The Long Life of the Camper

[Roccomo]

A while back I came across an exceedingly cool site called The Blade Blog. It's run by an excellent writer named Ulf. Check it out for some deep research and cool pics of several rare knives and knife related things. Anyway, one post in particular really grabbed my attention. It was about the history, styles and brands of old German Springers and was mostly focused on the Camper.

Check out this knife, It's a pre WWII camper, a D.R.G.M. Jagdspringmesser by Daniel Peres. Pics from the Blade Blog used with Ulfs permission.



What got me was how similar it is to my 2003 Camper. Let me not understate how amazed I was over this. To think that any random knife nut in the 1930's would look at my knife and not see anything out of the ordinary for his own time. (Mind 83% Blown)



Take the old knife and swap out the carbon steel and the shell puller blade for stainless steel and a caplifter/screwdriver and they are essentially the same knife. There's just something really cool about a product that keeps going decade after decade with minimal changes done to it.





Love these old Campers. I think a modern one would fit right into this pic.



The last pic, from a different posting date, is of a Lever Release knife. It's from the 1920's and really cool with the shell pullers on the rear bolsters. It immediately reminded me of my Holy Grail knife, The Case Tested 5171L, which is also a Lever Release knife. Evidently the Lever Release differs from the Lever Lock in some ways.



Thanks to Ulf for allowing me to use a couple of his pics.

[Viking45]

I absolutely love the old German levers. Knives like this tell great stories...ya just gotta be a good listener
Nothing feels quite like a solid lever in the hand, outstanding knives, thanks for sharing.

[Bill DeShivs]

The knife in the last picture is not automatic. It's a manual open/close.

[jim d,]

Thanks for posting this Roccomo. I didn't know about the Blade Blog, but I do know Ulf. So do many of the members here. Ulf is not only a great writer, but also a great guy. He did some very in depth research into German leverlocks and wrote some fine articles about the results of his research for the Sharperdeal Newsletter a few years ago.

Jim

[Desktop]

Very interesting comparison, Roccomo - thanks for posting.
Bill is right, the last knife is a manual lever-release. These are quite rare and seldom show up on forums.
Thanks for your kind words, Jim!
Here is the Blade Blog link for interested members: http://thebladeblog-ulf.blogspot.com/

[hollowdweller]

Really beautiful stag on those older ones. Also wish the newer models had the more rounded thicker bolsters?

I have one older Hubie with the rounded bolsters. Wonder when they went to the flatter ones.

[lance]

I really digg,the camper lever locks and you're right there s nothing like the snap of a solid od lever fireing,they built stuff to last back then thats why its still made today!!