Camillus had the touch, when needed! R.I.P.

[waynorth]

Two useful groups.
Christian, I didn't know they made 'em for A.G.Russell, but of course, it makes perfect sense!!

 

[kamagong]

Two useful groups.
Christian, I didn't know they made 'em for A.G.Russell, but of course, it makes perfect sense!!

Neither did I Charlie. I discovered that little tidbit of information when I did some research on the knife. A.G. Russell called it a Texas Ranger Toothpick.

Here it is straight from the horse's mouth.

- Christian

 

[Phil Gibbs]

Yes, we were quite proud of that one at Camillus!
A.G. sold those fast, the stags are quite rare.
It is based on the Remington R1613 Fisherman frame with a little "adjusting".

I have always been keen on Toothpics, especially larger ones. :thumbup:

 

[waynorth]

Well Phil, you've had the last word long enough!
Time for another nice old Camillus!!

This is one of just a couple of knives I found at the recent Queen show.
A nice old English Jack, at approx. 4 3/8" long. Beautiful bone, and though cleaned, its character has not been erased. Please enjoy, and think of the good old days!

 

[Blues]

That's a great looking EJ, Charlie. Congrats on the find.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Well Phil, you've had the last word long enough!
Time for another nice old Camillus!!

This is one of just a couple of knives I found at the recent Queen show.
A nice old English Jack, at approx. 4 3/8" long. Beautiful bone, and though cleaned, its character has not been erased. Please enjoy, and think of the good old days!
View attachment 225495View attachment 225496View attachment 225497

Charlie, you found a beaut!! I wouldnt know what to do if I came across such a stunning knife like that....first I would buy it as fast as I could...in fact I would have to ask the seller to open my wallet for me as my
hands would be shaking to much , and I think you are bang on with the cleaning..thankfully the person
whom did the cleaning doesnt like shiny bling bling steel! ( why do people do this ) but to me the knife doesnt look cleaned.
edit:...I have just re-read this....Charlie, I should have made myself clearer.... the cleaning was subtle enough to not look
cleaned to me.

 

[Arathol]

I think you are bang on with the cleaning..thankfully the person
whom did the cleaning doesnt like shiny bling bling steel! ( why do people do this ) but to me the knife doesnt look cleaned

The hand jigged bone looks just fine, what you might expect on a WW1 vintage Camillus. The blades, especially the master blade, have been thoroughly buffed out. Look at the long pull on the larger blade. It should be deeper and more defined, and the lower half is nearly gone. The grind line on the swedge has also been buffed away leaving a rounded shoulder.

This ones on a smaller scale, but the nail pull has not been buffed out and is still square and sharp.

Notice the difference in the shape between the two-

The patina looks off also. Too even, with not a spot of oxidation. Most likely its a forced patina done after the buffing.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Hi Arathol, thank you for going to the trouble of showing me this :thumbup:

 

[waynorth]

Arathol, the blade has been cleaned as I said. It's an 1/16" - 1/8" short also.
Do you know if these had Saber grind blades? The spine is nearly as wide as the spring . . . .and there is little patina, forced or otherwise; just some spots of corrosion left.

 

[wagglebee]

Charlie, that English Jack looks great!

 

[Arathol]

there is little patina, forced or otherwise; just some spots of corrosion left.
View attachment 225502

Must be the lighting. I'm seeing the blades as being a medium gray all over, looks like an unnaturally even patina.

These are few and far between, but the couple I have seen had flat ground blades with a sharply defined swedge and matchstriker pull on the master blade. There was a similiar knife made that had a spine lock and a swing guard like the Case Cheetah, it used what appears to be the same blade. I think I've only seen 2 of those.
Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing a lot of saber ground blades from Camillus. I have a bone #21 peanut with a saber grind on the mark side, flat on the pile side, a #72 whittler with the same and another #72 saber ground on both sides. Everything else is flat ground on both sides.

 

[waynorth]

It's always good to hear it is a rare knife, even though it's missing more steel than I first thought. The blade outline still retains a nice appearance. The swedges are sharply defined.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Charlie, I havent forgotten about the photo's, time Sir is not my friend lately, I have a nice old 4 line stamped pruner, and the Easy opener to put up also a 4 liner, lets not get too excited though , neither compare to yours, but I think they rank high status in my house...I love these earlier knives so much, so I will post photos very soon.

 

[waynorth]

Been waitin' patiently for thos pix, Duncan!:yawn:

 

[silenthunterstudios]

They did indeed make some beautiful pieces. I had a few of the Cold Steel country cousins, and have some Camillus made Remingtons.

Knife World wrote an in depth article on the auction of Camillus (property rights, paraphernalia, knives, parts, tools, electronics etc) and it was hard to read.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Been waitin' patiently for thos pix, Duncan!:yawn:

Charlie, my apologies Sir for the delay, well I managed at the very end of today to take some snaps, please forgive the poor quality, as I ran out of light very quickly.
I have two knives to show you, one is the Easy Opener that I have talked to you about, and another that I also very much like, I bought off a fellow forum member here, its a great Hawkbill, and I have such a soft spot for these knives...here they are....
Here is the Easy opener, could I say a HUGE thank you to another forum member, and a guy who I would term a s a friend, festerfromenzed also lives here in New Zealand, and we have the odd catch up now and then, the next time we meet I'm slapping in his hands a beautiful fixed blade he has drooled over, and he actually gifted this E/O to me, so thank you Sean for this beautiful knife, I am extremely fond of this knife :thumbup:.
A four line Camullis, it has had sharpening as you can see, so the blade isnt 100% full, but good enough for me to be very happy with this lovely knife, the bone has such a great look to it, anf the pen blade has had its fair share of work as well
Charlie, I know this isnt an great example such as yours, but man...its a great knife all the same!
What year do you think?

Here is this Hawkbill, what a great knife!! is there any way we can find the year of manufacture to this?, this still has faintly the remaints of etching "Sword Brand" on the actual blade itself.
The handle is made from a wood that I cant decide of what wood, would this be Ebony?, it actually had a knot in the side of the handle, and the centre has finally given way and now gone. Lovely big Swedges :thumbup:...

 

[meako]

this is my first camillus.
3 blade boy
scout knife.
I have a strange feeling it may have had 4 blades at some stage -not sure.
it was rusty and totally grunged up.blunt as.
now sharp.
cheers

 

[waynorth]

Aha! Thanks for the pictures, Duncan! Nice pair of knives - your EO looks like it came out of the factory on the same day as mine!! Remarkably similar, except for wear. A generous gift, Fester!
Duncan, the nice thing about yours is you can use and carry it without devaluing it whatsoever!:thumbup:
I love those Hawkbills also - the handle looks like rosewood, and the knot gives it character, affirming its woodyness!! It belongs in the outdoors, in a gardener's hand!!
(How's that for a little knifely philosophy!?)

Nice scout, Meako! I had one of those, too many years ago to remember how many blades it had. . .

 

[Campbellclanman]

Thank you Charlie for having a look, as I said, nothing like yours, but I really like the knives, and you are bang on about not being scared to use the knife....with proper use, there should be a couple of generations get use out of this.... its a joy to carry for sure. There is something that is very hard to explain that you feel when you pull out of your front pocket a Easy opener like this that basically glows with its well suited age, in a lot of ways, it beats carrying a new knife.

 

[Peregrin]

Thanks for the memories guys. I live less then 10 miles from the old Camillus factory and pass it often on my way to toss a dry fly into Nine Mile Creek. I get a sad feeling everytime I pass by. It's a real shame that they had to close.