Becker Scores!

Codger_64

Codger_64

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Mark one down for the good guys. It was just posted in the Camillus COllector's Forum that Ethan Becker attended the Camillus Factory auction today and was successful in recovering (buying) his rights to his name, designs and trademarks. No list was posted as to what was included in the portfolio, but we hope it was fairly complete. I also hope that Jerry Fisk, Phil Gibbs and Darryl Ralph will have equal success.

I expect Ethan Becker to present us with reissues of his previous patterns and some new ones. I don't think he has been sitting with his thumb up... in the air since February when the Camillus ship hit the sand. Keep your eyes open.

Arkansas bladesmith Jerry Fisk reported some time back that he was going to renew his knifemaking efforts with or without the Fisk portfolio being held by Camillus. Look for more outstanding work from that quarter as well.

Darryl Ralph... well, hit the old Camillus website and see what he is up to nowdays.

Codger
 
Great news. I hope Ethan can quickly find a suitable company to start making his designs again. Under Camilus the Becker line was easily the best bargain for such a great variety of field blades.
 
Thank's for the head's up Codger, time to start filling the piggy bank again i've been kicking myself for not picking up a bk-11 when I had the chance :thumbup:
 
MIKE MACINTOSH said:
Thank's for the head's up Codger, time to start filling the piggy bank again i've been kicking myself for not picking up a bk-11 when I had the chance :thumbup:
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me too, with respect to the brute. bk7 too, but once the scrapper 7 is released i won't care so much.
 
I'm glad to hear this news. I waited until it was too late to pick up some of his designs the first time around. Regardless of what company ends up making them, if they're still half the bargain they used to be I won't be making that same mistake a second time.
 
ejes said:
I heard today that is a possibility. It was hearsay from a dealer that seems to be an acquaintance, but do you know from some other source that it is a fact?
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Doug Ritter (Critter) said he was heading to Ka Bar in a post to the General Knife Discussion forum.
 
I hope they are made in America also. I heard some of the Kabar product line is made in Taiwan. My guess is that if Becker entered into an agreement with Kabar, he made sure that they would be made in America.
 
ejes said:
I heard today that is a possibility. It was hearsay from a dealer that seems to be an acquaintance, but do you know from some other source that it is a fact?
Click to expand...

I stood at the KaBar booth talking to Ethan himself at SHOT......he was at their booth the whole time. Plus check out Critter's post in the general discussion forum.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=499678

.."heading out for Olean NY..."
 
Good news. I love my BK7. I have put it thru hell and it preforms flawless.
 
Camillus brand to live on elsewhere

Connecticut firm wins closed cutlery company's name, other intellectual property.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
By Charley Hannagan Staff writer
A 140-year-old Connecticut company plans to resurrect the Camillus Cutlery brand.

Acme United Corp., based in Fairfield, Conn., paid $185,000 at auction Tuesday for Camillus Cutlery's intellectual property.

Acme plans to use the name "Camillus Cutlery Co.," the Web site, trademarks, brand names and patents to restart the company with knives made by another Upstate manufacturer, said Walter C. Johnsen, Acme's chairman and chief executive. He would not name the company.

Acme tried in February to buy Camillus Cutlery, but it got nowhere. "Nobody was responding to us," he said. "We were persistent in it."

Acme would like to rehire Camillus sales and marketing employees to begin rebuilding the brand, Johnsen said.

Acme makes and sells cutting, measuring and safety products to homes, offices, schools and industry.

Also at the auction, Tennessee knife designer Ethan Becker paid $1,000 to buy back his name. Becker had licensed his name and designs to Camillus, but the company did not pay him agreed-upon royalties, he said. Camillus Cutlery also claimed it had the rights to his name for perpetuity, Becker said.

"It made me quite irritated," he said.

Becker has worked out a deal with Ka-Bar Knives Inc., of Olean, to make and sell knives made with his designs.

Some of the tang stamps that were used to place Camillus Cutlery's mark on its products will remain in the village. Tom Williams, the company's historian, bought them.

The auction continues today, when Stampler Auctions places the company's knives on sale at 10 a.m. at the plant on Main Street.

Camillus Cutlery closed in February after 113 years in business in the village. Its lender, Brown Bark I of Texas, is holding the sale to repay the company's debt.

You can contact Charley Hannagan at 470-2161 or channagan@syracuse.com

This article from the Syracuse Post-Standard posted here by express permission of Charley Hannagan.

You can view the article online here:
http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/business-10/1190192387230130.xml&coll=1

Codger
 
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