Camillus

peter78 · Feb 29, 2008

I have always like Camillus, they have a lot of traditional patterns, quality was good and prices were decent. I like them better than Scharde, not super, but a good knife. My boy scout knife was from them and I have a old military WWII knife from them. They used to make Remington knives for a long time. I know they had a strike a few years ago and it ended, but I have not seen anything new. Then looking at the new catalog at SMKW I saw this:

http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/e...t=&list=50&range=1&order=Default&SKU=CMBLGRAB

"After 113 years in business, Camillus Cutlery closed in February 2007. Shifting world markets, stiff competition in U.S. manufacturing and labor issues contributed to the close of a once leading manufacturer and international powerhouse of the industry."

I guess most of you already knew this, it is sad to see them go.

billym · Feb 29, 2008

Yes, sorry you did not know until now; bummer especially after Schrade...
But there still is Case, Queen and other US makers still in business.
Bill

Morablades · Mar 1, 2008

Keep your eyes open. You can still snag some good Camillus knives on ebay for some great prices.

siguy · Mar 1, 2008

it is a shame, especially with all of the great knives at good prices they were producing. its a shame to see something like that happen.

i guess we should just focus on supporting our american knife companies...

Pointshoot777 · Mar 1, 2008

Guess there aren't enough of us 'slippie knife knuts' out there in terms of the general buying public. Gotta have customers who like the traditionals and are willing to pay for the quality differences - versus just go with the cheapest price. Bet a lot of China made knives are sold out of Wal-mart to guys who just need something to cut with and really didn't read the fine print, and couldn't conceive of paying much more for a knife anyway. - - - On the other hand Victorinox makes tons of super quality knives that sell for bargain prices IMHO and Switzerland isn't the cheapest country to live in. So, price competition isn't the only issue - manufacturing & manufacturing expertise do count for something. - - -

timsclips · Mar 1, 2008

I have been buying examples of Camillus branded and Camillus made knives since I started collecting knives. I just received from an ebay auction a very nice Remington branded sheath knife made by Camillus, before that a R-1 upland bird slipjoint. A lot of nice knives still coming available on ebay, more will be available soon after the next Camillus factory auction. Some are not much more than Chinese made equivalent knives.

jackknife · Mar 1, 2008

Pointshoot777 said:
Guess there aren't enough of us 'slippie knife knuts' out there in terms of the general buying public. Gotta have customers who like the traditionals and are willing to pay for the quality differences - versus just go with the cheapest price. Bet a lot of China made knives are sold out of Wal-mart to guys who just need something to cut with and really didn't read the fine print, and couldn't conceive of paying much more for a knife anyway. - - - On the other hand Victorinox makes tons of super quality knives that sell for bargain prices IMHO and Switzerland isn't the cheapest country to live in. So, price competition isn't the only issue - manufacturing & manufacturing expertise do count for something. - - -

I saw an article a few years ago that delt with Victorinox production. The multitools from other companies were knocking the heck out of the sak sales, so Karl Elsner made a decission to take an unprecidented amount of the anual profit and buy all new CNC tooling of the latest and most high speed type. They spent a record sum well into millions, revamping thier production facilities to be more competitive on the market. The new equiptment let them make more sak's at a higher rate of speed without sacrafice of quality. It's a very tight market out there, and if you don't have the absolute latest machines, your going to loose.

American companies are very stingy about spending money to improve production if they can get by not doing so. When I saw photos of the old style machines being sold off after Schrade went under, it was depressing. Maybe it was the same with Camillus. I know that the compaany I worked for from 1980 to 1997 was the same. We had some worn mills, outdated lathes, and other machinery that needed to be scraped. I put in many requests from 1994 on, for new machine tools but was told it was not in the budget for that year. In 1997 they made the decission to move all production to Mexico and lay off everyone in the machine, sheet metal, welding, and PC shops. Over 200 people went out the door because they thought they had a cheaper way to be competitive without buying new machine tools. Farm it all out.

Apparently Karl Elsner is smarter than the American CEO's. Also the greed factor is not as strong when it's your family name on the front door. Maybe thats why both Victorinox and Opinel, both still family owned buisnesses, are still going strong more than a century since thier great grandaddy started the company.

shecky · Mar 2, 2008

siguy said:
it is a shame, especially with all of the great knives at good prices they were producing. its a shame to see something like that happen.

i guess we should just focus on supporting our american knife companies...

This is where I have no mercy. I have no interest in providing welfare to American knife manufacturers. If they want my business, they have to make something I want to buy. When I look back a dozen or so years at the lineup of the likes of Schrade and Camillus, I see nothing I want to spend money on. If a knife nut like me sees nothing worthwhile, there has to be at least something seriously wrong.

To make things worse, even the surviving US manufacturers of "traditional" patterns have not impressed me with either their wares or quality. Case gets the nod for some good working knives, even though the last one I bought was defective, as was it's replacement! I've seen some recent US made traditional patterns that were frankly just embarrassing. Queens that looked like they were hastily finished. Bear & Sons that looked like they came from Pakistan.

I expect good value for my money. But no doubt, making a sub $40 traditional knife in the US is a tough business to be in. If you can't work harder, you have to work smarter. Companies like Buck seem to be doing this, both in their US line and by importing. If you can't work smarter, you won't survive. And you shouldn't be expected to.