Camillus Carbonitride Titanium Folding Knives Listed and Compared
They’re a well-established American name, but they started getting a bad rep in the knife world after the name was bought by Acme United back in 2007 and Camillus knives began being made overseas. They’ve made a lot of moves to rebuild the brand since then though, starting with some heavy bushcraft designs that they pushed hard on survival shows with people like Les Stroud. Now they’re back in the folding knife game full swing and have actually become a pretty decent budget line for casual and outdoor edc.
One of their more recent hot features is the titanium coated knives. Specifically, Camillus claims their knives are greatly improved by one of two things: titanium bonding and carbonitride titanium.
Under 3 Inches:
- Blaze – 2.75″ Wharncliffe Blade | D2 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium Coating | G-10 Handle | Read More…
- Camlite – 2.25″ Drop Point Blade | 440 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium Coating | GFN Handle | Read More…
- TigerSharp – 2.82″ Drop Point Blade | 420J2 Titanium Bonded Steel | GFN Handle | Read More…
- Centerfire – 2.75″ Spear Point Blade | AUS-8 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium | G-10 Handle w/ shell casing insert | Read More
- 6.5” with Marlin Spike – 2.5″ Wharncliffe Blade | VG-10 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium | G-10 Handle | Read More…
Over 3 Inches:
- Cuda – 3.75″ Drop Point Blade | AUS-8 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium | G-10 Handle | Read More…
- Chunk – 3.0″ Cleaver Blade | 420 Titanium Bonded Steel | GFN Handle | Read More…
- Morph – 3.5″ Offset Clip Point Blade | AUS-10 Titanium Bonded Steel | G-10 Handle | Read More…
- Pristine – 3.0″ Drop Point Blade | VG-10 Steel w/ Carbonitride Titanium | G-10 Handle | Read More…
- Guise – 3.0″ Drop Point Blade | 420 Titanium Bonded Steel | ABS Handle | Read More…
What Is Titanium Bonding and Carbonitride Titanium?
Both are essentially coatings on the blade, but it’s not like a mirror finish. These coatings actually add to the hardness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance of the blade.
Titanium Bonding
If you’ve ever shopped around for high-priced tools like drill bits, you’ve probably handled a few pieces treated with titanium nitride. Camillus is doing something similar with their blades. They’re basically cooking a combination of titanium and chromium nitride into the surface of the blade to make a stronger coating. It’s important to note that these are not full titanium blades, and you wouldn’t a knife made entirely out of titanium anyway. It’s just a really good coating.
Carbonitride Titanium
Same principle, just harder, supposedly. Camillus claims the carbonitride titanium formulation they put on some blades is 10 times stronger than… something.
Actually their marketing isn’t super clear on what it’s stronger than, but I assume they mean harder than if there weren’t any coating at all. They also talk about the coating forming a “crystalline structure” which sounds impressive, but that’s what’s supposed to happen when you heat treat metals anyway. That’s just a science-y way if saying “This isn’t paint, it’s metal.” The important part is that it does make a really strong coating that adds significantly to the durability of the blade and creates a finish that doesn’t wear away or chip off under heavy use for a very long time.
I had originally set out to create a comprehensive guide to all Camillus’ titanium bonded knives, but I vastly underestimated how many knives they’ve done this too. As of this writing, Camillus makes about 60 folders and 30 fixed blade knives with some kind of titanium coating. I’m way too lazy to go through reviews and specification on almost a hundred knives, so instead I’ve picked out a few from specific categories and tried to talk about a representative sample from each. I only cover folding knives here, but I’ll be putting up a quick guide to their fixed-blade knives pretty soon.
Titanium Folding Knives 3 Inches and Under
If I recall right, this was the area Camillus really excelled in the old days. They don’t quite look like they used to now, but if nothing else, they’ve put some effort into providing their customers with a variety of designs, which is pretty rare in knives with smaller blades.
Blaze
| Overall Length: | 6.75″ |
| Blade Length: | 2.75″ |
| Blade Steel: | D2 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride Titanium |
| Blade Style: | Wharncliffe |
| Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Material: | G-10 |
| Open System: | Flipper and thumbhole |
| Carry System: | Tip-up clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 19808 |
Camillus lists this knife as a drop point on their site, but I’m going to respectfully disagree. That’s a sheer drop on the back of that tip, and the edge runs a straight enough line to count as Wharncliffe for me. That’s not a bad thing though, and I’m a little confused by their calling it a drop point. I like the blade style. It makes it stand out and it gives it a decent combination of slicing and chopping usability. This looks like a stand-in paring knife for a camping trip to me.
