Production date date 3/25/1943. These knives should be professionally serviced by a The Air Force Survival Knife has had a storied, yet obscure, history. I've seen and/or handled eight bright finished examples besides the one I own and your pictures are the first examples of the parkerized ones. Ken Spielvogel - The "Accumulator" of knives- "The Talking Knives". With decades of experience under his belt, Adolph spearheaded the growth and expansion of the Camillus knife company into what we know it as today. The U.S. Defense Department published to private industry requirements for a standardized fixed blade knife to issue to pilots and aircrews of the various service branches. Dealers and retailers of the knife usually let older catalogs rot, lost them, or simply misplaced them when a new batch of Ka-bar knives came in. Did you recently find a Camillus knife, and youd like to know what era it came from? You might get lucky and pick the right thing, but you could just as well get scammed of your money. The sheath shall be made of leather in compliance with Federal Standard KK-L-271, The sheath leather shall be 8/64-inch-thick. 5679 L36: WW II Army Air Corps knife. There were a few more hand changes of the business over the years but by then, we had entered the modern era of the knives. It is WW II era and dual tang marked and etched. For a knife that has been around for more than 120 years now, you also know that it would have changed hands a lot of times. I got my first one from an electricians mate on the CG Cutter I was serving aboard back in the 70s. This is a testimony to the ingenuity of the design team that developed the knife at the Marbles company. However, the registrations for all registered products containing salicylanilide as an active ingredient have been canceled. A Kent marked with Indian Trail and large brass rivets, J-9 marked is another Kent prototype with domed steel We were rightfully concerned with losing our knife if we had to ditch over water. Moreover, the requirement for having a standard survival knife for pilots and aircrews across the DoD was due to economic considerations and budgeting constraints at the time which fostered standardization across the military services. OK, but I did not see any knife with this tang stamp before 1989. 43 knives in total, all from the showroom. Once you open the link you can either scroll about have way down and look for the title "bright blades", or put it into the find function and let the machine do the work. Bone stag and CR guard made in In August '61, a 5" blade was specified. Thanks. It has two blades; one is a standard 2.5-inch cutting blade and the other is a locking. The M3 trench knife or M3 fighting knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. Several contractors were essentially exempt from the treatment requirements because they were already applying some standard applications of bluing or Parkerizing, PAL Blade Co. for example. I was wondering if you had run across anything about the dates on the pommel nut. The OP had such and an easy question, one would think. You must log in or register to reply here. This knife looks a lot like the original and with a little bit of use can be made to look old real quick. I not sure where I got it but I undoubtedly purchased it at a local sporting goods or general store such as Gibsons Discount in the late 60s or early 70s. I believe before it made its way into the survival kit it went on the ALSE vest. Its blade is double-edged and has a length of 170mm (6 11/16 inches). Show me your knife, and I'll tell you who you are. You ought to take part in a contest for one of the best sites on the net. The knife has been in continuous service with the Department of Defense for over sixty years. They are hard to find. Camillus stagged bone grips with brass pins. I was issued an Ontario Pilot Survival Knife 6-89 in February 1991 during my deployment to Desert Storm and has the same measurements as the 499. This blog was how do you say it? I recently bought a new Ontario that has 3-11 on the pommel (March 2011 I reckon). These bayonets are very similar to the originals so you need to check Hand marked on the These sheaths are in a very different style from the This marking is post 1990 and is the current marking, it Surplus stores will purchase them in bulk through U.S. Government auctions, collectors will buy them at auctions, military museums will display them, and they will continue to be available for purchase on the internet. It is also suspected that knife makers will begin to find ways to improve the knife and manufacture their versions of the knife similar to what knife companies are doing with other legacy knife designs. The sharpening stone size shall be 3 inches long, 7/8-inch-wide, and 1/4 inch thick. So, as far as I can tell the best evidence indicates that these were Army Air Force knives and not Navy knives. inch Mark 2 with a M3 pommel. has the Mark 2 pommel not the M3 version. Camillus 5 inches Jet Pilot's Survival knife on top of Camillus 6 inches Jet Pilot's Survival knife 1971 marked Camillus 5 inches Jet Pilot Survival knife complete with scabbard. After the completion of testing and bidding competition between Marble, Camillus Cutlery, and the Ontario Knife Company (OKC), Camillus was awarded the contract to supply the new Jet Pilot Survival Knife (JPSK) to the Department of Defense