- Joined
- Sep 14, 2003
- Messages
- 2,556
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Is it official yet?
- Thread starter lrv
- Start date
Codger_64
Moderator
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 62,324
From the Syracuse Post Standard.
http://www.syracuse.com/business/upd...02.html#241025
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Camillus Cutlery to close for good Wednesday
Camillus Cutlery Co., the oldest maker of folding knives in the country, will shut its doors for good Wednesday, according to a union official who works at the company.
About 35 people are employed by the company, which has dwindled from 200 employees a decade ago and more than 400 in the 1970s.
Management employees were told of the closing Monday afternoon, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, which represents 16 employees at the plant. Westcott said managers told her the plant would close Wednesday.
The company was founded in 1876 in New York City by Adolph Kastor, who started by importing knives. In 1902, he acquired a small cutlery in the village of Camillus and began manufacturing knives there.
Camillus Cutlery weathered a six-month-long strike last year. Westcott said the company was crippled by competition from low-cost foreign manufacturers.
Staff writer Tim Knauss will have a full report in Wednesday's Post-Standard.
Codger
http://www.syracuse.com/business/upd...02.html#241025
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Camillus Cutlery to close for good Wednesday
Camillus Cutlery Co., the oldest maker of folding knives in the country, will shut its doors for good Wednesday, according to a union official who works at the company.
About 35 people are employed by the company, which has dwindled from 200 employees a decade ago and more than 400 in the 1970s.
Management employees were told of the closing Monday afternoon, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, which represents 16 employees at the plant. Westcott said managers told her the plant would close Wednesday.
The company was founded in 1876 in New York City by Adolph Kastor, who started by importing knives. In 1902, he acquired a small cutlery in the village of Camillus and began manufacturing knives there.
Camillus Cutlery weathered a six-month-long strike last year. Westcott said the company was crippled by competition from low-cost foreign manufacturers.
Staff writer Tim Knauss will have a full report in Wednesday's Post-Standard.
Codger
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
- Messages
- 310
Sadly, another one bites the dust.
ea42
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2006
- Messages
- 4,016
Well here's the Wednesday report from the Syracuse Post Standard :
From 1942 to 1945, Camillus Cutlery Co. made more than 15 million knives for U.S. soldiers. The company's 700 employees filled three shifts.
After the war, the cutlery thrived making Boy Scout knives, hunting knives and a variety of other blades.
But Camillus Cutlery has been decimated in recent years, the victim of tough competition from foreign manufacturers.
At the end of business today, the company will close, leaving its remaining three dozen employees without jobs, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, the union representing company workers.
"This place used to be an excellent place to work," said Westcott, who took her first job at the cutlery nearly 30 years ago. "It's very upsetting."
Westcott said she does not believe workers will receive a severance package. The managers and owners of the family-owned business declined to comment, according to a woman who answers the phones.
Camillus Cutlery is one of several knife manufacturers to succumb to foreign competition, said David Barrack, executive director of the American Edged Products Manufacturers Association. Several manufacturers have shut down or curtailed operations in recent years, including Imperial Schrade Corp., once the largest knife manufacturer in the world, which closed in 2004.
"It's really staggering the number of companies that have closed as a result of offshore competition and the rising cost of doing business here in the United States," Barrack said.
The cutlery trade group petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission during the 1980s for relief from low-priced imports but failed to persuade the commission to impose duties, Barrack said.
The original growth of Camillus Cutlery can be traced to such duties imposed during the 19th century.
Adolph Kastor, the German immigrant who built Camillus Cutlery into a name brand, started a New York City business in 1876 to import German-made knives. He sought a manufacturing operation only after tariffs imposed in 1897 made the blades too expensive to import, according to a company history.
In 1902, Kastor bought a 20-person cutlery in Camillus that had been founded by Charles Sherwood in 1894. Camillus Cutlery has always operated in the heart of the village, its buildings sprawled alongside Nine Mile Creek.
Mayor Ed Fletcher said he was shocked by news of the closing
"It's our image," he said. "We're known as Camillus Cutlery."
