Camillus Cutlery knife giveaway!

[Phil Gibbs]

How about this Craftsman, Phil? Did I get another Camillus or not?

I beleve so! :thumbup:

 

[Phil Gibbs]

Well I just got to play too. My knife collecting centers around knives used by U.S. military pilots from WW2 thru Vietnam. But not surprising I’ve managed to pickup a few items that fall outside that specific criteria. Here’s most of what I have from Camillus.

The one of the bottom is a folding machete used by air crews in survival situations such as getting themselves out of an aircraft that had a less than perfect landing. The two knifes on the top are 5 inch knifes supplied to Army Air Force and navy pilots. Records show that Camillus provided about 60,000 of these during WW2.

The two styles Camillus used to mark these knives.

More to follow,

Extremely good Sir!
I figure the Folding Machete would be useful moving thru the Jungle or Bush too. :thumbup:

Please share more with us.

 

[sac troop]

These are a couple of WW2 MK2’s commonly known as “Kabar’s”. I do believe that from WW2 until they stopped production Camillus made more of these knives than anyone else but I could be wrong. The blade marked knife is earlier production than the guard marked knife. They also made knives marked “U.S.M.C.” instead of USN but Marines did carry USN marked knives.

Addendum: According to knife expert Michael Silvey; “The earliest Mark 2’s were made by the Camillus Cutlery Co.” Take that KABAR!
There are a lot more military knives made by Camillus for our troops during WW2 these just happen to be the one's I have.

 

[sac troop]

Back to Pilots knives. At the end of WW2 a large folding knife with a 4” blade and a saw was issued to pilots up thru the Korean War. The Navy requested a new fixed blade knife with a 5” blade and in 1953 three companies including Camillus started providing these knives.
Below are two versions of the Camillus made MIL-k-8662(AER) knife a third version was found at the Camillus factory during the auction. That knife had a slightly different blade grind and no spacers (which are black on Camillus knives).

It should also be pointed out that the bottom knife is "sterile", no marking as to who or where the knife was made. As you can imagine sellers can come up with some very imaginative stories when they’re selling these knives.

 

[Trent Rock]

One thing is cool about this forum is we have Phil to help with all the Camillus questions!!!
Thanks for the contest and thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!:thumbup:

I like this knife because it is a CLASSIC
And the black leather handle is way cool

Here is my machete
Still looking for a guard

 

[edbeau]

Here are pictures of the knife I mentioned before. It isn't mine but it is for very sure odd.

 

[sac troop]

1957 and time for a new knife. the Jet Pilots Survival Knife “JPSK”, or MIL-K-8662-74-K-95-150. Developed for the Navy by the Marble Arms Corporation, Camillus ultimately won the rights to produce this knife which found it’s way into all branches of the U.S. Military including the U.S. Coast Guard. The fact that this knife has continued to be an issue item into the 21st century should speak for it’s self.
First issued with 6” blades the earliest knives (like the knife on the bottom) where made with screw on pommels. This was quickly changed to a peened pommel and remained that way thru the rest of production.

The knives were made with the 6” blades from 57 to 62. Due to many complaints of being stuck the blade length was shortened to 5”.

 

[sac troop]

After having the blade shorted to 5” the JPSK had one more big change in 1967 when the makers marks where moved from the name side of the blade to the pommel where it has remained to this day.

The knife in the middle is a curio where in January of 1967 Camillus started assembling JPSK’s with the marked pommel but still had some blades left over from the 1966 knife production. These double marked knives don’t show up that often.

 

[sac troop]

Back to 1957 and the rather young U.S.A.F. wanted a survival knife. In the long run many Air Force and Navy air-crewman ended up carrying both this and the JPSK at the same time. Known as the MC-1 in military terms it’s proper name would be MIL-K-25594 this knife remained in production until 1993.

 

[sac troop]

A couple more Camillus knives this time from the Vietnam era. On top is the Mark 2 Combat Knife. The Ox Blood brown coloring of the grip and sheath along with the blade marking; U.S., Camillus N.Y. are from the time frame of the early 60’s into 1974.
Below is an example of a MIL-K-818 utility knife. A knife developed under joint cooperation with all branches of the U.S. military (can you believe that?) during WW2. I believe that the first Camillus production of this knife was in 1958 and continued until the factory closed.

