As I predicted/forecasted/warned, the folks at Camillus have closed their doors.
Fortunately, I did get not one but two of the knives I wanted from them.
BUT…I still need the TacTool.
Its sad that these good American knife companies are going under. I was in WallyWorld the other day and even some of the Buck and Gerber knives are mafe in China. Even if the Chinese did make quality stuff, I’d avoid it just on principle.
I think KaBar might be the last choice for a large sheath knife thats US made. We’ll see. I have a gun show this weekend to attend so perhaps there’ll be another Becker knife in the future if I come across one.
That’s a pity.
Beckers are my family’s Horking Big Knife. My brother has a BK-1, and I’ve got a BK-9, which I recoated in safety orange because I didn’t dig the M4ll n1nj4 t4ctic00l black finish.
Ethan Becker will be back; the line is too darn practical not to get picked up by somebody.
The tac tool looks a lot like my dive tool I bought years ago.
Here’s an example.
http://www.joediveramerica.com/page/JDA/PROD/knives/30071
Oh, man, this is tragic. I hate stuff like this.
Ironically, my USMC-issue “Ka-Bar” (from the early ’80s) is actually made by Camillus. It’s a great knife, as you’d expect – it’s cut down trees of 4″ diameter in a pinch before.
Such a shame
Still several good big-blade US makers though.
I think Ontario is probably the biggest (their Randall line is very good, and reasonably priced.)
Bark river knife and tool makes some good large blades, as does Swamp Rat and Scrapyard knives. Those are all in the 100-150$ range though, not nearly as good a deal as the Beckers were.
I am going to miss that Camillus steel.