Barlow? Share all your Barlows here.

[cards94]

i like the kick and blade location the way it comes on the barlow. no changes necessary imo.

 

[Codger_64]

I am ordering a few boxes of Russell Barlows from my 1928 catalog if anyone wants in. No paypal since it hasn't been invented yet. Gold coin is best for fast placement of orders.

 

[singin50]

LOL, Oh how we wish Codger!

 

[waynorth]

They age well!! And a Gold coin will definitely buy a few!

 

[singin50]

Those are amazing Charlie!!:thumb up: Ok,,,,,,,,,,,I'm looking,,,,I'm looking,,,,for that gold coin.

 

[jon_slider]

I am ordering a few boxes of Russell Barlows from my 1928 catalog

I would take a gross of the Long Pulls

You have beautiful full bladed knives! The bottom one is not like the others

The clip point Remington arrived today:

 

[waynorth]

Nice Remingtons, Jon!
Nice start to a New Year - of Barlow collecting!!

 

[Codger_64]

Well, the response to my offer on the Russell barlows was weak, to say the least, but I am going to try again by offering to share an order from my 1924 Sears catalog. Once again, gold is king.

 

[waynorth]

I don't know, Codger - the knife is a little "thin"!

Will you take 33cents??

 

[jon_slider]

Nice Remingtons, Jon!

Thanks for introducing me to Barlows Charlie. On top is the Ebony Spear I carry every day.

and one more Remington, I seem to have a weakness for them, as well as Camillus, Boker and Tidioute (So far Ive managed to avoid Ulster, Imperial, and Schrade)

btw, can you venture an opinion whether this Boker is bone handled? (I thought the 3 pins meant it was, but am having some doubts):

Well, the response to my offer on the Russell barlows was weak, to say the least, but I am going to try again by offering to share an order from my 1924 Sears catalog. Once again, gold is king.

I ordered a gross of long pull Russells, but got no response. I did not realize Sears sold Long Pull Russells, or am I confused again? The gold is on its way by Pony Express.

 

[CoffeeCat2112]

btw, can you venture an opinion whether this Boker is bone handled? (I thought the 3 pins meant it was, but am having some doubts):

I have that exact same knife (I bought it from Doug Add). It is definitely bone. Here it is beside a synthetic 492 that I got from Paul Hilborn:

I would have to say the two pin/three pin theory holds at this point.

 

[waynorth]

Thanks for introducing me to Barlows Charlie.

You are welcome. They are not as expensive as some to collect, and very satisfying IMO.

btw, can you venture an opinion whether this Boker is bone handled? (I thought the 3 pins meant it was, but am having some doubts):

Bone handled for sure!!



I ordered a gross of long pull Russells, but got no response. I did not realize Sears sold Long Pull Russells, or am I confused again? The gold is on its way by Pony Express.

I think Codger is keeping them all to himself!
Even after my generous offer!!:grumpy:

 

[Codger_64]

Man, you guys are hard to please! OK, how about a 1941 Sears Fulton Barlow? This was the first year for the Craftsman mark on knives but the Craftsman Barlow didn't appear until later, after war rationing was over. The Fulton was available in limited supplies thru the war.

 

[Codger_64]

Beautiful Barlows guys. Here is the 1940 Remington from a hardware catalog.

 

[jon_slider]

It is definitely bone...

I would have to say the two pin/three pin theory holds at this point.

Thanks for your input and photo, very helpful

Bone handled for sure!!

OK, Im taking that to the bank, thank you

Beautiful Barlows guys. Here is the 1940 Remington from a hardware catalog.

I am enjoying your posts so much Codger, thank you!

Seems my Remingtons were made in a parallel universe where people write upside down

 

[Codger_64]

Artists doing ad cuts for catalogs took liberties with details you should realize. Also, your knife has the logo stamped correctly when the knife is held open in your hand for cutting. Maybe it was everyone else who got it wrong. I'm liking them. Note also that the 1940 Remington was one of the last before that cutlery closed as Remington tooled up for the war effort concentrating on firearms. Baer mentioned in his memoirs that it was shortly after he had bought out Divine (Ulster in January 1941) that Remington announced they were closing their cutlery and he went to buy the materials. He was beat out by Joe Mailman of PAL, but heard that Landers, Frairy and Clark were also closing their cutlery and moving to war production. He bought all of those materials there for a few cents a pound and thus had brass and steel to begin making knives at Ulster. So that gives you a very good idea of the time period in which true Remington Barlows were produced, between the two wars.

 

[jon_slider]

Note also that the 1940 Remington was one of the last before that cutlery closed...Remington Barlows were produced, between the two wars.

I love this historical stuff, thanks!
If Im recalling correctly, Remington started in 1920 and had hired a foreman named Tillmans away from Boker. Prior to that Tillmans worked for (Kastor/Koester) Camillus.

The Remington middle handle pin, that anchors the spring pivot/fulcrum, is in a similar position as the Boker and Camillus spring pins, closer to the bolster, not in the center of the handle. By contrast Schrade and Russell used spring pins that were centered on the handle.

Left to right, here is a Russell, then Camillus where Tillmanns started, then Boker where Tillmanns moved to in 1915, then Remington where Tillmanns moved to in 1919.

