Gloomy field trip. Lots of pictures.

[TAGannon]

Entering the Village of Camillus

Kayak store and Stained Glass store next door
to old Camillus Cutlery factory just beyond it.

There it is, off in the distance. Let the depression begin.

Sad sight. Ivy growing on it. Not a good sign.

One of the front doors.

Definately not a good sign. No takers yet.

Close-up of Christmas Bells

Those must be curtains from when it was built.

Literally sits on a creek. See the steam vent?

Here is a close-up of the steam. Wonder why
there would be steam? Squatters?

There were lights on inside and I could see a
bathroom.

Other front door.

This is where I stood in the middle between the
two buildings, where delivery trucks would enter
and tried to take photos from left to right to show
big it is. Not sure what that thing going from
building to building is.

That driveway goes way the heck back there.

There were a couple of these posted around.

More lights on inside.

Couple of zoomed in pictures to see the empty
boxes.

Not sure who this guy is...

or this guy.

Story behind this sign is that it used to be very
similar to the signs a little lower. But, with the
exodus of the knife company, it did not make sense
to have a sign glorifying it.

Seems like the Highway Department did not
get the memo about the new sign.

Closer shot of it. Kinda cool.



While out on the job on Friday in Camillus, I thought I’d pop into the village and see what was happening with the old factory.

Years before, I had visited and walked through the joint. It was a beehive of activity and noise. Now it is a depressing, decaying, completely void of machinery building.

Weird part was there was light on in two of the buildings. No sign of life or activity though. In one shot you can see boxes that would have been used for one of the larger knives they made. Could not tell which model went in there.

It is a pretty big place. I tried to get an array that would show just how large it is. Sits right on a creek.
With the snow piled up six feet at the front door, it was depressing to think that the BK-2 was once made there. Now, it is silent.

A local said that someone had looked at the building and was talking about making it apartments. But, with all the industrial debris and all the stuff that would have to be gutted, it would cost less to raze it and start over.

Just thought I’d share my little self-imposed depressing field trip with you.
Being from Upstate, NY, we have lots of places like that. I live in the birthplace of IBM. Used to be 50,000 + employees. Now…zip.

 

[Bladite]

well, sad times. i wonder if they left anything of interest inside? mmm...

great bit of history. good for the archives...

 

[MikeyJ]

Sweet post! Kind of a sad story line though...too bad about that!

 

[Flexxx]

Damn looks like my Jr high school.....creepy

 

[Varg Lobos]

Looks like the steam is from a furnace, to keep the water pipes from freezing.

 

[CapitalizedLiving]

I live in the birthplace of IBM. Used to be 50,000 + employees. Now…zip.

IBM... man they sure knew how to destroy value. Sadly there are still dinosaurs around... but there is still hope that they will die off soon.

 

[riz_aaroni]

Great story and pics. Definitely a sad sight. Seems to be the case with a ton of cities. Take a look at photos from the beginning of the 20th century of any city and they'll look like a happening place.

 

[JUST1MOR]

TA, I just read an article in a back issue of Tactical Knives tonight regarding Camillus Knives & a little history of the company. That structure between the two buildings is probably a covered walk-way from the one angle, looks like a set of stairs going up into the back building. We have a few buildings around Cincinnati that were used in WWII for ammo production. It is down along one of the bike paths & you talk about eerie feelings when you get around some of the out buildings . . . Great shots of an American icon back in it's day, thanks for taking us along with you.
Be safe.

 

[FAL'ER]

You done good man. I'd never seen the place before. I really got caught up in the pics. If I didn't live 1500 miles away, I'd be tempted to take a peek inside.

 

[Liveitloud]

That is so profoundly sad to look at. It's like pieces of our American fabric are being torn away. Thanks for the photo's!!

 

[riversidedep]

Those knife boxes look a lot like the boxes many of my Cold Steels knives came in. Same color at least. If I recall correctly, the Cold Steel brand knives made with "Carbon V" steel were made by Camillus. The boxes are probably leftovers from some of these knives. Neat pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Ethan Becker]

Sad, so sad, so stupid......Strange way for me to start the day......What a waste......

