Custom Justin Gingrich Camillus Beckers

So here is a post I'm so happy to finally get out. It's been a draft that I worked on for a long time as I've been adding to bit by bit while I learned more. It was a fun journey that I'm very excited to share with you.

So it seems there was some custom Camillus Beckers that I have never seen before.

I came across this old serrated Camillus bk2 on Ebay and it sparked some questions.

At first glance all I thought was that it's a Camillus bk2 with some homemade handles, aftermarket sheath, and custom finish. That's not uncommon at all, you see at-home custom Beckers pop on on Ebay all the time. The thing is, the seller claimed it was something else. He claimed it was a "special factory order" customized by Justin Gingrich of Ranger Knives. Also claimed they were from blanks sold at the Camillus closing auction. The seller said they were made out of Camillus "OVB" Becker blanks. This of course dosen't make any since. The Camillus OVB (Our Very Best) line did not feature Beckers. So this confuses me, is it a special factory order? As in, Camillus was still open and they produced this? Or was this from the closing auction?

Something else I found interesting is two other claims by the seller. First he claimed they were all a special order for Smokey Mountain Knife Works (SMKW). Second, this was one of the last projects Camillus was doing trying to save their business. Not saying these are true, but I can get behind these last two claims. SMKW has always been a unique place and orders lots of "exclusives" from different companies. It also makes since that this could be one of the last projects Camillus worked on before they closed down. That would certainly explain why we have absolutely no info or old ads about these.  I did some digging around on SMKW and found nothing, but the Camillus days were a really long time ago so there aren't many good breadcrumbs to follow.

Now here is where I found the first breadcrumb and it gets good.  I only found one place with a small thread of evidence. This place happens to have an extremely close proximity to SMKW (only a few hundred yards actually), Buds Gun Shop. Thank God they have the most outdated website around and have never updated anything! Here we strike gold. I found two old listings for "CMBKJG" (thats CaMillus BecKer Justin Gingrich). I found a bk2 and a bk9. This bk2 was non-serrated. They were listed under "Live TV Exclusives"....what? Sounds like something for one of those QVC cable channels? I don't even know what to think about that.

It's very interesting that the micarta handles cover up the extended pommel on the bk9.

Links to these are HERE and HERE.

Something else to add if you Google around at some Ranger knives during that time, sheaths just like the one on the bk9 above were used.

So as you can see the coating on the bk2s are extremely textured and web-like. Where as the coating on the bk9 is a grey color and more smooth. The coating on the bk2s literally looks like it's powder coated over the existing coating. The logos are basically gone because of this.  While the silver/grey bk9 coating is very fine and really dosen't appear to be double layered, you can also still make out the logo clearly.

Here is where it gets better with the second breadcrumb. If you're crazy enough to sort through hundreds and hundreds, hours and hours of pages of old Camillus Becker Ebay listing from Worth Point, yes I'm that crazy, you find these.

So here we have what looks to be a Gingrich custom Camillus bk3. Same handles, same sheath (in a new color), and a new coating.

Here is a bk9 Just like the one from the Buds Gun Shop listing. Same silver/grey coating, sheath, and handles. 

In both the Ebay listings above that I found in Worth Point: neither seller claimed these were Gingrich customs, just customizations.

I recently got lucky and found myself one of these Gingrich bk9s and it is beautiful! Like the ones from Worth Point the seller and listing had no mention that this was customized by Justin Gingrich.

It might be important to note that on my Gingrich bk9 above, it does not have the clip/swedge just like the early Camillus bk9s. The stock photo from the Buds Gun Shop page definitely shows one with the clip. I really can't tell if the one from the Worth Point photo has it or not. However, it makes me think, was it meant to not have the clip? I know tons of people think the bk9 should not have the clip and the Camillus bk9s without the clips do sell for some high prices. If these were a special factory order meant to be an upgraded version of the bk9 could one of those upgrades be the subtraction of the clip point?


Another thing to throw out there is that they are numbered on the inside.

This bk9 has the number 12 on both the L and R handle and on the blade.

The bk2sg has the number 52 on both the L and R handle and on the blade.

