Founded by Charles E. Sherwood in 1894 as the Sherwood Cutlery Company. On July 14, 1894, he opened the first factory on the bank of Nine Mile Creek. Denton E. Bingham was superintendent of the factory. S & C Wardlow steel from England was used in manufacturing Sherwood’s knives.
Mr. Sherwood was not very successful, and in 1896 he leased the factory to the Robeson Cutlery Company of Rochester, New York. He acted as manager of the firm during their occupancy, which was for two years. Mr. Sherwood eventually re-opened the factory as the “Camillus Knife Company.”
He sold the business in 1901 to Adolph Kastor and Brothers, cutlery jobbers of New York City. In 1902, the name “Camillus Cutlery Company” was adopted, and has been used through the present.
Moritz Mayer was manager of the factory from 1902 until his death in 1922. William D. Wallace replaced Mr. Mayer as manager. For many years, the cutlery was run as a subsidiary of the Kastor firm.
In 1947, the Kastor name was dropped, and all trademarks were assigned to the Camillus Cutlery Company. The main offices were moved from New York City to the factory in 1949.
This cutlery firm not only made their own knives, but made contract knives for many of the now defunct hardwares. These knives carried the trademark of the hardware.
The Camillus Cutlery also played an important role during WWII. They made all types of cutlery for all the branches of the military. Today this firm is one of the largest makers of cutlery in the U.S. They make a complete line of cutlery for every use.
Camillus Cutlery box label from the 1930s.
Their trademarks were:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-Sword-Brand.pdf” title=”Camillus Sword Brand”]
1906
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-mumbly-peg.pdf” title=”Camillus mumbly peg”]
1937
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-Kent.pdf” title=”Camillus Kent”]
1931
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-Camco.pdf” title=”Camillus Camco”]
1948
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-Cam-lok.pdf” title=”Camillus Cam-lok”]
1974
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/goins/C-names/Camillus-American-Wildlife.pdf” title=”Camillus American Wildlife”]
1975
c 1902-present