Camillus Knives

What Camillus makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Camillus covers five product types: fixed-blade knives, folding knives, machetes, axes and knife sharpeners. The knives and machetes are most of it; the hatchets and the sharpener are a short list. The maker's site sorts the same knives by use (hunting, survival, tactical, outdoors, everyday), and also sells stand-alone saws and a game shear. This site doesn't list those.

Inside the grid, the knives split into groups you'll recognize:

• Western fixed blades: drop-point hunters with sheaths
• Camillus fixed blades: from a small neck knife up to long survival knives
• Gut-hook models: fixed blades with a hook on the spine for opening a hide
• Folders: lockbacks, liner locks and frame locks
• Machetes: the Carnivore family and the Kusabo
• Hatchets: short camp hatchets, a tomahawk and the 3-in-1 Camtrax
• Sharpener: the GLIDE, a pocket-size field sharpener

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many are listed this week.

Most of the specs here come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those values. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash. Where the maker's own page says more, I've used it and named it.

What the titanium bonding means

You'll see "titanium bonded" or "Carbonitride Titanium" on a lot of Camillus pages. The maker's about page says its knives are made of Carbonitride Titanium cutlery-grade steel, through-hardened to hold an edge. On the Western Black River page, the maker says the bonding makes its 420 stainless blade three times harder than an untreated stainless blade. The Mask page adds that it resists rust and corrosion.

That's the maker's claim, and I'll leave it as the maker's claim. What I can tell you from the shop: a coating changes the surface. Sharpening still happens on the edge, and the edge is still steel.

Danny asked whether a knife named Carnivore comes in a vegetarian model. It does not. He's been told.

Lineup notes: Camillus fixed blade knives

The Western hunters

Western is a product line on the Camillus site, not a separate store. The Western knives in the grid are drop-point hunters in 420 stainless, most with full tangs and nylon sheaths, per their listings:

• Black River: 3.75-inch drop point, G10 handle, hollow grind and a ballistic nylon sheath, per the maker
• Crosstrail: a longer drop point, full tang, with a gut-hook version on the maker's site
• Kota, 7-inch and 8.25-inch: two sizes, G10 handles
• Coil: a short drop point with a hollow grind and a nylon sheath

This is the group to look at if what you want is a plain deer knife. The hunting knife page and the skinning knife page cover those shapes across brands.

Camillus hunting and camp knives

The rest of the fixed blades carry the Camillus name. Here's what separates them, by the listings:

• Mask, Hawker and Roto: drop points in 420 stainless with nylon sheaths; the Roto adds a gut hook
• Swedge and Comb: the Swedge is full tang, the Comb is a clip point with a glass-filled nylon handle
• Micarta and AUS-8 fixed blades: 7.75-inch knives in AUS-8 stainless, full tang, nylon sheaths
• ST6: AUS-8 with a nylon sheath
• Tyrant: a 3-inch blade in D2 tool steel with a G10 handle and a leather sheath
• Titanium gut hook and the Carnivore XZ set: sheath included, few specs in the listings

Steel on these runs from plain 420 stainless to AUS-8 and D2. Rule of thumb: on a hunting knife, blade shape and sheath matter more day to day than the steel name. The fixed blade knife page explains how steels and tangs compare.

DAGR and SKOL: the 1095 survival knives

Two Camillus fixed blades are different from the rest. The DAGR and the SKOL list 1095 carbon steel, partially serrated edges and full tangs. The maker files both under "USA made." Its DAGR page describes a 4.87-inch powder-coated tanto blade with a hollow grind, a G10 handle and a molded sheath with belt clips for different carry positions. It says the DAGR was designed with Grady Powell, a former Green Beret, and that the knives are sequentially numbered. The SKOL has a clip point and a gut hook, per its listing.

These two sit in a higher price tier than the rest of the grid. They're survival knives first. The survival knife page covers that type.

The Heater II neck knife

The Heater II is the small one. The maker lists a 1.75-inch blade in 420 stainless with the Carbonitride Titanium coating, a glass-filled nylon handle with a finger hole, a molded sheath and a beaded neck chain. It's 4.25 inches overall.

My one opinion on this page: a neck knife is a backup, not your main knife. The reason is right there in the spec. A 1.75-inch blade will open a package, cut cord and trim a strap. It's short for field dressing a deer. Carry it in addition to a hunting knife, not instead of one.

Camillus folding knives

The folders in the grid cover three lock types, per their listings. Lock is the first thing I'd look at on any folder:

• Lockbacks: the CamLite and the Classic 7.25-inch, both drop points, one with a polymer handle and one with Micarta
• Liner locks: the Chunk and the 7.5-inch folder with a marlin spike, a sheepsfoot blade and a bamboo handle
• Frame locks: the Carbide Edge, an aluminum-handled flipper, and the Dominator II, with VG10 steel and a carbon fiber handle

The Keto has a G10 handle and a pocket clip; its listing doesn't name a lock. Most of the folders list 420 or 440 stainless, with AUS-8 on the marlin spike knife and VG10 on the Dominator II.

A marlin spike, if you haven't met one, is a tapered steel spike for working knots loose. Sailors use them. So do people who've tied a tarp in the rain and regretted it by morning.

