Camco? Can anybody tell me about this?

Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
1,016
I just picked up a knife from eBay for $10, I wanted something inexpensive to carry at work in case I lost it. Can anyone tell me anything about this? I don’t even know what the scales are made of. I’m guessing by the discoloring of the blades they are carbon steel. The main blade just says Camco USA.
5E8967BB-1874-4D95-8D34-732FBF2CDB25.jpeg EE8DCFE9-F1CD-4DE3-A9DF-A45779598A2C.jpeg
 
Camco was the Budget Camillus.
Blades are 1095 carbon steel, exactly the same as the more expensive Camillus knives. (heat treat, edge angle, etc.)
Covers are celluloid.
Looks like it has some use left in the blades. Nice score. :)

Do yourself a favor. Don't store it with your other knives; especially in a closed space.
When (not "if") the covers start to outgas, it will affect/ruin any other knives (and anything else metal, stainless steel included, along with horn, antler, bone, ivory ....) in the area.
The outgas is an acid in a vapor/gaseous state. I forget which acid though.

Those covers don't look like they've started yet. (Not shrunk, warped, etc.) A lack of black tarnish/corrsion on the portion of the blades above the liners when the knife is closed, and no tarnish/corrosion on the bolsters and pins also indicate they are not outgassing at this time.

There is nothing you can do to prevent outgassing, or stop it once it begins, either.
Outgassing is just "part of the nature of the beast."

Some colors are more apt than others, some have gone a hundred years from new before starting, others have started with-in weeks of manufacture.
 
Back
Top