Another 1967-dated...

[tsellati]

...Camillus knife added to the collection. This one is a Jet Pilot's Survival Knife and it definitely has that 'been there and done that' look about it.

 

 

 

The nice part about the rig is the leather is supple, a well-used honing stone is present, and the blade still has some of its original blackened finish present -

 

 

 

 

There also is remnants of grey paint on the pommel -

 

 

I have seen pictures of and read references to this grey paint, but, I forget what the significance of the paint is.

 

And here is the Pilot's knife pictured with a 1967-dated DEMO knife -

 

 

The best part is this knife sat and sat and sat on Gunbroker so the seller accepted my offer of $45 shipped for it. Not a pristine example, but, not a bad price either - I think? What do you guys think.

 

Tim

[gunbarrel]

Tim,

 

I think you did good. I like blades like that...used, but not abused. Question--why do you call the MIL-K knife a DEMO knife? I never heard them called that; what does it mean? Thank you.

[tsellati]

Tim,

 

I think you did good. I like blades like that...used, but not abused. Question--why do you call the MIL-K knife a DEMO knife? I never heard them called that; what does it mean? Thank you.

 

My bad ; it actually is incorrect to use the term "DEMO", but, I picked it up after reading the following article by Ken Cook - http://www.donrearic.com/demoknife1.htm

 

Tim

[gunbarrel]

Hey, no problem. I just never heard anyone call them that. It's usually "utility knife," or something like that.

 

Here is a true demo(lition) knife. Click on the link and scroll down to "Vietnam Era C4 Non-Mag Demolition Knife." Hope this helps!

 

http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/coll...n.html#Camillus

[tsellati]

Hey, no problem. I just never heard anyone call them that. It's usually "utility knife," or something like that.

 

Here is a true demo(lition) knife. Click on the link and scroll down to "Vietnam Era C4 Non-Mag Demolition Knife." Hope this helps!

 

http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/coll...n.html#Camillus

 

Wow, that knife would be the crown jewel of anyone's Camillus knife collection . I wonder if anyone besides Mike Silvey actually has one in their collection.

 

Tim

[QED4]

If you were ever in a Combat Engineer unit you call it a Demo Knife. They were packed in the demolition kits and were considered an expendable item so they often disappeared. To anyone else they are a Utility Knife but to a 12B they will always be a demo Knife.

[SKIPH]

Hey Gang!--QED4 is right our demo kits each had a "DEMO" knife (MIL-K). The knives were designed with a "non-sparking" finish, and were not allowed to be sharpened. Sharpening would remove the non-sparking finish and could cause a spark that in turn could create an explosion. It was also a major inspection gig. In all my units they were all referred to generically as demo knives. SKIP