Bear & Sons Stag Barlow First impressions

mhawg

mhawg

Joined
Jan 10, 2003
Messages
5,057
I just received this Bear And Sons Genuine India Stag Bone 4th Generation Barlow with carbon steel blades. Closed length is 3-1/2". I cost a little more (+/- $60) than the blades I've been picking up lately but those haven't been stag (bone). I liked the looks of this one right of the box and for the price I'm happy with it. I give the fit & finish a solid 90. The main blade pull is about medium (a very minimum 'medium') and the pen blade is more stiff, both with halfstops. Of course it's not perfect, the main blade is not centered but not scraping the liner.

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The clip point main blade has a nice grind on one side but a steeper grind on the other.

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The blade to backspring transition is typical of production knives so I didn't expect a custom fit. The backsprings and liners have a nice fit except a minute gap near the pivot end but no light comes through.

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The pen blade doesn't have any outstanding problems except that it is not very sharp out of the box. Easy fix.

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The pivot ends of the blades are not very finished but with the way they fit they didn't need much shaping I guess. Overall a nice knife. Now lets go get her dirty!!

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Hi,

Pretty nice. I keep looking at and wondering about the Bear and Son knives. Did you order on line with luck of the draw, or did buy local and pick it from several choices.

dalee
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

Pretty nice. I keep looking at and wondering about the Bear and Son knives. Did you order on line with luck of the draw, or did buy local and pick it from several choices.

dalee
Click to expand...

I ordered on line but in the comments block I asked them to pick me out a nice one so I could brag on it. :D
 
Nice, blades seem a little thick at the edge for me, but I can appreciate any fine barlow.
 
That's stag bone, aka cow bone that's been dyed to look like sambar stag. Thanks for sharing--I picked up a Bear & Son balisong with Arkansas Damascus and stag bone handles a few weeks ago.
 
Certainly one of the best 'Stag' jiggings I've seen... Love to find out.
 
I read that stag bone was made of cow shin bones, but being Indian, I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't think of the whole sacred cow thing like Roland did. Stag bone might actually be stag bone (just not antler)!
 
Thank you for the review, m-hog. Very detailed and useful. I wish there were more like it. Great pics, too.:thumbup:
 
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