"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[r redden]

Wow, Randy, what a score! I’ve always enjoyed seeing that R with an arrow tang stamp when pictures of Russell barlows show up here. Enjoy it!

Thanks Greg I found it on the bay and it truly is NOS with all the original goodies that came with it. Got in a bidding war and ended up having to pay $71 shipped but I really didn't Think that was to bad.

 

[Ramrodmb]

My Barlow collection is growing there are still a lot of examples out there I'll be looking for.

Looking good, Randy!

 

[Old Engineer]

Thanks Greg I found it on the bay and it truly is NOS with all the original goodies that came with it. Got in a bidding war and ended up having to pay $71 shipped but I really didn't Think that was to bad.

Congrats on finding that 1975 Russell Commemorative Randy . I think they sold those in 3 or 4 different Kits when they were new and you got one of the Higher Priced Kits with the Wooden Box . As I am sure you know , Schrade made those and I feel that they are a very well made Barlow that every Barlow collector should have one of .

Harry

 

[waynorth]

Nice collection, Randy, and a very nice Russell - at the right price!!

 

[abbydaddy]

Wonderful bunch of Barlow's Randy. I'm happy to see your dragon hoard growing again.




AbbyDaddy, great looking bird! And I really like the wood grain on your stock. I have my dad's Remington 1100 that he used to shoot skeet with all the time, and it has a similar looking nice chunk of walnut on it.

Thanks, I really do love the stock on that gun. It was an incredibly generous gift from a friend who knows how much I love a nice wooden stock on a gun. In all honesty, my gun collection is more traditional in styling than my knife collection. I love the look and feel of wood, but wood on that old Weatherby is just miles beyond any of my other guns. Although I do love the patina on my great-great-grandfather's .22, five generations of use has had a definite impact.

 

[AShearer]

Guys. I have been gone for awhile. I can't say entirely why but part of the story is outlined herein. If you know me, you know that I have been saving my pennies for a new shotgun to, hopefully raise up my level of competitiveness at Skeet and Sporting Clays. I finally got that done through saving; selling a few things I was ready to part with and just, time. So; here it is:

Sorry: Imgur seems to be broken but here's an upload.




Yes; this is a "pretty" gun but it's also so finely balanced and rock solid. I will shoot better with this gun. It inspires confidence. I feel like I could hold this gun with two index fingers.

So; in the end it was worth selling a handful of knives, a watch and some photography stuff I wasn't using anyway.

Glad to have a few free minutes to spend on my favorite forum. Thanks guys!!!!

 

[AShearer]

I just have to share my excitement with my friends here on the porch, who I know will understand. I have just been placed in charge of knife purchasing for the farm store where I work! (I am not mentioning store name or location, since we are obviously not a BF member dealer. This is in no way an attempt to drum up business, just sharing exciting news. Mods, I hope that is ok. If not, please feel free to delete.)

When I started working at the store part time in January, the knife case was a mixture of Case, Frost, and Steel Warrior. The display was not in a very prominent place, nor were the knives displayed very well, and everything was priced at MSRP. Understandably, sales were very infrequent. I didn’t say anything at first, because nobody likes “that new guy,” who comes in and has a better idea for everything. After a few months, though, I mentioned to my manager that I was a knife knut, and that I had some ideas to improve knife sales, if she ever wanted to hear them. She said she’d be glad to listen, so I told her that I thought we could improve the location and quality of the display, and tweak our selection to better suit our customers’ preferences. I also said that we needed to cut our margins on Case. I explained that a lot of folks prefer to buy Case knives in person, as opposed to buying them for the lowest possible price online, and that we can still make money while being more competitive. She said she would think it all over and get back to me.

Well, I was recently blessed to be promoted to the position of Assistant Manager, and yesterday she brought me an order sheet from our knife distributor and told me to make it happen.

I learned a lot of the information that I will use in this role right here on the porch, so a big thank you to everyone! I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do. Now, to teach all the other employees not to display folders with two blades partially open on the same spring…

This is great @Trout Hound I love stories like this. Good for you. Keep on chugging.