 

[Vit_213]

2 sac troop
If I'm not mistake, the MC-1 was produced until the close of Camillus (http://www.collectors-of-camillus.us/Catalogs/2006 DEALER CATALOGs.pdf), and MIL-K knife started in 1949 (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=822151)

 

[sac troop]

Vit_213,
Thanks for the correction on Camillus's production of the MC-1. I was referring to that; "The final chapter on the MC-1 was written on June 15, 1993 when it was canceled by the United States Air Force without replacement." (From article in Knife World October 1997 by Frank Trzaska). You can see how I may have wrongly assumed that that event ended the MC-1. My bad:foot:

Regarding the other knife it becomes a question as to "what do we call a horse"
If we try and assign just MIL-K to the knife we have the problem that the Military starts out all their knife descriptions with those letters.

If we are just looking at U.S. Military issued "All Metal, general purpose Utility knives". Well these knives pre-date the MIL-K designation.

Knives that look like the Camillus made knife that I posted earlier appear as early as 1944 with names on them like "Kingston, and Stevenson-45).

In 1948 the designation of MIL-(J)-818 is assigned to knives of this type. At that time the Navy used J for "Jackknife". That nomenclature was later changed to K for "knife" (I'm not sure of the date) your 1949 date maybe right for the (K).

In 1958 MIL-K-818A (revision A) appears. I believe this is the first version of this type knife that Camillus produces and continues to produce these knives in their future revisions until the factory closes.

 

[Vit_213]

sac troop
My English is very bad, but hope that understood you correctly ...
There's Tom Williams said that Camillus made ​​his first MIL-K in 1949.
What are the differences between MIL-(J) -818 (1948) and MIL-K-818A (1958)?

 

[sac troop]

sac troop
My English is very bad, but hope that understood you correctly ...
There's Tom Williams said that Camillus made ​​his first MIL-K in 1949.
What are the differences between MIL-(J) -818 (1948) and MIL-K-818A (1958)?

From what I understand Camillus did make prototype knives as early as 1949. But production of knives for the military and commercial distribution didn't start until 1958. That information came from Dennis Ellington who I believe is a friend of Tom's. By the way my Russian is hopeless.

 

[Shepherd Jim]

This is very possibly my overall favorite knife -- it is unique as both a Camillus AND a W.R. Case product. It was made by Camillus for Case as a "Special Factory Order" (SFO) for Smoky Mtn Knife Works -- tang stamp IDs it as 2003.

From the case standpoint: After 1965 the pattern 46 "Spike Knife" was never handled with anything other than either jigged red/brown bone or Delrin. ALL the Case riggers were made by Camillus.

From the Camillus side: The flat handled 695 and 696's ALWAYS had BLACK Delrin handles.

 

[thawk]

There was a lot of Capacity sharing over the years.
Some times they shipped us parts to assemble & some times we made or processed parts for them!

This is some of the most interesting part of collecting Schrade, Camillus, Imperial, and Ulster knives. I can spot Camillus blades on all of these branded knives, and sometimes see Craftsman knives that look like they could be any one of the four makers.

 

[CAMCO]

Camillus began manufacturing the stainless steel 4 blade utility knife (#5693 pattern) in 1949. I located the original records and they show that this knife was made to U.S. Army specification "17-170A". Drawing 2-9-62 was referenced on the card. 1949 was the first time that this knife was made and the year was stamped on the blade. These knives are very rare and I have only seen two or three in the last 30+ years.

Tom Williams

 

[sac troop]

Camillus began manufacturing the stainless steel 4 blade utility knife (#5693 pattern) in 1949. I located the original records and they show that this knife was made to U.S. Army specification "17-170A". Drawing 2-9-62 was referenced on the card. 1949 was the first time that this knife was made and the year was stamped on the blade. These knives are very rare and I have only seen two or three in the last 30+ years.

Tom Williams

Thanks Tom

 

[Shepherd Jim]

Camillus began manufacturing the stainless steel 4 blade utility knife (#5693 pattern) in 1949. I located the original records and they show that this knife was made to U.S. Army specification "17-170A". Drawing 2-9-62 was referenced on the card. 1949 was the first time that this knife was made and the year was stamped on the blade. ...<snip>

Tom,

Can you discuss the difference between Pattern Nos. and Model Nos. in the day-to-day thinking/dialogue at Camillus?

Here's some of another reference I found discussing these military utility knives:

Regardless of what the user chooses to call them, Camillus simply calls these knives “Model Number 1760” for the “U.S.” marked model and “Model 1763” for the “USMC” version. The US Military, in its own unique and even less prosy style officially refers to this little gem as the “U.S. Military Knife (United States Government Spec MIL-K-818D” or less musically, the “Knife, Pocket NSN: 5110-00-162-2205.”​

I clipped the above from http://www.donrearic.com/demoknife1.htm

 

[sac troop]

Maybe we should think about starting a new thread on this subject? I think we&#8217;re hijacking this one from Phil. I personally want to see more pictures here.