It's no secret I can't remember their birth years. I remember all their birthdays, that's what's important. I can figure them out through a process of elimination. My oldest was born two weeks before our first wedding anniversary, the youngest is 7 years younger. Now I just have to remember when we got married. I graduated college in 1985, proposed on Christmas Eve that year, and attended Officer Basic at APG Maryland. We had a 1 year, 4-month engagement. so were married in 1987, daughter born in 1988. Second daughter born in 1994.
And yes, I had that all wrong and just ask my wife for the correct years.
The military name for for this 4-blade, stainless steel, folding utility knife was Knife, Pocket, General Purpose MIL-K-818, based upon the written specification for this blade. There were A-B-C-D revisions to the spec. with the last in 1985.
Before 1958, the all metal knives had brass liners and carbon steel blades. They were made by Kingston and Stevenson during WW2 and marked on the clevis/bail/shackle.
Later on military contract makers for the MIL-K-818s, all stainless, were Camillus, Imperial, and Queen (1986 only for Queen). Camillus started with the first all stainless MIL-K-818 (rev.A) in 1958. 1961 is the first year Imperial made the all stainless MIL-K-818. It was the revision B. Imperial called it the Model X-611. Imperial's last year to make them was 1979.
Camillus made them up until they went out of business some years ago.
Quite a few similar knives have shown up in recent years made by or for companies that did not have military contracts but wanted to sell them on the commercial market. These include Western (made after Western Cutlery failed and had its intellectual property bought by Camillus which then made these marked Western) and Ontario. Doubtless other MIL-K-818 style blades can now be found with other maker names, mostly of Chinese origin, made for non-military buyers.
Regards,
Charlie
Last edited by ordnanceguy; 03-23-2024 at 03:41 PM.
Ours have received the Gerber tool since about 2000 or just before. We did the trials in '93 in Gagetown NB and I kept one of the originals, Gerber against Leatherman. Gerber won...everyone still has their opinion on the best one...
The military name for for this 4-blade, stainless steel, folding utility knife was Knife, Pocket, General Purpose MIL-K-818, based upon the written specification for this blade. There were A-B-C-D revisions to the spec. with the last in 1985.
Thanks for the details, Ordnanceguy. I have three, 80, 82 and 85. At the govt contractor org I worked they were available from stores for the techs, machinists etc. When folks retired and cleaned out their desks they often set a cardboard box out in the hallways with stuff for the custodian to dump. Sometimes treasures with the junk.
Good to have some history, I’ll print out your post and stick it alongside the knives.
i have a Camillus Marlin Spike knife they issued me when i was in the Navy , i was on the Alabama a Trident , came to the boat as a non rate so assigned to deck div they, gave us the knife,managed to hold onto it all those years , 1985
Micmacman: would be interested in how your USN Camillus marlin spike compares to my civilian version. Purchased mine maybe early 1990’s at a west coast marine supply store.
Helped quite a few Boy Scouts with Pioneering Merit Badge with this one.
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
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