Camillus Boy Scout Knives

boyscoutinheritor said:
I recently inherited a knife collection that includes the BSA #1002. Has Boy Scout Oath on the back. It has the original paperwork in the box and I believe the number 6-81 may be the date of the pamphlet that tells about the knife, and others. This is No.1996 Scout Knife; No.1885 with blade, punch, and screwdriver is Cub Scout Knife, etc. So my guess is early 80's.
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BSA reused model numbers over the generations, so little can be concluded as to date from such numbers.
 
Camillus BSA Whittler #1047 Ivory Delrin Handle
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Anybody ever wonder why CubScouts knives didn't have can openers? Same thing with the USN knife. The USNMD knife had a can opener.

I guess they figured sailors and Cubs didn't cook their own meals?

I know when I was in Scouts, none of us would buy CubScouts blue knives. Knowing in a few quick years we'd be in BoyScouts.
 
Actually there were a lot of knives sold thru Navy Stores as personal purchase items that had can openers on them. Hard numbers are difficult to pin down, but between the different branches of service the number of pocket knives made available to service personal for purchase just in the years 44 and 45 number well over 1 million.
 
Camillus #BSA787 (BSA #1787) "On My Honor" - 1999
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Camillus #BSA830 (BSA #1830) "Guiding Hand" - 2000
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Vit_213 said:
Camillus BSA Whittler #1047 (60s)
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Beautiful example!

I joined a knife forum a few yrs back with the intention of getting some advice & repair on my original Whitler. I don't think it was this forum, as they have no record of me and so just I registered here.

Briefly on my provenance story; my mom begrudgingly bought me a Boy Scout Whitler about 1964 when I was in Cub Scouts. It was to whittle down a Soapbox Derby block of wood for a merit badge. After the race, I started to carry the knife in my pocket....I was 9. I was picking sap out of a tree with the main blade when it folded on my finger, nearly severing it....I still have the scar. I dropped the knife on the ground and assumed it was lost. Fast forward to the late 80's and as I was going through my dad's 'hardware' drawer, there it was all those yrs later unused. Rusty, I labored over all the blades and the handle case. It looked almost new. Not really thinking about 'value', I started carrying the knife in my pocket again.

Using it proved to be too much for the old knife and a spring broke. About this time I met a guy that claimed to be a 'knifemaker'. "No problem, I can fix it". So he returned the knife with the spring fixed BUT.....the rivets were the wrong material(copper looking) and there was only one spring rivet, not the other two for the handles as in the picture above. Also, he polished the one rivet down and buffed one of the handles clear down to the case. I guess in his mind, he was making the knife functional again for me, although I had told him it had great sentimental value.

What I didn't realize at the time is he had destroyed my original handles and robbed a pair from the newer Whitler that you could still buy(early 90's). I bought one too with the intention of robbing those handles to put back on mine(as he had done). Fortunately, I went no further with this project. Inside the case on the original, you can clearly see the evidence of more rivets originally. I can't get anyone interested in bringing the knife back to its original form and so I'm hunting for a knife from the same yrs as my original..... just keep the newer one I bought intact.

What I'm noticing is that the original stag handles shrink quite a bit over the decades. Yours is in exceptional condition!

Kevin
 
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Real1shepehrd said:
Beautiful example!

I joined a knife forum a few yrs back with the intention of getting some advice & repair on my original Whitler. I don't think it was this forum, as they have no record of me and so just I registered here.

Briefly on my provenance story; my mom begrudgingly bought me a Boy Scout Whitler about 1964 when I was in Cub Scouts. It was to whittle down a Soapbox Derby block of wood for a merit badge. After the race, I started to carry the knife in my pocket....I was 9. I was picking sap out of a tree with the main blade when it folded on my finger, nearly severing it....I still have the scar. I dropped the knife on the ground and assumed it was lost. Fast forward to the late 80's and as I was going through my dad's 'hardware' drawer, there it was all those yrs later unused. Rusty, I labored over all the blades and the handle case. It looked almost new. Not really thinking about 'value', I started carrying the knife in my pocket again.

Using it proved to be too much for the old knife and a spring broke. About this time I met a guy that claimed to be a 'knifemaker'. "No problem, I can fix it". So he returned the knife with the spring fixed BUT.....the rivets were the wrong material(copper looking) and there was only one spring rivet, not the other two for the handles as in the picture above. Also, he polished the one rivet down and buffed one of the handles clear down to the case. I guess in his mind, he was making the knife functional again for me, although I had told him it had great sentimental value.

What I didn't realize at the time is he had destroyed my original handles and robbed a pair from the newer Whitler that you could still buy(early 90's). I bought one too with the intention of robbing those handles to put back on mine(as he had done). Fortunately, I went no further with this project. Inside the case on the original, you can clearly see the evidence of more rivets originally. I can't get anyone interested in bringing the knife back to its original form and so I'm hunting for a knife from the same yrs as my original..... just keep the newer one I bought intact.

What I'm noticing is that the original stag handles shrink quite a bit over the decades. Yours is in exceptional condition!

