Camillus knife identification

It looks like a mishmash to me.

A MKI blade shortened with handle parts of a JPK in a JPK sheath. But the nut is too thin for a JPK, there is an extra collar below the nut and the washer at the guard is wrong.

If it’s original I’ve never seen another like it.
 
Interesting! On closer inspection, there’s regular faint perpendicular lines along the spine, and it is just slightly curved (C-shape when looked at side-on). It looks like someone ground down the saw teeth that were on some of these blades.
https://flic.kr/p/2pMMbLW
 
That makes sense. It is an early long blade Camillus JPK 1959- 1960 I believe? with the saw teeth missing. The handle is correct but the nut looks thin. The sheath looks short probably for a later short blade knife.

If the pommel is threaded it is a 1959. 1960 was peened. 1961 had the shorter blade.
 
It looks like an original 6inch bladed Air Force Survival Knife but with some mods. The pommel is strange though as it’s much thinner in the hex area than I have ever observed. Maybe with the saw back elimination, someone also removed some material from the pommel?
 
It's a standard Post WWII 6" Jet Pilots Survival Knife that's been heavily worked over, butt cap shortened, sawback removed, blade thinned / reground, etc....
 
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https://www.proxibid.com/lotinformation/56769556/vietnam-jet-pilot-usaf-camillus-6-survival-knife .

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There's an excellent 6" next to yours, you can see it all fall together.
 
eveled said:
That makes sense. It is an early long blade Camillus JPK 1959- 1960 I believe? with the saw teeth missing. The handle is correct but the nut looks thin. The sheath looks short probably for a later short blade knife.

If the pommel is threaded it is a 1959. 1960 was peened. 1961 had the shorter blade.
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Is there any way to tell what sort of pommel it has without trying to take it apart?
 
Looking at the pommel, I can see that is it not entirely level. It slopes from one side to the other, so it really does seem like someone thinned it down. No idea why, but I’m enjoying the community’s observations; learning lots!
 
Yup. It's a modified Camillus N.Y. 6" pilot survival knife. The first one had the screw on pommel 1957-58 or 59. Then the Camillus peened pommel 6" were made 1959-61. In 1962-66 the Camillus N.Y. 5" pilot survival knife were introduced, and made with the identical "CAMILLUS" over "N.Y." in bold lettering at the ricasso.

In 1967 Camillus Cutlery moved their stamp to the pommel and began dating the PSKs starting with 1967-1. The dating practice was on and off through the years and at one point the Camillus stamp was moved back to the ricasso. However, the Camillus stamp was no longer in bold lettering.

Based on the new stamp/lettering changes, the dates can also be approximately determined. So, your pilot survival knife was approximately manufactured from 1959 to 1961 and likely military issued during the Vietnam war.
 
Radagast said:
Is there any way to tell what sort of pommel it has without trying to take it apart?
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I don’t think so. The one picture you showed of the pommel looks like it’s welded? Maybe?

If it was threaded, it wouldn’t have needed to be welded, if it was peened and he ground it off, it might have popped off and he welded it? Who knows. It doesn’t matter much in its altered state.

The modifications look old, it would be interesting to know when and who did it. I’m sure it’s all lost to time.
 
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