So summing up:

So far we know there was a bk2, bk2sg, bk3, and bk9. I wouldn't be shocked at all if a Gingrich bk7 shows up. Who knows how many of the other Becker models this customization was done to. It seems the idea behind it was to put upgraded handles on them, upgraded sheath, and I guess an upgraded coating on them and sell them as custom Beckers that look like Ranger knives?

I don't know if these were sold buy Camillus, or if Justin just bought a bunch of Beckers on his own and customized them. Or maybe Justin bought a bunch of Becker blanks at the Camillus closing auction? Tons of theories possible, but I'm thinking this is not done by Camillus or we would have some old info on it.

***UPDATED***
2/22/19

So I did the smart thing and emailed Justin Gingrich himself to ask about these. So now we have a definitive answer. 

Justin said he did these for SMKW. Ive talked about this on other posts here on the blog, SMKW bought up TONS of stuff at the Camillus closing auction (see my CAM1A1 post HERE). So SMKW bought a bunch of heat treated and non-heat treated Becker blades from the auction and hired Justin Gingrich to finish them so they could sell them. He said he had to do handles, powder coating, and heat treat some. 

If the blank was already heat treated it probably had the coating on it, so that makes the double powder coated bk2s above make since.

So if Camillius went under in 2007, these Gingrich customs were probably made right after that. 

So there we go, that puts together all the mixed up pieces from the story above. So these were not produced by Camillus, or something Justin did on his own. Also dosen't surprise me that Buds Gun Shop got some of these, after all they are next door neighbors with SMKW.

***ANOTHER UPDATE***

Look what I just found on the SMKW website. Link HERE.

Also found an old sale thread on BF from 2013 with a Gingrich bk2. Link HERE.

USN Prototype Becker Dive Knife

So here is a bit more detail about the mystery Blackjack Becker USN dive knife that I have posted in the Blackjack page (Click HERE to view).


I just copied most of this over from my thread on Bladeforums so there might be some format errors.

Now before I begin, there was some doubts about this blade. Some questioned the legitimacy of this blade altogether, or thought it was doctored up years later with the etching/coating to make it something more than it was.

The main points the naysayers have said are 1) The black coated is not from Blackjack. 2) The laser etching is not from Blackjack 3) The edge is not patina'd/tarnished enough for its age.

So going through all this I have proven all these points to the blades legitimacy.


So the mysterious dive knife...

Its a long story and its going to take three nice and minty blackjack beckers to fully explain.

Here are some better photos of the blade.

Lets start off with where I got it. I got it from a guy who happens to live in the same state as Mike. Although there are several hours between them, make any speculations you want from that...

I don't actually know the seller and we didn't talk much. I first ran across him when he tried to sell me a black coated divtul a long time ago (I even made a thread about it here). I wasn't sure it was legit then, but I am sure now (more on that later). All that he knew about this blade was that is was meant to be a dive knife.

*EDIT here is the link to that thread* All the way back in 2015!

http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/blackjack-bk3-with-black-coating.1271653/

A dive knife from blackjack fits all the stories I've heard. I have found things online from both Ethan and Mike saying they have been selling tons of divtuls to divers because they make an amazing dive knife even though they were really made to be a sharpened pry bar. So it makes sense that blackjack would be considering making another knife just for the divers.

Here is the quote.

"ResqDivTul: We sold a lot to divers, because they worked well as dive knives. Most people don't realize that what a diver needs most is a pry bar. This is one of the best dive knives you could get-when you ask divers, they'll tell you they need a pry bar more often than they need a cutting edge. And this one works well as a pry bar; also, it's good for cutting yourself out if you get tangled in line. The ResqDivTul is made of hardened steel; most dive knives are made of 304 stainless, which won't take or hold an edge. This one will"

I also have found quotes saying they submitted the divtul to the SEALs and FBI and all sorts of government agencies. The only ones they said actually used them were the SEALs and FBI hostage rescue teams (this is important for later). So if they were submitting designs to the Navy, the U.S.N. makes perfect senses.

So far I do believe this "becker dive knife" (as I've come to call it) was a prototype dive knife and there seems to be a legit reason why the U.S.N. is on the blade.

