Found a couple older military knives

Joe58

Joe58

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Nov 11, 2002
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My brother and I are still working getting our fathers house cleaned out since he passed away. I found these two in one of the drawers in his gun room. He wasn't much of a knife collector but had a few. I didn't know about these so I've no idea where he got them from or how long he's had them.

All the previous ones like these I've seen are the Camillus ones as one of these is. It's dated 1965 on the tang. I don't recall the little stud on the screwdriver tool though. US stamped on the scale.

The other says Western USA, but no date. Slightly different in manufacture. No stud on the screwdriver, the blade is more hollow ground where the Camillus is flat ground. And the awl is made differently too. And this one has USMC on the scale. Overall seems a bit nicer made. Larger pins as well.

Both appear unused. Anyway, nice old keepsakes that my kids will end up with hopefully much later down the road. :)

So if someone has a little history on these models, I'd appreciate it. Thanks guys! Joe



 
I have a couple, and never had a spring break. I like the flared blade, and I've used the other tools. The nubbin on your cap-lifter was to aid in field-stripping a weapon that's no longer in standard use, but I forget which one.
 
Very nice...I'm still searching for my issued knife from the 1960's, but in the mean time, you can buy a new made in the USA "Demo" knife from anywhere they sell Ontario knives...

 
I have a couple...they are good solid knives. :thumbup:

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Pretty sure the stud on the screw driver was to push the pins on a M16 to help in field stripping the weapon. I had several in the Army. The first one I had to buy on the Black Market in Saigon in 1965, as we could not get them issued and my issued TL-29 rusted if you looked at it wrong. That first "Demo" knife served me for the rest of my tour, then thru Ranger school and back to Vietnam, until I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. The next two or three had the springs break, but I saw a SAK being carried by a member of CCC (SOG) when they launched from my camp at Plei Djereng in 1971. I even sharpened his SAK for him, tried to trade for a SAK, but no luck, so I order a SAK from Corrado Cutlery in Chicago, and have had a SAK of one kind or another in my pocket just about every day since then. John
 
There was a run of a couple of year, that they did break springs pretty often. I don't know what years, but I remember when our supply sergeant could give them away because of the problem. The guys would rather have the TL-29 that was in stock rather than the ML-K. This was the laster Vietnam era, and I've seen older ones with all springs still intact.
 
I talked to Will Fennel, who had worked for Camillus and he said there was a problem in 68/69 with the springs, that is if I remember correctly. All the ones I had that broke, happened when I tried to open the blade, no other tools open at the same time. Wish I still had the first one that I bought from that old lady sitting on the sidewalk in Saigon. John
 
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