Camillus Pruner Hawkbill

[marty123]

Today I bought a Camillus Pruner #1 folder, and I'm impressed.

The Camillus Pruner has a locking, pruning hawkbill blade. The full flat-ground blade is 3" long, the handle 4". The blade steel is stainless, probably 440A. The lock is the old-style split brass liner type, sort of a version of the modern liner-lock. The handle scales on the regular version of the Pruner are brown delrin made to look like bone or stag. My scales are Channellock blue, because my knife is a Channellock version of the Pruner, though clearly marked as being made by Camillus. (Channellock is a tool company perhaps best known for their pliers with their Channellock-blue vinyl grips.) At the rear of the handle is a metal ring made for clipping the knife to a clip. The handle scales swell out in thickness from front to rear, with the handle going from 1/2" thick in the front to 7/8" at the rear. Some internet stores carry the Pruner, list $20, selling $13 and up. I bought mine in a store for CAN$21 (approx US$13.50).

The fit and finish on my knife is very good. The blade locks up well and passes medium spine-whack.

I'll probably make some changes to my knife. I'll grind down the spine in front to reshape the blade into more of the regular hawkbill that I'm used to, such as the Spyderco Merlin or Harpy. And I'll also thin out the handle scales in the rear of the handle, using a rasp or a file on the delrin. And after doing that I'll probably buy another one or two of these Pruners to try some other modifications I have in mind.

I haven't cut much yet with my Pruner. It was pretty sharp as it came.

Like I said, I'm pretty impressed with my new toy. High quality and inexpensive, one of my favourite combinations. And that's it.

 

[marty123]

Oh yeah. Two other changes I'll make: I'll put on a do-it-yourself thumbstud for one-hand opening.
And I want the blade to fold more into the handle. This would make the knife a more compact carry. There's room in the handle for this. So I'll grind down the little protrusion on the bottom of the blade near the pivot, the one that stops the blade from folding into the handle any further, call it the "blade-stop".Grinding the blade-stop down will allow the blade to fold deeper into the handle. If I grind down the blade-stop far enough then the edge may press against the spine on the inside, as oppossed to the blade-stop, not particularly desirable but not terrible either.
Does this make sense? Does it matter?

 

[Gr8Scout]

As an electrician, I've used and Worked this knife for years, mostly for stripping cable. So many younger electricians have no idea about these things, all of them using just a cheap-o Stanley Razor knife. I've bought many of these and given them to those guys and made converts out of all of them. They are an impressive looking knife, and greatly useful.

A few years ago someone had Camillus make an issue of this knife with the blade etched: 'Offical Redneck', complete with stars and bars. I think a thousand were made, and I have a couple of them. Most were bought by folks who had no idea what a 'Pruner' was used for, they just liked the impressive big and bad knife.

Yes, Camillus makes the Channellock, and I think they make the Klein and Sears Pruners as well. I did try a Case Pruner for a while, just didn't 'cut it' compared to a Camillus.

A final note on Pruners, from Bernard Levine's guide: Most people don't collect Pruners as they don't feel these are very romantic knives, being made for Drywall, Electric, or Grove work.