Ok so why am I going on and on about the divtul and not this prototype. Well time to spill the beans... I believe this blade was made from a divtul blank. The cord grabber hook gives it away. When you lay it on top of a divtul they just about match up on the standard divtul with powder coat. On the black coated divtul, they match almost perfectly.

If you look at the choil in the photo below, it has a dip in the left corner the grinder didn't take out. That dip matches the start of the chisel grind on the regular divtul.

Despite the fact that it looks to be in great condition for its age, I do still believe it was made by blackjack. I really do not think this was altered or changed by anyone years later for better value.

If it is made from a divtul blank then it's 440a stainless, so no patina on the edge from age. It also would make sense of the stainless hardware only found on the divtul.

The only thing that's off is that the dive knife prototype is just a bit longer. However, these blades come from a time when "handmade in the USA" meant more than it does now. So like most blackjack beckers, they might not all be within the same levels of tolerances. Lots of the grind lines on my blackjacks are different even though they are the same blade. If Mike was around that day it probably meant the "one of a kind" stamp was pulled out haha.

So how do I know the black coating is legit? Because it's the same black coating that's on one of my divtuls and I CAN prove that that one is legit.

The department of defense ordered a bunch of divtuls from blackjack. They apparently had two alterations they requested.

1. Black blades to match the uniforms
2. Deeper cut serrations

Here is the quote about that.

Here is the actual order form! Its hard to read but you can make out that it's from the department of defense and they requested deeper serrations.

This black divtul does indeed have deeper cut serrations than the standard model as seen below.

The black coating on the divtul does indeed match the black coating on the dive knife. So I'm calling it legit.

So if all that wasn't enough to prove this blade legit, after I posted the all the stuff above I later asked Mike Stewart (President of Blackjack back then) about it and he confirmed it. 

So long long long after all the above was posted I finally found the missing link. The last piece of uncertainty was the laser etching. Well I found an old blackjack necker proto at Ethan's with laser etching: even in the same font.

So thats it, another prototype for the history books.

Blackjack Becker Divtul XL

The Divtul XL is just what I've been calling this, it's by no means the legit name. I wasn't sure these even existed until about a year ago. A fellow Beckerhead found one on eBay and posted a photo. That photo is super small and terrible quality. Luckily I've found the old listing on Worthpoint.

Here are the photos.

Now if you know your Becker history (you do if you've been reading this blog) you know that there were many shapes and sizes of the Divtul/Tactul from the Cincinnati days, but they are rare. I have never seen a physical Divtul/Tactul Cincinnati Blade. It used to be only the old ad photos and drawings until I was incredibly lucky to have Ethan show me the old snap shots of them in his office that are now in the Cincinnati page HERE. So from Blackjack the only Divtul/ResQ we ever saw in the catalogs and ads was the smaller version in both chrome and non-reflective finish. Check out some of those ads HERE.

So the question is if this larger version was the ResQ and the smaller version was the Divtul? I don't think so and here is why: The old ads, catalogs, and price/order sheets all call it by the singular name "ResQ/Divtul." Yes they did sell them in two categories, them being reflective (Chrome S.S.) and non-reflective (sandblasted). There was never a shred of evidence that there was a larger version. So my guess would be this was a ResQ/Divtul 2.0 or something? Or that they only made a small amount before Blackjack went under. This is just my theory, however it does seem to line up with the story from the auction listing below.

Here are the screen shots from the auction description. I don't know if this is the real story, but this is the only information anywhere online about this larger version. I personally don't know if I believe the production numbers, take everything with a grain of salt.

Here is just an excerpt from a Blackjack catalog the seller included in the listing.

So cool, right? Well: yes and no. 

As a collector finding a new blade that you didn't know existed (and have only ever seen one of in years of looking) and missing the auction, it's like getting kicked in the nuts. I know the guy who won it and he is one of only a few people with a collection like mine. Overall I'm glad it's with another Beckerhead. 

Now that auction was a long time ago, if we fast forward to now I have just recently acquired a Divtul XL of my own.

Check out this beauty!

However, this blade brings both good and bad tidings. I am so happy to have this to add to my collection, but as you can seen this XL is in the chrome finish and not the sandblasted non-reflective finish like the one above. What does this mean for me? Well it means I still have one more to find... great.