Polished Air Force model?

K

KBeck

Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
19
Hello everyone, I recently picked up a Camillus Air Force dated 5-1984. The blade isn't parkerized, it's actually polished to a mirror shine. I was just wondering if these are common. Any help or comments are always appreciated.
 
Here I'll add a pic.
CamAF.jpg
 
I don't think those were a production item, I am sure Phil or Tom would know.
It appears to me that someone has bead blasted the blade and them polished the edge.

Just my $.02,
Dale
 
Actually they were a production version.
They were the civilian version of the knife & I think they were made from the 1960s thru the 1980s....
Tom, please correct me on the dates of production.
 
WoW, sure looks better than my regular one.

Been looking at the Cuda Arclite knives for a while and got one finally for $25.
 
Here are some pics from the catalog. I forgot the date but think about 1980 or a bit before. Sorry for the poor pics I did them in a hurry a while back.

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Camillus_Catalog_009.JPG
 
There were some other polished blade jet pilot knives, with no fullers, that end up on ebay once in a while. called 'platform knives'. Gave a nice, large area for all sorts of etchings.

Another take on the Jet Pilot

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Note in the catalog the polished blade is called the "Astronaunt-Jet Space Knife". Kind of a mouth full. The blackened blade is called the "Pilot Survival". I wonder if any astraonauts actually carried one.
 
Our first Astronauts carried whatever they pleased, and the most popular was a Randall. But NASA came to realize that the knives our space guys carried had to be just like everything else in the spacecraft (non toxic in case of fire) , or as much as possible, so the Case Astronaut Knife was developed. Easy enough to find a photo of it online. A very, very impressive knife. A few were sold to civilians, of course, still available on ebay. The national knife museum has a few nice commemoratives on display (at least back in june), with nice gold etching and stuff.
 
townsend said:
Our first Astronauts carried whatever they pleased, and the most popular was a Randall. But NASA came to realize that the knives our space guys carried had to be just like everything else in the spacecraft (non toxic in case of fire) , or as much as possible, so the Case Astronaut Knife was developed. Easy enough to find a photo of it online. A very, very impressive knife. A few were sold to civilians, of course, still available on ebay. The national knife museum has a few nice commemoratives on display (at least back in june), with nice gold etching and stuff.
Click to expand...


Interesting. I thought NASA or the military bought the Randalls. Do you think the Victorianox "Space Shuttle" has special handles?

I remember the Case Astronault knives when they came out. They were pricey at the time.

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IMG_13491.JPG
 
I have generally called these 'polished civilian' models. I have seen several different dates. They were sold in Camillus Display 'Modules' in lumber and hardware stores. I think they made them every few years for these markets. I have even seen one pre-67 blade marked, but never a 6 inch.
 
Camillus also made a special production run of a Pilot Survival knife with a polished blade and parkerized butt and guard for Westwind Productions in the 1980's. The polished blade was used so the knives could be etched with illustrations of Viet Nam era aircraft. After the knives were made at Camillus they were sent to Adrian Harris at Tennessee Knife Works (makers of Colonel Coon Knives) where the etching and packaging was completed. I believe that approximately 3,000 knives were made.

On one of the NASA space flights the crew carried a Camillus MC-1 Paratrooper's knife. I have copies of the NASA documents listing the knife some where in my records.

Tom Williams
 
KBeck said:
Hello everyone, I recently picked up a Camillus Air Force dated 5-1984. The blade isn't parkerized, it's actually polished to a mirror shine. I was just wondering if these are common. Any help or comments are always appreciated.
Click to expand...
FWIW, mine from the early '70's is Air Force issue and has a black blade where it isn't rusty. It was also made in Japan so I suppose it isn't a Camillus eather.
 
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