Let's see your Scout/Camp knives

Campbellclanman · Jan 15, 2018

Nice Fixed Blade Eisman! Gees that Sheath is in Nice Condition!

Delta- can you show us that Knife opened, and perhaps some Tang Stamps please Sir?

deltaboy · Jan 15, 2018

Campbellclanman said:
Nice Fixed Blade Eisman! Gees that Sheath is in Nice Condition!

Delta- can you show us that Knife opened, and perhaps some Tang Stamps please Sir?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22qRGW9]

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deltaboy · Jan 15, 2018

Camco 450

[url=https://flic.kr/p/23sNpFG]

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Campbellclanman · Jan 15, 2018

Thank you Delta. That’s a great old Scout you have.

deltaboy · Jan 15, 2018

The Kamp King

[url=https://flic.kr/p/23vw7SV]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/229azbg]

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deltaboy · Jan 15, 2018

Campbellclanman said:
Thank you Delta. That’s a great old Scout you have.

Schmiet is a Solid Scout and weighs about the same Camco 450!

I found it on the Bay about 10years ago!

Alwaysdreaming · Jan 17, 2018

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could confirm some details (or set me straight) with this one please? It's my mum's knife, given to her by her dad when she was a young girl in the 1950s.

Going by the winged crown logo and made in Germany stamp, the only similar example I could find online was listed as being made by (Friedrich) Olbertz, maybe in the 1940s or 50s?

The knife was quite heavily tarnished as it had been sitting in a drawer unused for years, but a little camellia oil and a bit of time working the tools back and forth and rubbing them with kitchen paper and it's cleaned up somewhat.

It's well patina'd and some of the tools are still quite stiff. My grandad added this pick and chain when he gave mum the knife so that she could open it.

There are some gaps starting from the bail end but I'm a bit reluctant to try tightening it in case I damage it.

It's difficult to know for sure, but I think the covers are bone. They look like black plastic in most lighting conditions, but in very bright light there's a slight translucency and damson-y purple hue and what appear to be pores, and it's a hefty knife for its size.

If anyone could confirm the date of production or maker please I'd be grateful

afishhunter · Jan 17, 2018

A very nice Scout Knife,

Alwaysdreaming .
You did a great job cleaning it up.

I don't have anything who made it, or when.

I do know a way to determine if the covers are plastic or bone, though.
Using a pair of pliers, heat a pin or needle until the tip is red hot. Then lightly touch the hot pin or needle point to one cover in an inconspicuous spot. If it does not smell like burned plastic, it is bone.
As for fixing the gap at the bail end ... it is possible, even likely, that it has had that minor gap since new. Regardless of what you may have heard, even "back in the day" minor gaps were not that uncommon on a production knife, no matter what company made it.
If it bothers you, I would suggest you have one of the knife modders here on the forum, like @glennbad take care of it. (there is a thread here showing his work) He might even be able to fix the strong pulls where needed.

Alwaysdreaming · Jan 17, 2018

Thank you

afishhunter , that's an intriguing idea, I'll try it out shortly. Fingers crossed for it being bone, not least of all because burning plastic smells awful!

I guess the gaps are ok at the moment but will keep an eye on them and see if they change at all with use, and thanks for suggesting @glennbad too - just off to have a look through the thread you mentioned

Campbellclanman · Jan 17, 2018

The hot needle works but I’m reluctant to do this- if you have a look at the very small flat edge of the Handles - by the liners in good light you may see tell- tale small wee lines ( capillaries) that often let you know it’s Bone.
I love looking closely at Bone etc- I blew up the photos as best I could and looking at the small e/o both for the nail nick of the Punch and inner jig work I’m willing to bet it’s Bone?

veitsi_poika · Jan 20, 2018

So I couldn't resist grabbing this knife when I had the chance... according to Goins, Stainless Cutlery Co, owned by Camillus, was the first producer of the scout style knife in stainless steel making them from 1927 to 1940. This one is in great shape, really just some sharpening abuse to the main blade but everything else looks great. As the Hibbard Spencer Bartlett ad says... "A Stainless Knife for a Stainless Scout"

- V_P

veitsi_poika · Jan 20, 2018

So I've been searching forever for a good Camillus Cub Scout and I finally landed one which happened to show up today on the same day I posted my Stainless Cutlery scout... A Stainless Knife for a Stainless Cub Scout

My Webelos status is finally official :thumbsup:

- V_P

veitsi_poika · Jan 20, 2018

Alwaysdreaming said:
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could confirm some details (or set me straight) with this one please? It's my mum's knife, given to her by her dad when she was a young girl in the 1950s.

Going by the winged crown logo and made in Germany stamp, the only similar example I could find online was listed as being made by (Friedrich) Olbertz, maybe in the 1940s or 50s?

The knife was quite heavily tarnished as it had been sitting in a drawer unused for years, but a little camellia oil and a bit of time working the tools back and forth and rubbing them with kitchen paper and it's cleaned up somewhat.

It's well patina'd and some of the tools are still quite stiff. My grandad added this pick and chain when he gave mum the knife so that she could open it.

There are some gaps starting from the bail end but I'm a bit reluctant to try tightening it in case I damage it.

