The Other Army Knife

"...You never made it to the end of the review.
..."

guilty as charged! sorry, my bad...
i thought that i had read the pictures correctly the first time around!
 
It seems the backsprings can be fragile in these; the last one I bought off Ebay came with both broken. Although it was described in "great condition" it had no walk and no talk. I think it was sold by a consignment shop that broke the springs during photography. It was photographed twice with pairs of blades half-open. I'm still looking for a few of these in good condition with the years '62, '91 and '93 (myself and two sons).
 
beautiful pictures but i thought these had aluminum scales:confused: On mine it seems like its aluminum
ive never had any back spring issues perhaps ive just been lucky...
Anyway Great review:thumbup:
ivan
 
I've seen mostly the cammilus ones and the blade steel is pitiful. With boyscouts, I've seen many of these fail to hold an edge for even a day during a weekend camping trip. The steel in the screw driver and awl is also very soft. The swiss army knife is head and tails better.
 
brownshoe said:
I've seen mostly the cammilus ones and the blade steel is pitiful. With boyscouts, I've seen many of these fail to hold an edge for even a day during a weekend camping trip. The steel in the screw driver and awl is also very soft. The swiss army knife is head and tails better.
Click to expand...

mine seems to be holding up pretty well:thumbup: Mine is stamped 1980 maybe a good year
I have read about sooo many issues with these, i seem to be lucky:D:thumbup:
ivan
 
Buzz - we were issue those when I was in the USAF '81-'87. They are OK no frills tools. We also had them in our survival kits that were in our vehicles we used out in the field. Side note I worked in electronics so we go issued the Camillus electrician knives in black scales in our tool bags. Also decent tools.
I always carried a Victorinox SAK (Tinker or super Tinker) instead of these in actual duty though.
 
These were a component of every mechanic's toolbox in all the Army units I was assigned to – or commanded. Although a component tool in the box, it was rarely found in the box – usually found in the trooper's uniform pocket! They were not expensive and could be purchased at the clothing sales store.
 
In the movie, "The Departed", there is a scene in which Matt Damon's character(Colin) is going over the belongings of Martin Sheen's Character(Queenen) and you can catch a glimpse of an EOD knife.

Anyone else may have overlooked it as just miscellaneous "pocket junk", but the special powers of the a dedicated knife nut would have caught it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q-BrFqnyUk&feature=related

Check at 7:02
 
Watson-349 said:
In the movie, "The Departed", there is a scene in which Matt Damon's character(Colin) is going over the belongings of Martin Sheen's Character(Queenen) and you can catch a glimpse of an EOD knife.

Anyone else may have overlooked it as just miscellaneous "pocket junk", but the special powers of the a dedicated knife nut would have caught it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q-BrFqnyUk&feature=related

Check at 7:02
Click to expand...

Good catch!!!!!!
 
My grandpa gave me one a long time ago from his days in the Army. One of the backsprings broke, so I put it in storage. I'll have to look into getting a new one.
 
They were called "Demo" knives in Special Forces as they came in the Demo kits. I deployed from Okinawa in March 1965 to Vietnam with a TL-29 as I could not get issued a demo knife. One day in Saigon I saw a street vendor selling brand new demo knives, still in the paper wrapper. I kept that one until 1967, loaned it to a buddy and never got it back. The next three demo knives I got all ended up with the blade spring breaking, just opening the knife and the spring would snap. In 1971 I broke the third one and CCC was coming to launch out of our Camp at Plei Djereng and they had SAK's. I wrote to Corrado Cutlery and bought a SAK and have hade one ever since. In my collection I have a Queen made demo knife and last week in Tampa at the the Spec Ops Conference, Ontario had demo knives in their booth. I looked at one and it seemed OK.
 
I had one issued with my tools in the USAF. The design of the flat screwdriver would slam on the fingers until I threw it out the window. I never had another problem with it after that.
 
Great review, thanks. I think I just developed a sincere "need" for one of those.:cool:;)
 
I have 3 of those demo knives. It was my very first knife. I found it on the ground when I was 8 yrs old and a cub scout camp out and I hid it from my parents. It is dated 1967 made by Camillius. I still have it but the back spring is broke. I have 2 more that I bought in the last few yrs. One is dated 2001 and the other is 2002, both are new and both are Camillius. I keep them put up just for sentamental reasons. I dont carry them because like most I like the Victorinox knives better but it was still my first and so I love them. Ill treasure them untill I die i guess.
 
When I went through USAF survival training in 2006 we used them. They're also still an approved item in survival kits. There's just so many other tools they can put in there now (like leathermans) that they usually don't put them in.
 
Buzzbait said:
It is worth mentioning that this same style knife is still in production. There is a Schrade version, the SCAMP4, which looks nearly identical, other than the lack of can opener labeling and the Schrade lettering on the scales. This knife is manufactured by Taylor Cutlery and sells for very little cash. I don't own one personally, so I can't vouch for the quality of the knife...I hope that maybe somebody can chime in as to how well the Schrade and Ontario versions are crafted.
Click to expand...
I have a Camillus (1996) and a Schrade (1982). The old Schrade one has the "can opener" labeling, the same as the Camillus.

The awls on both have the concave/convex sides, but the Camillus is much less so, appearing flatter on both sides. The tips are both rounded but the grind to make the rounded point are quite different - probably up to whoever was running the grinder that day.

The Camillus main blade has a nice bevel and the Schrade is flat ground. The checkering on the Schrade's scales is a bit deeper and more pronounced. Overall fit and finish are very similar, as you would probably expect at this price point and considering what their intended use was.
 
you guys think this " demo" would make a suitable knife for a 9 y.o. in the boy scouts?? got a 96 cammilus. thanks. paul ( he might be 10 ) :confused:
 
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