Camlite
| Overall Length: | 6.25″ |
| Blade Length: | 2.25″ |
| Blade Steel: | 440 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride Titanium |
| Blade Style: | Drop point |
| Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Material: | GFN |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Lockback |
| Model #: | 19200 |
This is the kind of knife that ends up sitting in one of my car’s cup holders until the end of time. It’s a handy little thing to have around if you’ve got a lot of letter opening or splinter pulling or whittling to do. It’s not a thoroughbred racer. This knife has straight 440 stainless steel and a GFN handle, so it’s pretty soft.
Camillus isn’t trying to impress anyone, though, they’re just making a little low-cost knife that you can pick up for the price of a dinner for one and still count on to some degree. They actually make a smaller version of this, the CamLite Mini with a slightly shorter handle and a 2-inch blade if you really really like tiny things. My main complaint about this knife is that it doesn’t have a lanyard hole. If it did, it would probably be on my keychain right now.
TigerSharp
| Overall Length: | 7.25” |
| Blade Length: | 2.85 |
| Blade Steel: | 420J2 |
| Blade Coating: | Titanium Bonded |
| Blade Style: | Drop point |
| Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Material: | GFN |
| Open System: | Flipper and Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 19131 |
Here’s an idea: instead of sharpening your knife, just replace the blade. That sounds foolproof, right?
That’s the big concept behind the TigerSharp design. It’s always sharp because you can just replace the blade when it gets dull. And to be fair, replacement blades for this are pretty cheap. You can pick up a 4-pack of blades for about $10, usually. So long as you always have a couple replacements on you, this knife will, in fact, stay factory sharp. They’re using a fairly soft steel for this, probably to keep the price of replacements down, but the idea here is to provide quantity over quality.
It makes it a little difficult to write about this knife in a general way, though, because not only do they make several kinds of interchangeable blades, they also make versions with different handles. The one we’ve got up here is my preference, but all versions seem to feature GFN handles and 420J2 steel.
Centerfire
| Overall Length: | 6.75″ |
| Blade Length: | 2.75″ |
| Blade Steel: | AUS-8 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride Titanium |
| Blade Style: | Spear point |
| Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Material: | G-10 with shell casing insert |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 19471 |
This is a decent enough knife, but I think the big pull over other knives is the shell casing they set into each handle. I’ve seen version of this knife with 30-30, 30-06, and 30-60 casings. I’m not sure how many they actually make though. In another context I would probably say that a knife with a bullet casing in the handle was an annoying gimmick to grab onto the overzealous “urban tactical” crowd, but the Centerfire actually looks kind of classy rather than aggressive.
The other benefit is the steel. As far as I’m concerned, AUS-8 is the perfect budget folder steel (unless we’re talking Buck knives). It’s just about the right amount of hardness before it starts becoming a chipping risk and holding a grudge against sharpening stones and honing rods.
6.5” with Marlin Spike
| Overall Length: | 6.5″ |
| Blade Length: | 2.5″ |
| Blade Steel: | VG-10 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride Titanium |
| Blade Style: | Wharncliffe |
| Grind: | Sabre |
| Handle Material: | G-10 |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Pocket or lanyard |
| Lock Type: | Liner / Shackle |
| Model #: | 18670 |
This disastrously named knife is really useful if you’re the fishing or boating type, but any activity that makes use of a lot of rope or string will have a place for the… 6.5 with Marlin Spike Knife.
Despite the name, it really is a pretty interesting knife with a cool design. It’s probably the most extreme version of a Wharncliffe I’ve ever seen, with a high sabre grind and VG-10 steel. This is a blade just begging to be used on some outdoor kitchen work. Of course, I say it’s good for fishing trips, it might not be the best thing for actually cleaning fish since it doesn’t have much of a tip to work with. It also doesn’t have a pocket clip so it’s not exactly designed for quick draw use.
Put it in your tackle box or bug-out bag or on the yacht that I assume you have, and take it out for those special occasions when you have rope to pick apart or some vegetables to throw over the campfire.
If you’d like to see our cool pictures and even cooler opinions on this knife, check out our full review here.
Folders Over 3 Inches
Camillus doesn’t really make anything that goes too far beyond the 3-inch mark. If you’re looking for massive folding knives, you’re probably looking for companies like Cold Steel. I have yet to find anything from Camillus that gets past 3.75 inches. But personally, I think this is the category where they do their best work these days.