 

[AShearer]

I've finally got to where I can start to buy a few knives and begin rebuilding my collection. This makes me very happy and for awhile I'm going to concentrate on the beloved Barlows. Some of these were gifts from members and rhe TC I won in a GAW. Anyway here's what I have and very proud to own them and I think it's a good start.
First row left to right
1. 2017 TC Sheepsfoot on a 15 frame
2. and 3. S&M
4. 1974 Case razor
5. 1975 Case
Middle Rough Rider mini-barlow
Second row
1. 1975 100 year Russel commemorative Barlow
2. 60's Colonial covered in stag from @glennbad
3. USA made Remington
4. Old Colonial
5. Lionsteel Shuffler

That's great to hear and see Randy. Great for you! I'm glad you're back to some sense of normality.

 

[Rookie82]

Guys. I have been gone for awhile. I can't say entirely why but part of the story is outlined herein. If you know me, you know that I have been saving my pennies for a new shotgun to, hopefully raise up my level of competitiveness at Skeet and Sporting Clays. I finally got that done through saving; selling a few things I was ready to part with and just, time. So; here it is:

Sorry: Imgur seems to be broken but here's an upload.

View attachment 1006282
View attachment 1006289

Yes; this is a "pretty" gun but it's also so finely balanced and rock solid. I will shoot better with this gun. It inspires confidence. I feel like I could hold this gun with two index fingers.

So; in the end it was worth selling a handful of knives, a watch and some photography stuff I wasn't using anyway.

Glad to have a few free minutes to spend on my favorite forum. Thanks guys!!!!

Beautiful gun AShearer! What is that one?
A friend of mine who is a professional trap shooter recruited me for a summer wobble trap shooting league, just for fun. Since I am a beginner, and don't own a trap gun, he let me shoot a different gun of his each week. So I got 8 different guns in 8 weeks, and really got an idea of which I liked, and some I didn't. Although I know shooting a different gun every week didn't allow me to actually get better, but I enjoyed trying out such a variety of guns. I tried a few different Remington semi-autos, a Browning BT99, a Browning Citori, a few different Ljutic guns, a Tri-Star, and a Benelli. The best I shot was a 40/50 with the BT99, in week 5 of the league.

I definitely can see this hobby getting as expensive and addictive as knife collecting!

 

[Railsplitter]

Good to see you back, Alan. I too am curious what make and model your O/U is. It sure is a nice looking gun.

I was into Sporting Clays for awhile in the early 2000's but I had to give it up. I was spending all our discretionary income and my wife didn't get to do anything. I was having so much fun that I didn't realize I was keeping her from doing things until she pointed it out.

I never was very good at Sporting Clays but man, it sure was fun.

 

[Fodderwing]

Guys. I have been gone for awhile. I can't say entirely why but part of the story is outlined herein. If you know me, you know that I have been saving my pennies for a new shotgun to, hopefully raise up my level of competitiveness at Skeet and Sporting Clays. I finally got that done through saving; selling a few things I was ready to part with and just, time. So; here it is:

Alan the gun is exquisite. If you could post a better image we could more readily appreciate the scroll work which appears to be breath taking. Just can't focus it as sharply as necessary to see the detail. Congratulations on such a masterpiece.

 

[joeradza]

Good to hear from you again Alan. Hope all is well. I guess you passed near me this summer while you were in the LI Sound. I'm not much of a trap shooter although I did once shoot my way out of a trap.

 

[Prester John]

Good to see you back, Alan. I too am curious what make and model your O/U is. It sure is a nice looking gun.

I was into Sporting Clays for awhile in the early 2000's but I had to give it up. I was spending all our discretionary income and my wife didn't get to do anything. I was having so much fun that I didn't realize I was keeping her from doing things until she pointed it out.

I never was very good at Sporting Clays but man, it sure was fun.

Yeah, some of the gun sports can get expensive and time-consuming (like golf!). Enjoying my new knife hobby, though.

 

[btb01]

Nice to see you back around these parts, AShearer !