Thanks for the pix and the post........

ethan

 

[Guyon]

well, sad times. i wonder if they left anything of interest inside? mmm...

I heard this rumor about a stash of Machaxes...

 

[TAGannon]

TA, I just read an article in a back issue of Tactical Knives tonight regarding Camillus Knives & a little history of the company. That structure between the two buildings is probably a covered walk-way from the one angle, looks like a set of stairs going up into the back building. We have a few buildings around Cincinnati that were used in WWII for ammo production. It is down along one of the bike paths & you talk about eerie feelings when you get around some of the out buildings . . . Great shots of an American icon back in it's day, thanks for taking us along with you.
Be safe.

There were two structures. One was large enough for a human to walk across. We have lots of those at the old IBM buildings. The other smaller one may be utility stuff or I was thinking some sort of conveyor system.

You done good man. I'd never seen the place before. I really got caught up in the pics. If I didn't live 1500 miles away, I'd be tempted to take a peek inside.

Well, if you do go, don't do it in the winter. Tough to get near the buildings and it is even that more depressing with the gray cloudy sky and snow.

Sad, so sad, so stupid......Strange way for me to start the day......What a waste......

Thanks for the pix and the post........

ethan

Sorry for the depressing start to your day. It was strange driving into the town. I swore I could hear the haunting echos of activity and productivity when I was walking around.

 

[Toooj]

All,

Sad story but as Ethan intimated...not unexpected.
TAG: Ed Hudack was an engineer, Dave Chapman was the Quality Manager.
There were two cross overs between the buildings. One was a normal walkway, the smaller one was a conveyor system used to move product from the hafting/walk-talk/repair room in the white building to the finishing/polishing/packing rooms on the other side.
Nine Mile creek literally butts up to the side of the white building. A great trout fishing creek. The Kayak shop is great if you are into kayaks.
Mixed feelings on Camillus Cutlery but it is what it is.
It was where I got my start in the knife business many years ago.
Maybe Phil Gibbs will chime in. He was there for probably 30 years and is probably the most knowledgeable of any of us.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives

 

[Toooj]

TAG,

Before I worked at Camillus Cutlery, I was in the electronics industry and did alot down in the Binghamton area with Big Blue. Very sad. New York state is a shell of what it used to be. Too many IBM/Camillus Cutlery type stories.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives

 

[RaizoT]

So what exactly happened? I know Camillus went out of business but can anyone fill in the details? If its not legal or proper to answer than I understand but what was the reason behind the collapse of the company?

 

[Quarter Tank]

So what exactly happened? I know Camillus went out of business but can anyone fill in the details? If its not legal or proper to answer than I understand but what was the reason behind the collapse of the company?

per wikipedia, although I'm sure there is more to the story than this...

Since the turn of the century, Camillus Cutlery saw its revenues decline due to stiff overseas competition and alleged poor management practices. As a result, employees implemented a four-day workweek after the normal factory shutdown at Christmas 2005. A few months later, Camillus’ management proposed large wage and benefit cuts. Workers didn’t agree and the company was subject to a months long strike. In response management locked the workers out for several months.[12][13] In November 2006, the striking employees ultimately accepted the original contract offer[14] but the company only retained 15 of the 78 union members and laid off the rest.

The lock out ultimately took its toll on Camillus as customers dried up and the company subsequently filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors on February 28, 2007.[15] On September 18, 2007, the product brand names and intellectual property of the company were acquired by Acme United Corporation in a bankruptcy auction for $200,000.[16]

 

[RaizoT]

Wow. Sad indeed. For some reason when I looked it up it didn't come up. Maybe they blocked it at my work?? At any rate something to learn from.

 

[DNK]

Wow. $200,000 for a 100 year old, iconic, American brand name plus the intellectual property. Did they get the tooling in that price too? If so, it seems like an even bigger steal. I read somewhere that all the machinery went to China? Anybody know if that's true?