instead of Marble. That doesn't make it right, it just makes it how they were found from poor Can you say more about how Ontario played a role in the Survival Knifes evolution ? It doesn't get any better then this S-449 A and S-449B Prototype Hunting Knives with different They is a lot more ingredients to the batch of pudding for these knives. Second, procurements came first before the acceptance of the Mark 1 drawings. Enjoy! Challenges of Dating a Ka-Bar knife properly, Multiple Methods to Dating a Ka-bar Knife, Method #1 Identify the Logo/ Tang Stamp, Stainless Steel; or UNION CUT CO. & OLEAN, N. Y, The stamp font is thin and shallow, compared to the non-WW2 options, The blade has a darker patina rather than being powder coated, WW2 knife pommels are peened on the knife, not pinned. The cutting blade is to be 5 1/8 inches long and 3/16 inches thick. These are the remaining items that were left in the Camillus factory show Marble produced several thousand knives for field testing and delivered them to the U.S. Air Force between 1957-1959. In most of the places that Ive come across a Klein knife, it was either a military electricians knife or for another handyman. Look at these two knives in the photo below. I own one as a backup knife for my backpacking, outdoor, and emergency needs. We have many investment grade pieces available. We have seen it in outfitter stores, marketed on the internet, and may even have owned one. I was hoping to find the history of these knives, along with pics of the different versions and years. It looks exactly like the survival knife from the air force. I also picked up another old Camillus that has no dates on it whatsoever. The bit telltale difference is the sharpened false edge. Dont expect to find an expert that will date your knife for free. Im assuming its ok to to refurbish if for no other reason than to halt any deterioration on the blade or otherwise but Ill admit Im not a knife collector or adventurer so this would be more about preserving value than repairing it for use. metal tip protectors. If you dont go to knife shows, you might also have some luck with veteran knife collectors in your locale. Thanks for contacting me. I believe the two holes in the blade guard was to dummy cord the knife. generate quite a few questions so we hope this is a help to a few folks. Thanks for taking the time to read. Marbles taught Camillus how to do it. Is it a genuine vintage or merely a reproduction? Force survival kit knife. I find no marks on it but it was well used with rust stains. HiI'm new to the site and am trying to identify a knife my daughter found yesterday. A knife for sale on Frank Trzaska's site shows a sheath with the same care instructions stamped into it, with the knife keeper in a different location. Examine your knife pocket identifying mark on one of the blades. This guide to dating Camillus knives is focused on the Camillus-stamped knives only. At the end of the war, the decision to ramp up capacity paid off as Camillus could now make its knives and still churn others out under contract. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I attach a photo of the peened pommel that makes this 6" a 1960 model: Hi. Since the manufacturers maintained it themselves, its a reasonably accurate way to tell the era that a knife came from. The Air Force Survival Knife will be around for a very long time. True, those origins are shrouded in a lot of poor occurrences but the knives stayed on to mark those eras and the good work of manufacturers in, Read More How to Tell the Age of a Marbles Knife by Yourself (5 Methods)Continue. Finally, the knives I had would not hold a decent edge but may have had a sufficient edge in a land survival situation. Here is an earlier & longer pilot (aircrew) survival knife by Camillus aka, the Folding Bolo- Army Air Corp Emergency Machete a.jpg Army Air Corp Emergency Machete.jpg Here it is folded- Army Air Corp Emergency Machete j.jpg You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post. It is currently still in inventory with the DoD through the GSA. Camillus knives are one of my most favorites knives to date. I am trying to find any information on a 7 inch U.S. Camillus. However, because of Marbles premature manufacturing of the knife before it was awarded a government contract, the rest of the world gained the privilege to own this knife. The pilots, survival, sheathed, hunting knife shall consist of a metal blade with a leather grip, riveted butt plate, guard, guard and end plates, leather sheath with a pocket for containing the sharpening stone, nylon laces, and a metal sheath protector to prevent the tip of the knife from penetrating the bottom or underside of the sheath. I would, thus, rather you look at the knife itself rather than trying to use the sheath to make a judgment. Today, we keep finding fewer and fewer people who fought in WWII around. J5 Forest King etched with prototype J-5 on the blade. The post-1962 knives were produced by the Camillus Cutlery Company and Milpar during the Vietnam Era. So, as stated earlier, the archives of Marble or the DoD may reveal conclusively if the reason for the holes in the handguard. Edge but may have had a sufficient edge in a land survival situation hope this is a to. Is a testimony to the site and am trying to use the sheath be! 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