The village erected four road signs in 1999 that say, "Welcome to the village of Camillus, home of the world famous Camillus Cutlery."
Struggling with foreign competition, the business endured a bitter six-month-long strike in 2006. When the strike ended in November, the company hired back only 15 of the 78 workers who had gone out.
In the aftermath of the strike, employees assumed the end was near, said Bill Slate, 35, of Warners, who has worked at the plant for 15 years.
"We kind of knew," he said.
The federal government has made union employees of the company eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, because their jobs were lost to foreign competition. That gives them access to extended unemployment insurance, training and other benefits, Westcott said.
Sixteen of the roughly 35 employees are union members, Westcott said.
Westcott, whose only job has been at the cutlery, said there were more than 400 employees when she started as a 20-year-old in 1977. She spent her next-to-last day packing Boy Scout knives into boxes.
"Oh, kids," she said, "You just don't realize."
You can contact Staff Writer Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.
More From The Post-Standard | Subscribe To The Post-Standard
Camillus Cutlery's Era Comes to Close
My condolences and heartfelt best wishes to all former employees.
Eric
From 1942 to 1945, Camillus Cutlery Co. made more than 15 million knives for U.S. soldiers. The company's 700 employees filled three shifts.
After the war, the cutlery thrived making Boy Scout knives, hunting knives and a variety of other blades.
But Camillus Cutlery has been decimated in recent years, the victim of tough competition from foreign manufacturers.
At the end of business today, the company will close, leaving its remaining three dozen employees without jobs, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, the union representing company workers.
"This place used to be an excellent place to work," said Westcott, who took her first job at the cutlery nearly 30 years ago. "It's very upsetting."
Westcott said she does not believe workers will receive a severance package. The managers and owners of the family-owned business declined to comment, according to a woman who answers the phones.
Camillus Cutlery is one of several knife manufacturers to succumb to foreign competition, said David Barrack, executive director of the American Edged Products Manufacturers Association. Several manufacturers have shut down or curtailed operations in recent years, including Imperial Schrade Corp., once the largest knife manufacturer in the world, which closed in 2004.
"It's really staggering the number of companies that have closed as a result of offshore competition and the rising cost of doing business here in the United States," Barrack said.
The cutlery trade group petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission during the 1980s for relief from low-priced imports but failed to persuade the commission to impose duties, Barrack said.
The original growth of Camillus Cutlery can be traced to such duties imposed during the 19th century.
Adolph Kastor, the German immigrant who built Camillus Cutlery into a name brand, started a New York City business in 1876 to import German-made knives. He sought a manufacturing operation only after tariffs imposed in 1897 made the blades too expensive to import, according to a company history.
In 1902, Kastor bought a 20-person cutlery in Camillus that had been founded by Charles Sherwood in 1894. Camillus Cutlery has always operated in the heart of the village, its buildings sprawled alongside Nine Mile Creek.
Mayor Ed Fletcher said he was shocked by news of the closing
"It's our image," he said. "We're known as Camillus Cutlery."
The village erected four road signs in 1999 that say, "Welcome to the village of Camillus, home of the world famous Camillus Cutlery."
Struggling with foreign competition, the business endured a bitter six-month-long strike in 2006. When the strike ended in November, the company hired back only 15 of the 78 workers who had gone out.
In the aftermath of the strike, employees assumed the end was near, said Bill Slate, 35, of Warners, who has worked at the plant for 15 years.
"We kind of knew," he said.
The federal government has made union employees of the company eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, because their jobs were lost to foreign competition. That gives them access to extended unemployment insurance, training and other benefits, Westcott said.
Sixteen of the roughly 35 employees are union members, Westcott said.
Westcott, whose only job has been at the cutlery, said there were more than 400 employees when she started as a 20-year-old in 1977. She spent her next-to-last day packing Boy Scout knives into boxes.
"Oh, kids," she said, "You just don't realize."
You can contact Staff Writer Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.
More From The Post-Standard | Subscribe To The Post-Standard
Camillus Cutlery's Era Comes to Close
My condolences and heartfelt best wishes to all former employees.
Eric