Show Us Your Scouts

[Buzzbait]

Scouts have long been my favorite slipjoint pattern. My first knife was an Diamond Edge scout pattern, and I've been hooked on them ever since. Here are a few from my collection. Nothing especially exotic. Just good solid knives. A real test of a maker though. Tools that aren't normally made by a knife company, and you have to shoe horn a lot stuff between those scales. There are some very precise bends required. Best of all, nobody collects scout patterns other than Boy Scout official knives. So you can get many of them for dirt cheap.

Here's a real beauty. This is an almost mint Craftsman scout knife, made by Ulster. It had a can of paint spilled on it at some paint, and the paint dried. It took hours to get the paint loosened up and removed. I had to use a toothpick to clean every little jig in the Delrin handle. You can still see some paint in the tang stamp. This knife came with the original Craftsman box and the nifty little Ulster belt hanger. Other than a few patina spots, this knife is cherry.

The awl on this model is VERY basic. It's pretty much just a semi-sharp pokey thing. It's just a tad smaller and lighter than your basic Camillus 99.

This next knife is an Imperial Scout. This is a big old bruiser. Larger and heavier than a Camillus 99. There is nothing elegant about this knife. The way that the can opener and bottle opener are crimped and bent, it looks like a mad scientist designed this knife. Yet it's tough enough to survive a nuclear holocaust. This knife has no awl. Instead is has a second smaller blade. I haven't had time to give this knife a thorough cleaning and sharpening yet. The Imperial has no shield on the Delrin handles.

 

[RescueRiley]

nice blades...Man... Vic farmer, and soldier, are the closest I've gotten to a scout pattern,

 

[Buzzbait]

Here's a Western Scout knife, made by Camillus. This knife was in pretty bad shape when I got it. It looked like there had been a chip in the base of the blade edge, and a moron had tried to fix it. It took me a while to grind out the "fix". The fluting on the bolsters was very badly done. I had a take a file are "reflute" them. The Camillus made Westerns have some of the best looking jigged Delrin that you'll find. The long nail nicks of the Western are a god send.

Every scout collection should have at least one BSA knife. This one is an Ulster. Very similar to a Craftsman 9549, but with different Delrin scales and shield. The nail nick of the main blade was badly stamped, making the blade very hard to open.

 

[Buzzbait]

nice blades...Man... Vic farmer, and soldier, are the closest I've gotten to a scout pattern,

That's quite okay. From a standpoint of pure functionality, the Farmer and Soldier are much better knives than any traditional scout pattern I've ever handled. Better fit and finish. Better walk and talk. Fewer sharp edges. Less blade rubbing. More useful can opener. And the wood saw of the Farmer is amazing. I love scout patterns, but I usually carry a Swiss Army Knife.

 

[Blues]

Closest thing I have to a true scout pattern (besides the Vic Farmer) is this great WWII vintage Imperial (U.S. Navy Issue) which I recently won in a giveaway from ToddA:

 

[Buzzbait]

That's a gorgeous old knife. I'll dig around my collection this week, and see if I can snap some pics of my bone handled scouts.

 

[Mike Robuck]

I like that Western.

I wish this Henckels was in half as good of shape as Buzzbait's.

 

[Todd A]

I have but two left in my collection, a post-war Camillus and a WWII vintage Kingston MLK.

Here is the Camillus..(don't have a pic handy of the Kingston)

And a few that I picked up that reside in my son's collection, (Nick A is too young to join this site. But he has a decent collection of about 50+ knives. Mostly slipjoints.:thumbup: )

Two BSA's (he is now a Webelo)

Imperial five blade

Ulster

And a Camco

And of course a Imperial Kamp King

 

[Todd A]

I don't think Blues will mind.

A shot of the other side of his Imperial.

And one showing the wartime switch to steel liners..

 

[Blues]

Thanks, Todd!

 

[YayILikePie]

Closest thing to a Scout pattern that I have is a Victorinox Spartan, but over the weekend, I hit up a flea market and perused the area looking for anything sharp or serviceable. There were a lot of Chinese throwaways, but a couple little gems here and there. I came upon an old Kamp King that I wanted to take home, but it was so rusted shut that I couldn't even work it open. Just wanted to take it home, spray it down with some WD-40, and scrub away the rust, but it just looked like it was past that point. Real shame.

 

[fasteddie]

Great looking knives guys. Has anyone ever seen a custom scout? I sure havent. BTW, boy scouts dont carry scout knives anymore, and I doubt most could identify the can or bottle openers.

 

[Will Power]

I like that Western.

I wish this Henckels was in half as good of shape as Buzzbait's.

Fine scales on that Henckels:thumbup:

Any idea of the age? looks in good shape to me though.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I have a nice old Imperial MOTS one that I'll try to post up when I get home from work.

 

[mmarkh]

Here's mine. An A.G. Russell Premium Scout knife. It has stag handles and a main blade of 154CM.

 

[Sword and Shield]

Great looking knives guys. Has anyone ever seen a custom scout? I sure havent. BTW, boy scouts dont carry scout knives anymore, and I doubt most could identify the can or bottle openers.

I'll challenge that. The Scout Council here can barely keep knives in stock.

 

[Mike Robuck]

Willgoy, 1900s to 1930s on the Henckels. It might be earlier based on the tang stamp. Everything works, just need to wipe it down a little.

AG Russell sure has had some great scout knives over the years.

 

[Buzzbait]

Great looking knives guys. Has anyone ever seen a custom scout? I sure havent.

Nope, and I'm not sure if I ever will. Making a custom trapper or stockman is one thing. But making a 4-tool knife is another. Imagine trying to make your first can opener. Most custom makers probably have a lifetime of knife experience, but very little professional can opening experience. A good awl/reamer would be quite a challenge also. How about your first bail? And there's all of that bending of the tools, to get them to fit properly.

And after all that, it gets compared to the fit of a Victorinox. Vic fit is so darned good, the $25.00 Soldier may have better fit than your new $550.00 custom.

I would personally love to see a good custom maker take on the challenge of a scout knife. But there are so many things stacked against the maker, it would definitely be a money losing opportunity for them, unless they were going to make several of them.

Lets face it. The scout pattern is more than a knife. It's a pocket full of tools. You'd need to be more than a knife maker to design and create one. You'd need to be a custom tool maker.

 

[texasflyfisher]

Nice scouts y'all!

 

[Peter Parker]

That NM is some rough and beautiful country! I hope to go back someday! Here's the only remaining regular scout I have made by Camillius. If I carry a scout style knife it usually says Victorinox on it.