I found one of these in my dad's desk drawer while in NY, circa 1969. Any of you guys have one? I imagine they are quite common...good little utility knife.

Camillus Made Stainless Steel Pocketknives MIL-K-818 - EDGED WEAPONS - U.S. Militaria Forum

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I have one for sentimental reasons. I don't use it.

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I had a couple of these as a kid, but they are lost in time. A few years ago I found one dated 1982 in a pawn shop for $10.00. The spring for the main blade is weak, so it doesn't want to stay open. I bought it for sentimental reasons too, so I probably won't try to fix it.

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I own two of them, I keep one in my truck the other in my hunting pack.
Very handy knife to own, I think of it as a Cub Scout knife built to "Military Specifications" for the U.S. Government.
I never did see one while in the military, I bought my first one in 1982.

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My very first pocket knife, for my 10th birthday was a knife like that..............I don't remember what company it was made by! Carried it for 15 years until it was stolen!!!

I currently have a Camillus 1995 and an imitation that is obviously not up to Camillus quality!

Still nice knives.

found a box of those in a supply room a long time ago, i passed them out to my platoon members ad kept a couple.

Here's mine. The main blade spring is weak and the blade wobbles some when eiher completely open or closed. Blade date is 1968. I think I paid $15 for it at a gun show.

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I've always liked the Camper/Scout pattern--a Camillus Cub Scout knife was my first knife. It's still a very handy pattern.

I carry one of the Camillus US knives in a small emergency kit in my vest when I bird hunt.

This is the knife my father was issued in WWII:



It was made by PAL Cutlery, synthetic handles. Several different makers supplied them at the time, some with bone handles, many with branch of service stamped on the shield. The nicer ones, especially those stamped for the 10th Mountain Division, are highly collectible.

I have one exactly like the pic, except mine just has U.S. stamped, and the blade date is 1987.
Found it and a collector Case in vehicles that I flipped.

I think I have one somewhere, but its blade steel seems inferior to that used by Victorinox and the knife is much heavier than a comparable Swiss Army knife that also has an additional tool or two and a better can opener.

The Swiss and German equivalent knives are much better, as is any commercial SAK.

I have 10-12 in my US Military collection.
The U S Marine Corp being the rarest.

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I have one of those knives bought it from a surplus store I visit frequently paid 20 dollars for it.
it was manufactured in 2005 to bad Camillus don't make them anymore Darn good knife.

I have one that was issued to me when I was an Army parachute rigger back in the 70's and 80's.

I had one of those from when I was in the Air Force a long time ago. Like so many other things from the past, it disappeared over the years.

On another note, though, I still have an original USAF-marked arctic parka from 1970 and my original field jacket. That parka must weigh at least ten pounds. I still wear the field jacket in winter sometimes.

Sip, I had one for years. These were/are very useful copies of the basic Swiss army style knife. If that was your Dad's I'm sure it holds some secrets..

I have a couple, every knife in this drawer is different. At least 14 manufacurers, and ones marked with every branch of service, except the Coast Guard. My favorite is the bone handled mt division knife with the phillips screw driver. There is also a bone handled USN 3 blade version, and one marked MD-USN which has the awl. I could never figure out why a sailor couldn't have an awl, but the corpsman could? They are a great little knife, and fun to collect. In the back row you can see some S&W rope knifes with the same stainless handles and stipling.

If you have pics of these and if it's not too much trouble I'd love to see them!

Me two! Those are pretty rare blades.

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Here are the three USN pocket knives.

The crown jewel of my pocket knife collection.

This picture shows basically identical WWII pocket knives that have different shields, and one with no shield. I find the one marked "Army Knife" most interesting. It is the only one that is labeled "Knife", just in case you didn't realize? Hard to tell which of these would have been issued, or sold in the PX? With the early style can opener, it is obvious they are from the WWII era, or earlier.

Now this is a very nice collection you have there! I am green with envy. I do have one question for you...have you seen one with only 3 blades? Handle is the same, but has a second blade with a saw. Think the 3rd blade is a normal bottle opener.

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I was an Army combat engineer in the 80s, and one of these knives was in each squad's demolition box. We called them demo knives (short for demolition). You could buy them from the place where you bought uniforms.

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I've carried this one routinely for over 30 years. "Always carry a knife" is one of Gibbs' rules (I forget the number). Good policy - it's come in handy many times, more often than not for uncapping a bottle of Heineken!

John

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Thanks for the kind words. No I have not seen that variant. Any pictures?

