Barrel Knives.

I'mSoSharp

I'mSoSharp

Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
1,452
A few years ago I was luck enough to buy an old P. Holmberg Barrel knife, a lovely little thing in quite good condition with a 3 1/4" handle.
Right from getting it I really liked it, liked the look, liked the mechanism & especially liked the fact it harked back to an simpler time, a slower time, in fact it has to be the slowest opening knife there is, it seems now if it's not O.H.O it's no good, even better a flipper or auto, a knife as fast as possible, a reflection on modern life?

I wanted another one, a bigger one, sad thing is you can't pop down to the knife shop & buy one so I thought about making one, then thought some more, this was in the back of my mind for a long time because I didn't know if I was capable of making one even though I'd made a few fixed knives this was something completely different.

About a year ago I started to make one, I'd found nothing suitable for the bolster so thought I'd have a go at making them, for this knife I thought I'd copy the old one just 50% bigger. So bolsters were made from stainless steel fabricated & welded up, blade is spring steel & fittings from a mixture of both, brass blade liner, handle material homemade epoxy resin/black denim with an internal brass liner.


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So I was very happy with how it turned out, but released that 50% bigger didn't really make a knife that was proportioned correctly! :grumpy:
Back to the drawing board for another attempt, this time using Olive (fire wood!) for the handle making it longer & a little slimmer in the bolster to be proportionally more pleasing.


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Proportionally a much better knife but ended up a whopping 6" handle.

The next one I was asked to make, a much more sensible 4 1/2" handle with the blade as long as I could make it, handle homemade epoxy/fabric with brass filings & a satin blade.
To get the blade as long as possible I made it with a slightly longer folded tang & made the bolster as small as possible.
The new owners photos as they are much better than mine!

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I'm happy with this one, by far the nicest knife I've made to date.

Better get making another.........:)

Hope you like them.
 
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Very nice. If you like Barrel Knives you might want to check out Alfred Dobner's work. He makes a very nice version of it as well.
 
Those are nice! I've always wanted a folder of that style... :)


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very nice particularly the last two. agree with DD as while I don't recall having seen one of those knives from a custom maker, it would be nice to add to the collection.
 
I learned something new today. Had never heard of or seen a barrel knife before. The last 2 are gorgeous.
 
The olive wood ( firewood ) knife is way bigger than I thought seeing your picture in the other thread. Goodness man...that knife is something else indeed...magnificent comes to mind :D Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more :D
 
It could be of interest because it's a 1874 U.S. patent for a barrel knife. That's the same year that Johan Engström was setting up his factory. I wonder if the U.S. patent actually includes an improvement to the then-current barrel knife design being made in Europe or if Hans Nilson was actually trying to take credit for the design in its entirety? I don't understand the mechanics well enough to know.

Interesting, no?
 
SpySmasher said:
It could be of interest because it's a 1874 U.S. patent for a barrel knife.
Click to expand...

SpySmasher, my post above asking Jolipapa why it's interesting probably sounds a bit harsh, & I would not normally be so blunt on a forum.

But Jolipapa made post #25 in this thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-A-couple-of-Spanish-Olive-wood-folders/page2 that reads as if I'm either copying someone else work or passing it off as my own, despite P.M'ing him & asking him to adjust his post (English not being his first language) so as it doesn't look so accusing, he chose not to & said he'd replied on the forum.

So, the above cross-posted quote (& big grin) with a 100+ year out of date U.S patent is his reply. :confused: So your guess is as good as mine.
 
I'mSoSharp said:
SpySmasher, my post above asking Jolipapa why it's interesting probably sounds a bit harsh, & I would not normally be so blunt on a forum.

But Jolipapa made post #25 in this thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-A-couple-of-Spanish-Olive-wood-folders/page2 that reads as if I'm either copying someone else work or passing it off as my own, despite P.M'ing him & asking him to adjust his post (English not being his first language) so as it doesn't look so accusing, he chose not to & said he'd replied on the forum.

So, the above cross-posted quote (& big grin) with a 100+ year out of date U.S patent is his reply. :confused: So your guess is as good as mine.
Click to expand...
Gotcha.

Lovely knives, anyway. That last one in particular is spectacular.
 
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