CAMILLUS #72 Carpenter 1945-50 Just Sharing

AccuJohn

AccuJohn

Joined
May 24, 2010
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Found this little knife full of dirt in someone's box. I was surprised to see the Camillus tang stamp 1946-50 without a composite handle. The blades are about full, with fantastic snaps and everything (fit) is very tight. Sharp too. Love it.
 

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I need to hang out where you hang out. That's a knice one.
 
The 72 is a "must handle once in a lifetime" knife. It has all the right stuff and yours....Smokin ( in my best "The Mask" impersonation )
 
Really nice find :thumbup: Here's the Camillus BSA Whittler I won in r8shell's very generous giveaway a while back.

 
AccuJohn said:
Found this little knife full of dirt in someone's box. I was surprised to see the Camillus tang stamp 1946-50 without a composite handle. The blades are about full, with fantastic snaps and everything (fit) is very tight. Sharp too. Love it.
Click to expand...

You Sir are a lucky duck. That's a 1946 1st generation #72 with Rogers Bone handles. Nineteen forty-six was the first year they made the #72 Carpenter's & Whittler's knife (called a 55 inside the walls of the Camillus factory). Note the coping and pen secondary blades. In the spring of 1947 the pen blade was discontinued and the replacement small clip blade was moved to the bottom end with the coping blade moved up to pair with the main blade. It looks to be in excellent condition for a knife that's going to be 70 years old in a couple of years. Love it. Love it. Love it. Congratulations.
 
That's a really nice looking knife AccuJohn as is your knife Jack. Those knives are handy knives and ride in a pocket unnoticed.

Here's a Camillus #72Y (Yellow Jacket) Whittler that I bought in 1992. It's not a true whittler pattern as defined by whittler collectors but it is the name Camillus gave this knife in their Yellow Jacket line.

 
Prior to 1946, Camillus made a true split-spring whittler. It was 3-5/8" long closed and was a swell-center frame. That knife was discontinued during the WWII shutdown while they made knives for the military. In 1946 the #72 was introduced. The #72 was 3-5/8" long closed and was a swell-center frame. I think it's safe to assume the #72 took the place of the true whittler.

If you find a Camillus split-spring true whittler that you can prove was made post 1946 or a #72 you can prove was made pre-1946, I'll eat my words in the middle of main street at high noon.

Camillus named the new #72 pattern "Carpenter's and Whittler's knife". Note the full name. In my mind it's akin to GEC naming (one of) the #15 pattern(s) "Boy's Knife". They did not name it "Whittler", it was named "Carpenter's and Whittler's knife". Not to put too fine a point on it but I think there's a distinction there.

Sometime between the 1965 catalog and the 1972 catalog, Camillus changed the name of the #72 from "Carpenter's & Whittler's knife" to just plain "Whittler". The company named it "Whittler". What are you going to do, call it a "Muskrat"? (being completely ridiculous to make a point)

Using the knife book of definitions, is it a Whittler? NO! It isn't. But even though the blade configuration resembles a Stockman, IT'S NOT A STOCKMAN EITHER. A stockman has spey and sheepsfoot secondary blades. The #72 has a coping blade (for whittling) and small clip blade (for whittling) as secondary blades, so I'm willing to and do call it a Whittler.
 
Thanks for all the info! Why was it called a 55 interally? Also, did they do tge rogers bone after 1946 on this knife? I love it by the way ;)
 
It's not unusual for manufactured goods to have more than one number attached to them. Sometimes an internal manufacturing part number, a marketing number and a catalog number. In this case the 55 was the internal manufacturing number (according to Tom Williams) and the 72 was the catalog number.

Bone was used on the knives after 1946. In the catalogs handles were listed as "Staged" (bone) up through 1956. In the 1957 catalog the handles were listed as "Brownstag®" which is what I believe to be a synthetic that I've come to call "Rough Brown". I think the "Rough Brown" pre-dated Delrin® (factory completed 1960) by about ten or so years.
 
Thanks for the info, jerry. Here's one I found that doesn't have the typical looking Delrin. Is this what you mean by "Rough Brown"? I was concerned that it might be some kind of celluloid, as it has had some shrinkage.




Accujohn, that's a great find. Congratulations.
 
Sorry for all the questions jerry... but specifically "Rogers" bone: was that what Camillus always used or a special. Thank you again
 
Yes, that's what I have been calling "Rough Brown". Is it an accurate name for it? Probably not but you have to call it something and S Brown isn't appropriate.

I don't know if they used Rogers Bone exclusively but they used a lot of it. Tom Williams or Phil could probably give you more insight than I. You probably already know that Tom's mother worked at Camillus for many years so between the two of them, they're a store house of information.
 
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