Kevin
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Well it;s been a month since you posted but... I believe if you keep a well constructed search going on eBay, you will sooner or later find a knife like yours, but new in the box or slightly used.

Meanwhile, here is the 1965 Camillus catalog to enjoy!

 
Real1shepehrd said:
Beautiful example!

I joined a knife forum a few yrs back with the intention of getting some advice & repair on my original Whitler. I don't think it was this forum, as they have no record of me and so just I registered here.

Briefly on my provenance story; my mom begrudgingly bought me a Boy Scout Whitler about 1964 when I was in Cub Scouts. It was to whittle down a Soapbox Derby block of wood for a merit badge. After the race, I started to carry the knife in my pocket....I was 9. I was picking sap out of a tree with the main blade when it folded on my finger, nearly severing it....I still have the scar. I dropped the knife on the ground and assumed it was lost. Fast forward to the late 80's and as I was going through my dad's 'hardware' drawer, there it was all those yrs later unused. Rusty, I labored over all the blades and the handle case. It looked almost new. Not really thinking about 'value', I started carrying the knife in my pocket again.

Using it proved to be too much for the old knife and a spring broke. About this time I met a guy that claimed to be a 'knifemaker'. "No problem, I can fix it". So he returned the knife with the spring fixed BUT.....the rivets were the wrong material(copper looking) and there was only one spring rivet, not the other two for the handles as in the picture above. Also, he polished the one rivet down and buffed one of the handles clear down to the case. I guess in his mind, he was making the knife functional again for me, although I had told him it had great sentimental value.

What I didn't realize at the time is he had destroyed my original handles and robbed a pair from the newer Whitler that you could still buy(early 90's). I bought one too with the intention of robbing those handles to put back on mine(as he had done). Fortunately, I went no further with this project. Inside the case on the original, you can clearly see the evidence of more rivets originally. I can't get anyone interested in bringing the knife back to its original form and so I'm hunting for a knife from the same yrs as my original..... just keep the newer one I bought intact.

What I'm noticing is that the original stag handles shrink quite a bit over the decades. Yours is in exceptional condition!

Kevin
Click to expand...
Kevin, the first knife my Mom kbnew that I had was a BSA utility knife, although I later got what BSA called a "Whittler," and still have both.

Pinewood Derby was a very big deal in Cubbing, which had and has no Merit Badges. But I missed out by missing Cubbing, first joining as a Scout . Still, I was registered for fifty-one years, including twelve as the Woods Tools Curator of a Scout Museum.
 
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Codger_64 said:
Well it;s been a month since you posted but... I believe if you keep a well constructed search going on eBay, you will sooner or later find a knife like yours, but new in the box or slightly used.

Meanwhile, here is the 1965 Camillus catalog to enjoy!

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Actually, you were exactly correct. I waited until one came up on eBay about the same vintage. Slabs were pretty tight... the tiniest of shrinkage. Took a long time to polish....looks almost as nice as Vit's Whitler in Post #125.

Then a #1047 Whitler went through eBay shortly after that which was NIB from the 60's. Beautiful knife, but still some shrinkage on the slabs. I find that amazing....that even with non-use the slabs shrunk. Which led to a discussion about Delrin. Some 'experts' say that Whitler was Delrin, other say stag. Your '65 catalog says stag(I assume 'Brownstag')....I'm gonna assume that was correct for my '64 Whitler and the explanation for all the shrinkage I see on them for sale.

Don't know what the moral here is.....other than to make sure you understand what your "knifemaker" intends to do exactly. I still have my original #1047 Whitler......with the non-period slabs/rivets and over-buffed handle on one side. I'd like to have it fixed just because it's an original knife....but really, what's the difference if I found the same knife on eBay and it looks great now.?

Kevin
 
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Thomas Linton said:
Kevin, the first knife my Mom kbew I had was a BSA utility knife, akthough I later got what BSA called a "Whittler," and still have both.

Pinewood Derby was a very big deal in Cubbing, which had and has no Merit Badges. But I missed out by missing Cubbing, first joining as a Scout . Still, I was registered for fifty-one years, including twelve as the Woods Tools Curator of a Scout Museum.
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Good story. In my neck of the woods (St.Louis) as a boy, lots of the kids had dads that worked at McDonnel Douglas. And of course, they cheated, took over their projects, specially weighted the cars with their engineering background, and carved the cars to look like futuristic Lamborghinis (actually I bet there was no carving at all, just power sanding), with the paint jobs to match. Dirty deal....not even sure my car placed....which was made to look like a 40's racer. At least I followed the rules.......

Yes, Pinewood Derby was a HUGE deal and a lesson in how adults cheat for their children. I had two yrs into Cubbing but got intense migraines after each den meeting. My mom pulled the plug.....she didn't like to participate anyway. I thought about Boy Scouting but figured the migraine thing would haunt me there as well.

Kevin
 
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Pretty sure it wasn't Derlin now.....terms like 'Brownstag' and Foster Grant's Butadiene are being thrown around. The Camillus catalog for 1965 just says 'stag handles'.

Camillus used Derlin later on in the 70's for their Whitlers and handle shrinkage doesn't seem to be an issue.

Kevin
 
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