The maker's site lists many more folders than the grid does right now. Pocket knives across brands are on the pocket knife page, and daily-carry folders on the everyday carry knife page.

Keep your fingers out of the blade's path when you close any folder. The American Knife & Tool Institute notes that folders are spring-biased toward closing and can snap shut on fingers.

Camillus machetes: Carnivore and Kusabo

The machetes are where the grid gets long. By the listings and the maker:

• Carnivore and Carnivore X 18-inch: 12-inch blades; the maker's Carnivore X page lists titanium-bonded 420 stainless, an ABS handle and a ballistic nylon sheath with a small removable trimming knife
• Carnivore X with saw back: same length, a saw on the spine
• Carnivore Maxx 2.0: the long one, 23 inches overall
• Carnivore Inject kit: a 12-inch blade with a sheath
• Kusabo 17-inch: a kukri-style blade with a glass-filled nylon handle, per its listing

The 18 and 23 in the names are overall lengths. The blade is shorter. Read the blade length in the grid before you assume, the same way you read the actual size on a 2x4. (A 2x4 isn't two by four either. I taught that to sophomores every single fall.)

A machete is a brush tool: saplings, vines and tall grass along the trail to the stand. Machetes across brands are on the machete page.

Camillus hatchets and tomahawks

The axe side of the grid is short tools, all one-hand size. By the listings:

• 16" American Hickory Hatchet: a hickory handle, a carbon steel head and a sheath; the listing names hunting, camping, survival and chopping
• Teca Hatchet: a wood handle and a 1045 carbon steel head, a little shorter than the hickory one
• Ravenous Tomahawk: a nylon/polymer handle, a 420 stainless head and a sheath
• Camtrax 3-in-1: a nylon/polymer handle; the listing title names a hatchet, a lock-back folding saw and a hammer in one tool, with a sheath on one version

The split is plain. The hickory and Teca hatchets put carbon-steel heads on wood, so they want the same drying and oiling as the 1095 knives. The Ravenous lists stainless. The Camtrax packs three jobs into one handle. (Three jobs, one tool. That was also the shop teacher's contract.)

Rutgers Extension says to sheath an axe when it isn't in use and to chop on the ground or a large, stable log. Hatchets across brands are on the hatchet page, and tomahawks on the tomahawk axe page.

The GLIDE field sharpener

Camillus lists one sharpener in the grid, the GLIDE. The listing calls it a compact field sharpener with ceramic and carbide slots, and says it handles gut hooks and axes too. That makes it a pocket tool for touching up an edge at camp, not a bench system. If your knife has a gut hook, that line is worth reading. Pull-through and field sharpeners across brands are on the knife sharpener page and the portable knife sharpener page.

How to choose within the Camillus lineup

Pick the type for the job

Fixed blade for field dressing and camp chores. Folder for the pocket. Machete for brush. Hatchet for kindling and stakes. If you can't decide between a fixed blade and a folder, think about where it'll be when you need it. A sheath knife on the belt is easier to reach sitting in a stand than a folder at the bottom of a pocket under a coat.

Then the blade shape

Drop points are the general hunting shape: the spine curves down to the tip, which keeps the point under control. Clip points have a thinner, sharper tip. A gut hook adds a hook on the spine for opening the hide without cutting into the body cavity. Tantos, like the DAGR, have an angled tip. The hunting knife page covers shapes in more detail.

Then the steel

Most of the grid is 420 stainless, which is the low-maintenance option. 1095 is carbon steel. Morakniv's guide to steels says carbon steel is easier to resharpen but rusts more readily in humid conditions, and needs drying and oiling after use. D2 is a tool steel, AUS-8 and VG10 are stainless steels that show up on the pricier models.

Then the sheath

Nylon sheaths are the most common in the grid. The Tyrant has leather. The DAGR has a molded sheath with clips. A sheath that fits your belt and your carry habit matters more than one that looks good on the box.

Care and the Camillus warranty

The American Knife & Tool Institute's basics apply here. Clean dirt from the blade and handle, then wipe on a light coat of oil against moisture. Oil folding mechanisms if they see heavy use. Store knives somewhere cool and dry, not in a damp basement or garage. Keep the edge sharp: a sharp blade needs less force and slips less.

Always cut away from your body and away from anyone nearby. Don't use a knife as a pry bar, screwdriver or hammer.

That last one matters for the warranty too. The maker lists a limited lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and materials. It excludes normal wear, resharpening, misuse (including using a knife as an axe, screwdriver or pry bar), lack of normal maintenance, disassembly, and any alteration. Call customer service for a return authorization number before you ship anything. The maker refuses packages sent without one.

Who's behind Camillus

The maker's site says Camillus has been making knives since 1876. A historic marker placed by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation in 2018 says the Camillus Cutlery Company was bought by Adolph Kastor in 1902, received an Army-Navy production award in 1943, operated until 2007, and lost its factory to a fire in 2013.

SGB Media reported in November 2023 that GSM Outdoors had acquired Camillus Cutlery and called it one of the oldest knife manufacturers in the United States. The maker's warranty page sends returns to GSM Outdoors in Irving, Texas. Outside of the two knives the maker labels USA made, I couldn't verify where the knives are made today, so I've left that out.

A knife that's been around since 1876 has seen a lot of logbooks. Mine just wants the model number written in pencil next to the date.