The more I dabble in knives, the more attracted to scout knives I become. Did you know there are “Official” Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Girl Scout Knives? And, more importantly, did you know there are “not Official” scout knives?
Just because you have a vintage knife with the word “scout” on the shield, doesn’t mean it’s an official scout knife – no sirree Jim Bob!
I thought I might point out the differences here in this blog post.
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For example, this Ulster Scout knife is official because of the official Boy Scout emblem that is the shield:
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This Seneca Cutlery multi blade knife *(see below) that has the same characteristics of a scout knife in pattern, blades and design, and reads “scout” on the shield , but is NOT official:
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The same with this Corning Knife Co. 3 blade (can opener and screwdriver blades in addition to a main spear point blade) (see below) reads “scout” on the shield, however there is no association with the fraternal organization known as the Boy Scouts of America. The knife simply resembles the traditional 4 blade scout knife pattern and they added a shield to promote the resemblance. Nothing official about it.
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Here, here is a typical scout knife pattern (see below pic) with no association to the Boy Scouts of America, nor does it carry the word “scout” anywhere on it, however…………………..because of the pattern and style (main spear point blade, screwdriver/cap lifter blade, can opener blade, and awl/leather punch) this Hammer Brand knife is sometimes referred to as a scout knife.
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The same intentions go for this CASE XX knife (see pic below). Looks and feels like a scout knife, but because of the lack of and official BSA trademarks, this knife is a scout pattern only.
————————————————————-Now, here’s a Camillus OFFICAL Scout knife (see pic below). You can see the official emblem on the handle, AND the official imprint on the main blade.
In the knife world, this 4 blade pattern is also referred to as a “camp” and or “utility” knife. I assume, somewhere along the line, some company got busted for using the word “scout” and had to change to camp or utility so their knife wouldn’t infringe on the scout knife…..but that’s just a guess on my part.
To boil it down to easy-to-understand knife jargon, if you see the “official” Boy Scouts of America wordage and or logo, then it’s been approved by the BSA (or at least they’re going to get some financial residual from using the BSA logo 😉 .
And heck, we didn’t even cover the official scout single fixed blades……..
The best resource for dating your scout knives is at www.scoutknives.net
Steel Sahlute a kid……give 'em a Scout Knife!!
Scott
The History of the Colonial Knife Company, by Robert Paolantonio