Camillus Pilot Survival Knife

H

Hoodoo

Joined
Aug 18, 1999
Messages
2,355
Hey guys, check out Jeff Randall's common sense review of the Camillus Pilot Survival Knife and Camp Knife in the latest issue of Tactical Knives. In this day and age of high-tech hype and sky-high prices, it's nice to know you can "get the job done" with proven cutlery that's affordable. Need some dependable but affordable blades to stash away in your BOB, car trunk or tool box? Read Jeff's article.

Tactical Knives just seems to get better and better. This issue is loaded with all kinds of information. Check out Jeff's article "Going To Extremes." Another thumbs up for the Becker Brute! Is there a better big knife for the price?? Anthony Lombardo has a great article in there about shopping on the Internet. BTW Anthony, the best prices for Marbles knives are on the Internet.
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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 04-09-2001).]
 
Man, I hate hearing about the great articles in TK, when I still haven't gotten my copy yet. Then again, it "whets" the appetite, seeing what goodies are in store when it finally does get here. Had the same problem when everybody was talking about getting the latest issue of Cold Steel's catalog. Great knives in there, I just had to wait to see them. Postal gremlins is probably the only logical answer.

Oops, edited to day: I agree with the fact that less "sexy" knives can get the job done quite well. I have the Ontario version of the PSK, and it's a perfectly good field knife, despite the fact that most people on the web seem to bash it. Frankly, I just can't afford the "latest and greatest", but find that a $30.00 Mora 2000 does just about anything a 4-5 inch knife needs to do.

And TK IS getting better and better. Plus, I like the fact that Steven K. Dick is a fellow leftie, and lets you know when a design won't work for a south paw, or which models are available for lefties.

[This message has been edited by V Shrake (edited 04-09-2001).]
 
Thanks, HooDoo. It's good to know that my issue of TK will probably be here in the AM mail drop. I have received Blade, Knife Illustrated and Knife World, and was wondering WHERE'S MY TK. If it were not for you, I probably would not have gotten to it for awhile.

V Sharke, I have one of the Mora's and love it to death. My Mora has a painted red handle, no guard and a straight blade. I also have one of the Camillas Pilot Survival knives. I like it also. Much like HooDoo uses a screwdriver to dig out dead wood and forage in the earth ( a great idea ), I use my Pilot survival knife for similar tasks. I also use it occassionally to whitle sharp points on chop sticks taken home from oriental restaurants.

In the May 2000 issue of Tactical Knives, Page 68, Anthony Lombardo wrote an excellent article on the Brigade Quartermaster's Spec Plus Kukri, made exclusively for Brigade by Ontario Knives. Price: less than $50.00. I immediately called Bruce Bramlett at Brigade to discuss the tool in some detail. I bought one, sent my test results to Bruce and he was kind enough to send me the new " jump-qualified" kydex sheaths. This under $50.00 kukri cut 3-2x4"'s in under 35 strokes, sliced open a couple of cocanuts, cut tough rubber hoses, branches, hardwood poles and even my 6" Italian Sub sandwich. Resharpening was a breeze and I got the edge very close to Ontario's factory edge. Big knife, small cost, great performance. I would not hesitate to take it with me in any survival situation. I have since used it in the field and re-affirm my committment to this blade. If you want to discuss the blade with Bruce, his phone number is 1-800-338-4327.

A great source for compitive-priced Marble knives " off-the-internet " is Mr. Dave Shirley, owner of The Bowie Corp., 3518 Apple Valley Road, Okemos, Michigan 48864-3933. Phone: (517) 347-2547..Fax: (517) 347-8446. Dave is THE authorized distributor for Marble Knives and he sell them at retail for a very fair price to people like us ( non-knife dealers). He is a wonderful man, very knowledgeable and if he does not have it...hold on he will get it for you.

Whee...HooDoo, you are a great guy. You get me going and I don't know how to shut-up. At least I hope this helps...bye.

 
Can't wait to read about Jeff's experience with both knives -- he is one of the best out there to do REAL reviews of stuff, and write eloquently about it. Those are my two favorite Camillus's (You can probably tell I'm a fan of their knives -- they've held up when I needed them most). You already read my initial review of the brute, and I had this experience with my Camillus Pilot's knife a few years ago:

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My old Camillus Pilot's survival knife saved my butt when I accidentally slid down a glacier (also got about 7 rolls of slide film of the adventure). I used it to stab into the ice and guide myself around the crevices (some so deep you couldn't hear rocks hit bottom when they fell through) and then slow me down enough to prevent me from falling off a straight 2000 foot drop. I hit a bunch of boulders at the bottom, and both the knife and I went banging and rolling over them, still doing about 40 mph. I stopped about 7 feet short of the drop. If I hadn't used the knife to slow down me down, I would have certainly gone over the edge.
I then used it after the fall to sharpen and notch a piece of elk horn, and lash that to my walking stick for better traction when getting out. I had to climb back up the glacier and up about 800 feet of rock cliffs (free climb). The elk horn/walking stick was a sort of makeshift crutch, since I had chipped a bone in my hip from the fall and had to spend another two weeks walking out after the climb. It was trying and painful, believe me. The hip still aches when it rains.

The knife withstood huge amounts of lateral stress when I kept stabbing into the ice -- I weigh about 185, and my pack was about 60-70 lbs. My friends who were there guessed that I was travelling down the ice at about 40 mph. Add that up and you'll get an idea of the amount of stress the knife had to endure (not to mention my poor body, LOL). Ths knife isn't even bent slightly.

