Flea market find.

Will Batayte

Will Batayte

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Jan 8, 2007
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So went to a flea market today and found this little Camillus boy scout 3 blade whittler. It was covered in rust, scales are shrunk, and the shield has fallen off. But what can I say, I liked it. So $5 and 80 through 600 grit sandpaper later here it is. I'll finish up with a polishing wheel tomorrow. I think I may make a new shield for it. Or replace the scales all together. A little research told me that it was produces in this configuration between 1947 and 1969. It's interesting to me to think of where this little knife has been. I wish I knew it's story.
 
The 72 is one of the more interesting models they made. Blade selection and frame shape of a whittler but set up like a stockman. Congrats on getting yours. Looks like it's still got a lot of cutting left to give.
 
That Camillus is one of the best knives going. It has that nice long clip blade, which is perfect for many food prep jobs. The coping blade, a must have on a knife and perfect for whittling and blister packs. And last but not least, the smaller clip for fruit and such. You found one of the quintessential pocket knives,coldblooded! And for $5 buck, what do you want an egg in your beer:D Enjoy
 
Yeah I really like it and refinishing/restoring old knives is a bit of a hobby for me. I like to take something that looks like junk and make it shine again. I've never dealt with shrunken scales before though. They are only 1-2mm short on each side leaving a tiny gap between the bolster and the scale. I was thinking about trying to re-scale it. Or what if I filled those little gaps with epoxy mixed with a color powder? It would give the effect of a small spacer. Think it would work out? For the shield I'm just gonna find some nice looking material and epoxy in a little inlay. Maybe mother of pearl or something.
 
I think either way that will make a great user. For the shield, some people use a shell casing of their choice. As for the scales, you can replace those fairly easily. If you don't want to take everything apart, you can just epoxy the new scales in place. I like to pin things through, but if you use a good epoxy, they should hold.
 
That's true, plus I could texture the underside of the scales creating "pins" of epoxy. I may do that. I have some amboyna burl left over from the handle of a carving knife I made that would look great on it.

At this point I've fully polished the metal parts of the knife anf sharpened her up. I re-peened the top bolster because there was a big gap in the back. It worked perfectly. Tightened up so there is no gap at all.
 
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