Wow, what a generous offer. Barlows have a special place in my heart, and I have never been able to afford one costing more than what a swap shop find costs.
"Thank you Charlie Campagna for your vision to put a Barlow in Every Pocket. I promise to carry and use this TC Barlow and will never sell it"
I'm a sentimental guy when it comes to tradtionals. It's funny, unless the knife has a history or a story, it usually gets left at home. Modern folders get carried because they seem to fit the task for the day, but for whatever reason, a traditional that I carry has to have a tale or a story or be attached to a memory. One of the reasons (beyond really not being able to afford it right now) why I gave up on ordering myself a Beer Scout was that it wouldn't have any attachment to me. It would just be this thing that I spent 100 dollars on when a SAK could do the same job. My only GEC was a gift, actually, and every time I carry it I think of the gentleman who gave it to me. Thanks again, Phil
It's why I don't even treat myself to a modestly priced Case and most of my Rough Riders stay at home. I just keep packing the trapper or stockman my wife and daughter gave me.
Traditional knives, to me, are pocketable memories. You don't use or carry them because they are fast or generally have super steels or can purportedly cut you out of a car. You carry them because of how they make you feel. How they hang in your hand or remember your first cub scout knife, how your dad or grandfather or uncle would carry one just like it and how you felt the first time they felt you were responsible enough to use it.
Should I be lucky enough to win, it would be a three-fold victory for me. It would truly be a knife that I wouldn't be able to stomach to afford presently. It would also be yet another nail in my traditional coffin as I find myself gravitating toward these "old school" knives more and more as each year I find myself just a little bit more "old school" than the last
. Finally, it would remind me not only of the consistent and mind-blowing generosity of this forum but also of one of the first pocket knives my grandfather gave me as a boy about 8 or 9.
Of course...I lost that knife
However, I remember it well. It was a double bladed Barlow with scales so old I couldn't tell if they were bone or deeply work-worn wood. The bolster was a weathered gray steel with the traditional BARLOW stamped down the side. My grandpa, a man of the most modest means, had picked it up for a quarter at a yard sale. The blades had a deep rich patina on them except where grandpa had honed and polished the edge. I have been sharpening my own knives for nearly 30 years, but it still boggles my mind how dang SHARP he could get any blade with nothing more than an old Arkansas stone.
I probably had that Barlow for about a summer. Like so many others through the years, the woods swallowed it up. It may have fallen out of my pocket. I may have left it stuck in some stump. For all I know, my non-knife loving mother may have liberated it from my closet when I wasn't looking
At any rate, it was that old Barlow given to my by my grandfather in his work shop basement back in the late 80's that really cemented me enjoying the pattern. It wasn't until nearly 30 years later that I stumbled across an old $6 Craftsman Barlow that reminded me of the knife that jogged my memory of how much I really did miss that old knife lost to the wilds of rural Indiana.
I can honestly say that if I were ever lucky enough to own such a fine Barlow it would most likely spend more days than not in my pocket. It's a classic pattern that was designed for use and carry. I'd be honored to give it such a life.
