Camillus knives lives on - well, sort of
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 | Manufacturer News
Beginning Sept 17th, Camillus Cutlery, er what’s left of it, (camillusknives.com) was auctioned off via Stampler Auctions (stamplerauctions.com). Roughly 150 bidders, present and via proxy, bid on remaining equipment, according to a Syracuse.com report (view article)
The question remains, and is continually posed by our customers at http://www.theknifewarehouse.com/, ‘Will Camillus knives ever see the light of day again?’ The answer is actually a hopeful one, albeit unclear. According to RTTNews.com (view article) Acme United Corp. has acquired the Camillus Cutlery brand name and all of its patents. And Acme United’s Chairman and CEO, Walter Johnson, said, “We intend to reestablish the Camillus brand into production and continue to deliver high quality products. We hope to slowly build revenues as we reconnect with customers. This will be a careful undertaking.”
However, an apparently contradictory account was reported in a more recent Sept 22nd article asserting that knife patterns from Camillus models will begin appearing in the catalogs of Ontario Knife Company (www.ontarioknife.com) and Bear & Son Cutlery (www.bearandsoncutlery.com) as early as next year. It was reported that the knives would not bear the Camillus name as previously assumed. So, while the question of whether the models scheduled for production will bear the Camillus trademark is still uncertain, it appears as though Camillus Cutlery knives may survive. One large loss, however, is the jobs of those faithful employees who stood by a company whose roots spread back as far as World War I - we wish you the best. And, one last ‘Cheers’ to the makers of Camillus knives, who once upon a time made many a fine tool - a tool a number of us will continue to use for years to come.
5 Comments to Camillus knives lives on - well, sort of
I was at the Camillus auction held by Stampler Auctions. Numerous reasons Camillus went under. Lack of capital investment in machinery by the company owners for 40+ years is primary. Secondary is foreign imports & our politicians failure & almost criminal negligence in not protecting our jobs in favor of a “global economy” & instead investing in their future as lobbyists. The union strike didn’t help either. I think the auction was run very effectively & fairly. The Stampler staff & auctioneers were professional, courteous & knowledgeable. I made some great buys & hope to attend more of their auctions. I think that Stampler Auctions lived up to their reputation as the Eastern Seaboards premier commercial auctioneers as I attend ay least 100 auctions per year. Now you can see some of their customers knife purchases being sold on Ebay. Camillus went out with class. Thanks, Mark
Mark,
Thanks for your comments. We love perspectives from those who witnessed events like this one first hand. Seneca
[...] brought us the dissolution and subsequent asset auction of Camillus Cutlery in September. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in 2008. I’m concerned that, though the [...]
Mark GoldsteinFebruary 28, 2008
Hi again! I just saw on the website Stamplerauctions.com that they will be back at the Camillus factory this April 5th 2008 to sell off the 65,000 new boxed knives that the lender had pulled from the sale. I hope to be there to buy again for sale on Ebay, renew some friendships made there the last time, learn more, & get away from the wife for a few days. I am glad that Stampler is doing the auction. See you there! Mark
JohnR7October 2, 2008
I have sold a fair number of the Camillus factory knives on Ebay. I can understand why they want out of business. People just do not understand or appreciate how rugged and long lasting these knives are. They compare them to the cheap junk China knives that look better but just do not last as long as the american made knives. Also as mentioned they did not upgrade their machinery and it was a lot of work to make a knife. Now a days people just do not want to have to work as hard as the past generations were willing to do.
November 30, 2007