I still have and use that knife; it's almost 20 years old now (first fixed blade when I was a kid), and was about 15 years old when this happened. And I'd been using it hard for those fifteen years. It has quite a bit of sentimental value to me as you can imagine.
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Here's a pic of that knife:

View


And a pic of my Camillus collection:

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Left to Right: Arclite, Pilot's Survival Knife, USMC Fighting/Utility Knife, Becker Brute. Blade lengths of the bigger three are 5", 7" and 9.5" (can't remember the blade length of the arclite off the top of my head).

Peace,

Brian (off to find a copy of TK and read Jeff's stuff)



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Brian Jones
Co-moderator
Wilderness & Survival Skills Forum
 
Hey Brian,

Looks to me like we will be working the Becker line pretty hard during the two week June survival trip. I'm bringing up the Tac tool, the Brute, the camp knife, a little folding "Cuda" and the Arclite. I took the Brute and the tac tool out yesterday for a quick swing and some chopping on some Hawthorn and was very happy with the balance and function of the blades. I haven't had a chance to do any damage but my first impressions are that these are blades worth every bit of what folks pay for them.

The sheaths are first rate and clasp the blade tightly even without the handle strap. The handle material is a tough thermoplastic, glass filled polymer alloy that resists scratches. I learned that when I started to engrave the date the tool was put into use (I do this with all my blades).

The tools will be spread around the film crew so I know that they will see some heavy duty use. If my first impressions hold, I'll have a line of affordable blades we can recommend without reservation.

40 days and counting!

Ron

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Learn Life Extension at:

http://www.survival.com ]
 
Ron,

You should take a Camillus Patrol Machete too, now that they are out.

(Easy for me to say, I'm not carrying all that metal.)
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Don

[This message has been edited by Donald (edited 04-10-2001).]
 
Cooool, Ron!

Can't wait to play with the whole line. 40 days indeed -- counting down!

Don -- sh*t! Don't encourage him to take all that metal! Guess who's gonna hafta carry it?! Hint: not Ron.

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Exhausted just thinking about it,

Brian.


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Brian Jones
Co-moderator
Wilderness & Survival Skills Forum
 
I can't help it. I've been seized by chopping fever. Jeff's TK article pushed me over the line. Just ordered a Becker Brute! I hope my Mistress doesn't find out.
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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
HooDoo

Welcome to the potential "pain of discovery" blade freaks the world over share.

I'm a very fortunate man as Karen is as much a collector as I... of course that does lead to some interesting bargaining when we see a new blade we both want... "you got the last one" "Yeah but you took it"

Get a Brute... It's awesome.

Ron
 
just ordered a brute the other day, just to see what all the fuss is about, this knife thing can get expensive, i hope the bug doesen't bite me as hard as half the other guys on this forum.

alex
 
Sorry alex, you're already infected with the bug. Life as you know it will never be the same.
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And the more you play, the more you pay.
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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Several years ago I had an issue Pilot's Survival Knife and read an article about someone modifying a Kabar to be more practical. Basically what I did was drill the pommel for a lanyard, remove the top half of the guard and take a rasp to the handle and made it oval shaped. Then I made the bottom of the guard a little smaller and rounder and ground away enough of the edge so I could "choke up" on it and place my index finger over the guard. All in all it made a great little knife even better.

FWIW

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Hoah! (Its an Army thing!)
 
I read the same article years ago I think it was by Chuck Karwan and he called it the "Kar-bar". I wrote to him in care of Tactical Knives asking for a reprint of the instructions sometime but haven't seen a reply.

HooDoo- If your Mistress finds out you have been playing with another, the best thing to do would be buy them both a new sheath (in lieu of flowers) and call it even. By the way, has winter loosened its strangle hold on your neighborhood? Rainy but about 75 here.
 
JJ, my Mistress hasn't found out 'cause the Big Brute hasn't arrived yet. Only time will tell how these two titans will get along.
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According to the UPS shipping notification, the Brute is scheduled for delivery on the 18th. One of the nice things about dealing with Bayou Lafourche Knife Works is that you get a UPS shipping notification. That, and Roger's a heck of a nice guy AND his prices are excellent.

The weather up here has not been too bad. We've been in the 70s a couple times. We've had a little rain and some wind and even a funnel cloud or two but I hope spring is here to stay. They said SNOW today but the sun showed through the clouds a couple times today, bluebirds and robins are actively building their nests, flowers are blooming and trees are budding all over the place. I've been going over my backpacking gear with a fine toothed comb and planning a short hike in the Nordhouse dunes SOON, snow or no snow!

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 04-15-2001).]
 
HooDoo- Glad to hear you are out of the snow! The dunes sound like a great time.

Mr. Dick- Thanks for your reply. I await your publication.
 
Hey JJ, we had snow flurries today and the temps are dropping to freezing tonight. Gotta love this Michigan weather.
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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Stephen,

Great to see you in our little forum. Please join us whenever you can!

Best,

Brian.

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Brian Jones
Co-moderator
Wilderness & Survival Skills Forum
 
Why does everyone want to put a P in my name? I've never spelled it that way. For what it is worth, it is Steven Douglas, even thought the other one spelled it Stephen Douglas.
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