EVELED and I have about the same number and same models. My 10th Mountain Division knife came to me after I was relieved of a good number of $20 bills. I am puzzled about the reports of weak back springs. I have examined maybe 100 of this model and have the earliest known examples and I do not recall ever noticing a weak spring. TEXAS STAR brought up a point that he feels the steel is poorer and lack of axillary blades make it inferior to Victorinox and like brands. He is a man of vast knowledge and I will have to concede to his opinion on just his standing in this community. My question is, has a Victorinox or equivalent ever been a US issue knife? Our military requires items to be soldier proof and I do not know how well the Victorinox would hold up to actual combat use. I cant imagine using one of those to dig a fox hole in frozen ground. The military name for the US version is demolition knife not because it is used solely by the bomb squad but because it is nearly bomb proof. The point I am trying to make is, the military requirements are for stout built items for combat use and these US military knives have been in constant use since WW II. That has to be some kind of testament. I have preached on my soapbox till the cows came home about not over cleaning or altering antique guns and knives. I now must confess a sin I committed years ago as a young collector. I rummaged through a box of misc do dads from the Vietnam era. Everything in the box was a buck apiece. I bought quite a few items including plastic blasting cap boxes and the only knife. It was a military folder as shown in other replies. It was an Imperial brand which is uncommon and dated mid Vietnam. On the metal handle a GI had etched his name and serial number into the handle. Now I wanted only clean mint examples in my collection so with great care I was able to remove his information without evidence it ever existed. Yup, I removed it. I completely destroyed a piece of American history for no other reason than I wanted it to shine. I know there is a hot seat in hell waiting for me now. My collecting goal on military 4 blade folders is bone handled USMC knife from WW II. The fly in that ointment is, I will have to have the wife get a job walking the streets to afford one.

I own, have owned and used a lot of US issue knives.
The only one that I ever had any problem with is the orange handle switchblade.
Never saw or heard of a problem with the 'Boy Scout ' utility knife.
I own about a dozen of them.

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I never heard reports of weak springs, mine are strong.

The US military did not issue any swiss army knives that I know of. I agree they are not as robust, but open so much easier than the demo knives.

The military Nick name demo knife came from it being part of the demo kit, it was replaced by a leatherman multitool.

The actual military designation MIL-K-818. Or milk knife.

The older ones had a thumb stud on the bottle opener/screw driver, it was to help with firearm disassembly.

I used to record all the dates and manufacturers of every one listed on eBay. Some years are far more common than others. Some years only one manufacturer made them. Other years everybody made them.

I have heard of them being used to weight a cord to throw it when running wires and such. It takes a tough knife with a really strong bail to stand up to that kind of use.

By far the nicest demo knife I own was made by Case, it has brass liners and opens very smooth.

That's about all I know about them.

I did not know bone handled USMC even existed. I'll have to keep an eye out, but I doubt my wife will be on board for the financial plan you laid out.

Early in the war two 4 blades utility knives were made for the Marine Corps. Both had bone handles and nickel shields inscribed with USMC. The rarest is a 4 line Camillus with a dog bone shield. The other has a round shield and I believe it was made by Ulster but don't bet your life saving on it.

I had a couple marked US Navy as a kid. No idea where they are now . . .

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[QUOTE=PALADIN85020;138915027]I've carried this one routinely for over 30 years. "Always carry a knife" is one of Gibbs' rules (I forget the number). Good policy -][QUOTE]

Rule #9.

I lived in Upstate New York growing up. Camillus Knife was known for good pay in the area, worked there in 1975 when I was 19. Lasted 4 days, I'm not made for that type of factory work.

All I saw were bins of parts.

The silver electrician's knife is called a TL-28 by the military. The black plastic handled two blade electrician's knife is a TL-29. Use to get these by the box full to issue to my aircraft electricians.

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No picture as it is not in my possession. Yet.
Will be going to a shop to check out some other things, ie TL-29's

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"Civilian" version still available on their web site:
Camillus Camillus Trench

My login for the GSA catalog must have finally expired. I cannot log it to see if they are still in the 2016 catalog.

Still have a couple of those that were issued during my parachute rigger days back in the 1970s, early 80s.

Wow! They are now using 12C27 steel!l
I doubt if the earlier GI versions used steel that fancy.

Sandvik 12C27 knife steel

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I just ordered two of the camillus knives. Hope they are decent.

That makes two of us.

Yes, but they have been redesigned. Much better now. Come in black, sand and other colors now. Even serrated blades now. Spring is different now -- coil spring instead of leaf spring. Made by Colonial now, I think.


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I have two of those knives, one I'm pretty sure of where it is and the other has been awol for quite sometime. The only other vietnam era knife I have is the pilots survival knife in leather sheath and has a small pocket for the sharpening stone.Frank

Yes, me, too! I have a large Spyderco folding knife that went AWOL and I haven't seen it in 2 years. Don't know where the hell it went...maybe the dog ate it?



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Off the top of my head I probably have close to 9 or 10 of them. None were purchased by me, they were all my Dad's. One I believe to be his Navy EDC Pocket knife that has his Serial Number on. The others are have various scales on them.

Although they were not expensive knives, they take a sharp edge in no time flat and hold it for quite a while. I have found them to be very well built robust pocket knives that will be in service well after I am!

Just got the two new.camillus knives in the mail. They seem OK, but they are fat, there is a lot of space between the blades, and the bottle opener, and can opener are straight. I don't know if the special stainless is really any good.

I also found Marbles is making one, real cheap. Under $10 on amazon. I actually like it better than the camillus, the blades snap open with authority, and are offset, so they stack more compactly when closed. Still made in China.

Anybody know of any other current manufacturers? I wish Case would make some more, in the US.