Cuda
| Overall Length: | 9.0″ |
| Blade Length: | 3.75″ |
| Blade Steel: | AUS-8 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride Titanium |
| Blade Style: | Drop point |
| Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Material: | G-10 |
| Open System: | Thumb slide |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 18533 |
You don’t really see thumb slide knives anymore, but they’re pretty cool. They’re really more of a novelty at this point thanks to the widespread innovation of assisted open systems, but honestly I’d prefer a good thumb slide to an assisted open or even an automatic. It’s a simpler mechanism, basically just a bar moving through a slot, so there’s less that can wear out or break.
The Cuda design is solid overall, too. It has a thin profile, but with a blocky design that comes out pretty sturdy. It’s a good urban EDC. It could do with more belly to the blade, but the straight edge is all part of its slim aesthetic, and the Cuda gets a lot of points for the AUS-8 steel and G10 scales combination.
Chunk
| Overall Length: | 7.25″ |
| Blade Length: | 3.0″ |
| Blade Steel: | 420 |
| Blade Coating: | Titanium bonded |
| Blade Style: | Sheepsfoot |
| Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Material: | GFN |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down carry |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 19599 |
This is a really nice design, and it makes me furious. There’s a tall flat grind in a cleaver style that has a wide range of uses extending as far as a bit of survival work. The handle is going to be a little too light, and feel cheap, but that’s what you get for the price. I can get used to that. The only real potential dealbreaker for me on this knife is the 420 steel. Not 420HC, not AUS-8. It’s straight, super-soft 420 without a chaser.
That means this knife will not hold an edge. It’s easy enough to sharpen, and with a good enough heat treatment it won’t chip too easily, but it extends far beyond the softness range than I care to go most of the time. It’s a shame, because I would be willing to pay an extra $10 for a standard quality steel in this design. It’s on my radar even with the 420 steel, because for $15 it’s not a big risk. But this could have been an absolutely fantastic knife with just a little more investment in materials.
Morph
| Overall Length: | 8.0″ |
| Blade Length: | 3.5″ |
| Blade Steel: | AUS-8 |
| Blade Coating: | Titanium bonded |
| Blade Style: | Clip point |
| Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Material: | G-10 scale and stainless steel frame |
| Open System: | Wrist flick or two-hand pull |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Frame lock |
| Model #: | 1937 |
The only thing I can see myself doing with this is sharpening or shaving pieces of wood. Not that there aren’t other things you could do with it. It’s a big piece of Aus-8 steel with a thick spine. The design echoes the Cold Steel Voyager a little, though, and it just makes me want to hack the crap out of a tree branch.
Camillus designed the offset blade for “leverage”. I’m not clear on what they mean by leverage, but I know what I would mean, and it would have everything to do with wood and wood related activities. It also features a frame lock with G10 scales on one side which means this was made to be durable, but not necessarily comfortable. Definitely the kind of knife I would add to a “folders for survival” list, if I had such a thing.
Pristine
| Overall Length: | 6.75″ |
| Blade Length: | 3.0″ |
| Blade Steel: | VG-10 |
| Blade Coating: | Carbonitride titanium |
| Blade Style: | Drop point |
| Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Material: | G-10 w/ steel bolsters |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 18671 |
The Pristine is a modest gentleman folder with a pretty respectable list of materials. The VG10 steel in a high hollow grind makes it a great slicer, and the combination of G10 and stainless steel bolsters is a fashionable way to make a smaller knife hefty and durable. It doesn’t make much effort toward handle ergonomics, but there’s only so much to be done on a handle that small anyway. I will say that if there’s a larger downside to this knife, it’s that it probably won’t feel super comfortable in larger hands.
Guise
| Overall Length: | 7.25″ |
| Blade Length: | 3.0″ |
| Blade Steel: | 420 |
| Blade Coating: | Titanium bonded |
| Blade Style: | Drop point |
| Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Material: | ABS |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Carry System: | Tip-down clip |
| Lock Type: | Liner |
| Model #: | 19830 |
We’re back in extreme budget range with the Guise: basic 420 steel, and a plastic-based handle. When you’re in the sub $20 range, though, these are the kinds of materials you can usually expect to deal with. The Guise works well enough as a backup blade.
As low effort as the materials are, though, the design is actually pretty good. The blade has a high profile with a good chunk of steel at the center, and the false edge adds some good geometry to the point of the blade to make it a little more usable. The price makes the knife worth picking up, just don’t expect it to blow your mind.
i just got the chuck knife i use it for my job on the farm and use the knife for cutting hay bails to feed the animals i have only used the factory ege on the blade i works very well and cuts very nice a clean cut every time.
if i could i would give this knife a 100/10 star rating