade, is...

WESTERN
W49 U.S.A.

Camillus purchased the rights to Western in 1991, and owned them until Camillus went belly up in 2007.
They produced the W49 up until their last days.

 
Last edited:
Yeah- cool knife all right, in fact SUPER Cool!
I agree that Stiletto was a good price, hey PKJ, have you looked in the Camillus Catalogs,
1961 seems to be the first year on advertising of these for some reason..

Click on this my friend

scroll down to the first 1996 Catalogue and you will see a nice full paged photo followed by another page on the WW49.
 
Thanks! It's always pretty neat to see items in one' collection that are printed in the pages of vintage catalogs. And, with the real Camillus & Western firms now gone, it makes seeing those sorts of catalog pages even more fun to peruse through... thanks again! 👍😊👍
 


I was thinking yesterday about how my knife purchases at knife shows and gun shows have been some of my most satisfying purchasing experiences.
I mean, there is of course that instant gratification thing in it, but it's much more than that. I have gotten some pretty good deals at these types of shows, picking the knives up at great prices. Sometimes my doing a little bit of haggling with the sellers helps out with that outcome. Also, there is no costs in s&h, as well as my usually not having to pay the extra fee of taxes.
There's a lot of knife discussion that goes on at these events, and I truly enjoy partaking in them.

The biggest positive I've had from these in person purchases, has been with my being able to handle the knives and carefully inspect them. I have not been disappointed with these acquisitions... There's none of that "box of chocolates" scenario when one is able to look things over carefully before handing over the money to buy.

These shows are not done very often in my area, but when they are, they usually pan out nicely for me.
I only wish they were a little bit more commonly done here, so that I could attend such events more frequently.
 
Last edited:
Very nice Bowie and thanks for the story.
You are lucky to live in such close proximity!

Thanks for the pictures and congratulations on finding the right Western for your collection.

best

mqqn
 
I was doing some history searching online on the Platts family moving out West and starting up the Western knife company.
It's always quite cool learning how so many cutleries had ties to other cutlery firms and their families.
I guess even a book was written about the Platts family saga of their East Coast move out to the West, ('The Knife Makers Who Went West').

I then thought to myself how that westward move went full circle when the Camillus knife firm purchased what remained of them in 1991 and took the 'Western' brand back to it's Eastern Coast roots by landing in New York State. Of course the company's final breaths were not to be avoided, since Camillus went defunct in 2007.
Even so, at least Camillus was able to give the Western brand that one final run, one that roughly lasted about 16 years. Also, being that Camillus was no slouch in the cutlery world, they were able to get that last run by doing some justice to the brand, (again, Camillus was known for decent quality).
Some say Camillus brought back some of the quality that had diminished during the 'Coleman' ownership period of the Western brand.
Too bad Western and Camillus are now gone, (the real ones), but it surely doesn't stop us knife enthusiasts from appreciating any specimens we may see while we're out and about, or specimens we actually have in our own inventories 👍😊👍
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top