Camp Knives

/ steveknife

A good look at some common Camp Knives as we go into the camping season. Every knife has a purpose, but the camp knife served several special activities. Listen and watch to learn about the wonder and useful ness of these knives. As told by Blackoracle69 Thanks for watching and following Steveknife !

15 thoughts on “Camp Knives”

  2. Most people do not know that the Victorinox Officer, was, an officer’s model because, cigarettes were hand rolled and enlisted men used their thumb nail and middle finger nail to trim loose tobacco ends that were frayed when rolling. Officers, were genteel, and would use the scissor to trim the cigarette, especially when presenting a cigarette to a lady.

    Another point, is what I have taught my grandsons about, is that some blade pick recesses have a rippled edge, that was for Strike Anywhere matches were struck to light the match (double color heads on matches identify that type).

    The saw blades, are all different. Some are for kindling, or cutting fish bone, and on the Ontario Model 499 fixed blade, and counterpart from Camillus, the saw is for cutting helicopter plexiglass as escape from a downed slick. Some blade cut on the push, while other blade cut on the pull stroke.

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    • Exactly right! Different knives made for different purposes, although some can perform more than one task.

      Excellent bit of history there. I chuckled over the use of matches, quite common back in the day, now you mostly see those plastic things.. (At the very least use a Zippo) but I digress.

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  3. Thanks much, Great video.

    The Camp knife is actually based on the early Swiss Soldiers Knife. The Original Soldatmesser (Soldier’s knife) made by Karl Elsner for the Swiss Army consisted of a clip master blade, a can opener, screw driver, and punch blade on a slightly tear drop handle (the top being smaller than the bottom). While the knife lacked a shackle it was otherwise similar in form and function to the Boy Scout or Camp knife. The Swiss Soldier’s Knife was purpose made for the needs of the Swiss Soldier. The punch blade was needed for leather repair, the screwdriver for rifle assembly, the can opener for obvious reason and the clip blade as a general utility blade. The earlier knives had only a screw driver instead of the combination cap lifter/screwdriver simply because a cap lifter was not widely needed at that time. (Karl Elsner would go on to found the Victoria knife company which became Victorinox.)

    The crown cork or bottle cap was not invented until 1892. By 1900, a cap lifter was integrated into the screwdriver blade of many pocket knives. There was no need for a Phillips Screw driver on the knife because there was no such thing as a phillips or cross head screw until the 1930s.

    The stainless steel slab knife you called the Demo Knife was offically adopted in 1944 to replace early camp style knives used by the military. These early knives featured stag or bone handles and were prone to breaking. Some plastic handles were also tried but proved problematic. The stainless steel knife was officially known as the Mil-J or Military Jack, but later changed to Mil-K or Military Knife

    As for can openers. The early triangular blade openers were known as a tin cutters for obvious reasons. These were replaced by half moon and lever can openers as early as the 1910s.The First Boy Scout knives made by New York Knife Company in 1910 used a lever opener. The lever openers still required you to lift up to cut the can and led to soldiers in the field cutting themselves with the opener or the can lid. This led to the Safety Can Opener seen on your “Demo” knife and the Ulster BSA knife.

    The Safety Can Opener was first developed by altering a cap-lifter on a Camillus camp knife, Michael A Mirando patented the Safety Can opener on December 25, 1945 (Pat # No 2391732). By the time he patented the opener he was working at Imperial. Despite being patented in 1945 opener was first used in 1944. During the Patent Pending period, Imperial, Kingston, and Ulster used the opener on the early Mil-J military knives issued in 1944. These military issued knives saw service primarily in the Pacific theater. The safety can-opener made its commercial and civilian debut 1946. The first knives to feature the newly patented can opener were Imperial Camp knives. Once the patent expired, c1952, almost every knife maker switched over to the safety can opener. Camillus came out with a short lived similar can opener shortly before 1952 that worked in a similar fashion to the Safety Can opener but was different enough to avoid a law suit. Victorinox also came up with a similar design but later sold it to Wenger when they developed their current pattern opener.

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    • Thank you so much for the comment! Many thanks for the tip from Brian Wilhoite who posted up a video of this guy. It’s nice to know the history behind them, how they evolved and who makes some good ones.

      Look for more from this guy and looking for more! By the way if you start up that YouTube again, be happy to feature your reviews in this blog.

      It’s about sharing, promoting and discussing knives!

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