Look how similar the handle pin positions are on the Boker and Remington, as well as the Camillus. Not all the pictured knives are from the same time period, but you can see the pin placement examples.

Remington had a short run in the knife business, just 21 years between the two World Wars. Remington knife production started during the time that Women won the right to vote (1920), and the Prohibition of Alcohol (1920-1933), and ended along with the Great Depression (1929-1941), when we entered WW2.

The Remington era spanned Womens Suffrage, Womens Temperance, Alcohol Prohibition, Speakeasies, Flappers, The Crash of 29, The Great Depression, The dust bowl, and Pearl harbor.

I call my spear bladed Remington a Prohibition Knife because it has the bottom tang stamp in this pic.

My clip point Remington is too worn to see whether the REMINGTON tang stamp is in all caps or in cursive. It has the UMC and it has the Made in USA, so if cursive, it would be the bottom stamp in this image, that would make it a post prohibition Depression era knife:

As a rule of thumb on a tang stamp that includes UMC, if the word Remington on the tang stamp is in cursive, its post prohibition, if in all caps, it was made during prohibition.

 

[arizonaranchman]

Very interesting stuff!! Thanks Jon and Codger, I love the history posts like this.

 

[Codger_64]

Tillman is an interesting study. Adolph Kastor brought him over from Europe to install the German method of cutlery making at his Camillus factory after he bought it from Sherwood. Sherwood used Englis cutlers and the English method was slow and took too many man hours per knife, resulting in a factory whose production came no where near meeting Kastor's needs. Changing to the methods his own factory in Ohligs-Solengin used was the chief reason he decided to purchase Camillus from Sherwood. Carl Tillman, and his crew quit in protest in 1915 because the Kastors made knives for the U.S., British and Canadian Navies, and also for the Dutch.

Albert Baer, in his unpublished memoirs stated that Carl went to Utica when he left Camillus. The owner of Utica Brewery, Frances Matt, talked him into staying there and helping get a new cutlery up and running, Utica Cutlery. Tillman then heard from a former Utica salesman, A.H. Willy, that Remington Arms Company was going to get into the cutlery business so he applied for a job with them. Boker must have come later. In most of his narrative about Carl Tillman, he doesn't mention dates directly but refers to events which can be roughly dated.

I mentioned Sherwood. Here is a posted transcription of a handwritten note by Camillus historian Mrs. Maxwell. It mentions the English method of cutlery making.

This is a transcription of a note from the Camillus Archives handwritten by Mrs. Maxwell in the 1940's, per Tom Williams who knew approximately when it was written. I would have just posted the letter itself, but it would be difficult to present here in a readable format. I have transcribed it verbatum.

There are a few minor conflicts of dates with other written accounts, but by and large this is accurate. In it, Mrs Maxwell gives gathered recollections of the beginnings of Camillus Cutlery and events leading up to the aquisition of the company by Adolph Kastor.

Camillus Cutlery


First wheels turned in the Knife Factory July 14, 1894 by Chas. E. Sherwood. The First shipment of pocket knives was made to Hamilton & Matthews. Rochester, N.Y. in October 1894.

Mr. Sherwood had for his superintendent his brother-in-law Denton E. Bingham, who had had an extensive experience in cutlery manufacturing at Southhampton, Conn.

Mr. Sherwood had operated the factory for some time when Robeson Cutlery Co. of Rochester, who were among his customers, desired to lease the plant which they did in August of 1896. Mr. Sherwood acted as their manager during their occupancy, about two years. The town of Perry offered them a plant free of charge and because it was nearer Rochester the offer was accepted.

For a brief period at this time the factory was closed. Later Mr. Sherwood started it again and continued with varying success for some time.

Among his customers were Adolph Kastor & Bros., New York, cutlery jobbers and after a time Mr. Kastor, senior member of the firm, came to Camillus (about 1901) and desired to lease the plant and he negotiated with Mr. Sherwood to that end, buying the stock of material on hand, paying the amount of inventory. Mr. Kastor desired the privilege of putting up buildings in the rear of the present plant. Mr. Sherwood was asked to remain and take charge of the office and plant. The plan continued for some time and finally Mr. Kastor bought the business.

The original building was one story & basement. This was raised another story by Mr. Sherwood and has been enlarged several times since.

In the early days the manufacture of pocket knives was quite different from now. Then, a cutler would take the material for a dozen or two of knives and do practically all the work on them except grinding and finishing blades. Now this work is divided, hafting is done separately as are many other items.

Previously a cutler did about all the work on a knife and when a cutler like Mr. Primrose finished a knife, it was certainly a nice job. Many of the blades were forged.

Codger

 

[jon_slider]

Thanks for all your comments Codger. So, we dont know what year Tillmanns was at Boker, just that he was. We also know when he went to Remington, but not when he left.

here is my latest Remington the way it looked in the sellers photos when I bought it dirty and wobbly

and today, now that Ive cleaned it up a bit with steel wool, Sunshine cloth, alcohol, and oil, and peened (hammered) the pivot pin to eliminate the wobble. Its my first attempt at peening, and it worked!