Camillus Knives - A Long History, Changes, But Still Good Knives

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 The Camillus Cutlery Company is one of the oldest knife manufacturers in the US.  Founded in 1876 it went bankrupt in 2007.  The Camillus brand name and intellectual property rights were then bought by Acme United Corporation, which in turn relaunched the brand in May 2009. 

My knife collection includes knives representing the old company and the newer one.  My older knives are the ones they manufactured for the military, the US Military Utility Knife also known as the "Demo Knife."  They are the all stainless steel Model 1760, made from 1949 - 2006. These checkered stainless steel models were issued to the Army, Marines and Navy along with hospital corpsmen starting in 1958. The date of manufacture is stamped on the blade.  One of my knives is dated from 1961 and belonged to my father who was in the US Army, retiring in the early 1960s.  The other was picked up at a military show and is dated 1973.  I carry this as my EDC, and as someone described it, it seems virtually indestructible. 


 

 The other two in my collection are fairly new and represent the Camillus brand after reorganization.  One was purchased from Mennards.  It is the Griddy folding model, 3.25 inch blade, 7.5 inches in length overall.  It seems that this model may be made exclusively for Mennards as an affordable Camillus knife.   The knife is designed with a spring assisted opening system, and the blade is made of 420 steel with a TRP rubberized grip and a pocket clip.  

The other knife I have is the black Titanium Bonded Full Tang fixed-blade model with a drop point 4.5 inch blade with 440 steel.  Like the Griddy it is an inexpensive knife, although price does not always dictate quality as my post on the Ozark Trail folding knife I featured in a separate post.

 

The steel in the  Griddy model is suitable for general purpose tools, while the steel in the latter model is often used where high hardness, edge retention, and wear resistance are required.  Obviously the Griddy would be suitable for lighter service needs. 

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