It's difficult to know for sure, but I think the covers are bone. They look like black plastic in most lighting conditions, but in very bright light there's a slight translucency and damson-y purple hue and what appear to be pores, and it's a hefty knife for its size.

If anyone could confirm the date of production or maker please I'd be grateful

Interesting knife

Alwaysdreaming :thumbsup:

Well it is never an exact science when looking for the info you asked about in your post so I figured I had a little time to kill and started looking through my Goins Encyclopedia and noticed this excerpt:

I copied the "eagle" stamp shown and pasted it near the tang stamp on your knife and thought the shape of the wings and the "U" shape between the wings look almost identical. The fact that there was a crown on the other stamp shown in Goins excerpt seems to make it fairly reasonable that this is a C Fried Ern & Co knife. Does there look to be a snake underneath the eagle stamp on your knife? It looks like there is something there but difficult to make out.

Now with that said... the year can be anybodies guess but we know it is at least after 1924 since that is when they added pocket knives to their line. As far as the handles, I believe Delrin wasn't used until the mid 50's so since this knife was given to your Mum in the 50's I doubt it is Delrin especially for a German made knife. Also, I can't imagine a company would take such a nice jigged pattern in bone and dye it black, especially for a replica knife. I could be wrong about that of course but a nice looking brown bone would sell a lot more knives one would think

I agree with Duncan that it does look like bone because there aren't many smooth surfaces so perhaps it is :thumbsup:

However, if it is a plastic, it is likely some type of polymer developed between celluloid and Delrin, perhaps a jigged styrene might have a more similar look to bone?

This style of knife with the "SCOUT KNIFE" or "SCOUT" or "BE PREPARED" shield was a selling point due to the official Boy Scout knife craze... see the link below:

http://www.scoutknives.net/index.php/unofficial-scout-knives

Yours has an almost identical pattern to this popular Imperial unofficial "Scout" knife (click on thumbnail pic):

This style knife was really popular at one point so everyone wanted their piece of the pie with replicas, even German companies

The Imperial knife shown was made from 1925 to 1941. I wouldn't think many knives stamped "Made in Germany" were successfully exported in the 40's / 50's due to that big war

, so I would venture a guess that yours is a 1930's to early 40's C. Friedr. Ern & Co scout knife. I was not able to find that exact tang stamp on your knife though, you would probably need some reference material that covers German knife makers but Ern does seem to be one of the successful ones there.

- Kevin

veitsi_poika · Jan 25, 2018

I've found it challenging to acquire a Kutmaster Girl Scout that is still in nice shape since the handles are so easily scratched up / destroyed... they need to go virtually un-carried. I was pleasantly surprised when I unwrapped this one the other night

- V_P

Buzzbait · Jan 25, 2018

veitsi_poika said:
So I couldn't resist grabbing this knife when I had the chance... according to Goins, Stainless Cutlery Co, owned by Camillus, was the first producer of the scout style knife in stainless steel making them from 1927 to 1940. This one is in great shape, really just some sharpening abuse to the main blade but everything else looks great. As the Hibbard Spencer Bartlett ad says... "A Stainless Knife for a Stainless Scout"

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- V_P

Wow. I’m blown away. Amazing find!!! That’s a great piece of both Camillus and scout knife history.

veitsi_poika · Jan 26, 2018

Buzzbait said:
Wow. I’m blown away. Amazing find!!! That’s a great piece of both Camillus and scout knife history.

Thanks Buzz... I had just read that excerpt in Goins a few weeks ago and a few days later I was browsing around on the big online auction site where I happened to notice a picture of that scout knife and I literally said out loud "holy crap!"

The seller was a guy selling off some estate items that he had come across. The listing pics are below so I couldn't really tell for sure if it was the actual Stainless Cut Co scout, but the shield was promising... I'm quite happy I took the chance :thumbsup:

- Kevin

Buzzbait · Jan 26, 2018

veitsi_poika said:
Thanks Buzz... I had just read that excerpt in Goins a few weeks ago and a few days later I was browsing around on the big online auction site where I happened to notice a picture of that scout knife and I literally said out loud "holy crap!" The seller was a guy selling off some estate items that he had come across. The listing pics are below so I couldn't really tell for sure if it was the actual Stainless Cut Co scout, but the shield was promising... I'm quite happy I took the chance

View attachment 835995 View attachment 835996 View attachment 835997

- Kevin

That's really cool, and an awesome find.

For anybody desiring history on all of the Camillus brands, here's a handy PDF.

waynorth · Jan 26, 2018

Thanks for that PDF, Buzz. :thumbsup:

That will be very useful!!

deltaboy · Jan 26, 2018

Great knives!

veitsi_poika · Jan 26, 2018

Buzzbait said:
That's really cool, and an awesome find.

For anybody desiring history on all of the Camillus brands, here's a handy PDF.

Thanks for that PDF Buzz! Funny I just posted an AW Bradshaw & Sons (Germany) knife in the OLD KNIVES thread and I saw it listed on your PDF with the same years that Goins has (1856-1860). I also noticed the Coca-Cola A. Kastor & Co (New York) c. 1905-1914 listed in that PDF... of which I happen to have one

Though mine is A. Kastor & Bros (New York) which Goins has c. 1915-1920, I guess this is sort of an acceptable knife for "camp"

- Kevin