That's a good-looking gun! I enjoy shooting sporting clays, but I've only ever done so casually. There was a great course in Mesa where I used to shoot when we lived in Arizona, but I haven't found a sporting clays course here in Minnesota yet.

(To give you an idea of how casual my enjoyment of sporting clays is, my go-to shotgun is a Remington 870 Wingmaster that I bought secondhand. )

 

[veitsi_poika]

My wife Terri loves animals, sometimes maybe more than me but I'm OK with that as long as it's "sometimes" Over the past few weeks we have been having what seemed to be a stray cat showing up in our yard. Of course it happens to be the time of year that the temps start getting toward freezing, so naturally Terri starts to get concerned about the kitty. So she puts food/water on the front porch, builds a "cat house" out of an Amazon box, insulates it and puts one of our old cat beds in there. Since we have enough cats she decided that if she could eventually capture it she would bring it to the local shelter. As nights go by it becomes routine that he (the cat) would show up shortly after dark, eat, drink, sleep and then leave before I head out to work in the morning. We had no idea where he went during the day One night she decided to go outside and see if she could get near the cat. Well, he just runs up to her purring and rubbing against her legs. Soon after, I went out to see him and he was just a great, playful and loving cat. We immediately knew this cat was likely someones lost kitty since it was so affectionate; most strays would run away. So Terri found a FaceBook page for a local charity where people can post pictures of their lost pets and sure enough we found a cat on there that looked a lot like him. She contacted the owner and he asked if there was a scar near the tip of his right ear and sure enough, there was! Turns out this cat was over 5 miles away from home AND has been missing since June 24th! Last night the very grateful owners got reunited with their kitty that they had lost hope on

End of the story? Of course not... the man's wife came to our house about 8 O' Clock last night to get him, she grabbed "Bing" (which was his name) and teary eyed started to give him kisses on his head. Bing was her late Dad's nickname and the other cat they have is named "Emil" which was her husband's late Dad's name... the cats, Bing and Emil, are brothers and were lost at the same time, Emil found his way home but Bing, obviously, did not (until now). So she gets Bing into her car then turns to give my wife a thank you hug and wouldn't you know it? The cat steps on the door lock button and locks himself inside the car! Well an hour or so later, after the local sheriff jimmy's the door open, she finally got headed back home with her Bing.

This morning when I got out of bed there was freezing rain/sleet and 30 MPH winds... meanwhile little Bing is home, nice and warm, playing with his brother Emil and the grand-kids "Sometimes" things do happen for a reason

 

[AShearer]

Beautiful gun AShearer! What is that one?
A friend of mine who is a professional trap shooter recruited me for a summer wobble trap shooting league, just for fun. Since I am a beginner, and don't own a trap gun, he let me shoot a different gun of his each week. So I got 8 different guns in 8 weeks, and really got an idea of which I liked, and some I didn't. Although I know shooting a different gun every week didn't allow me to actually get better, but I enjoyed trying out such a variety of guns. I tried a few different Remington semi-autos, a Browning BT99, a Browning Citori, a few different Ljutic guns, a Tri-Star, and a Benelli. The best I shot was a 40/50 with the BT99, in week 5 of the league.

I definitely can see this hobby getting as expensive and addictive as knife collecting!

Rookie82 btb01 joeradza Railsplitter Thanks Guys! That is a 12 gauge Casear Guerini Maxum with 32" barrels. It's actually a couple model years, old but not used. It sat at the dealer because it was more expensive than his client's typically buy. So, I got a good deal on it. I really wasn't looking for such a fancy engraved gun, but the quality of the gun itself kind of goes along with the pretty stuff. It's an expensive sport, but not like golf. I can shoot a round of clays for about $40, or 4 rounds of skeet for $25 not counting shells. So, not so bad.
Here's a link to the current version of this gun on line. Same as mine.

https://gueriniusa.com/shotguns/maxum-sporting/

Thanks again. I will try to post a better shot.

 

[AShearer]

Alan the gun is exquisite. If you could post a better image we could more readily appreciate the scroll work which appears to be breath taking. Just can't focus it as sharply as necessary to see the detail. Congratulations on such a masterpiece.

Will try this again Fodderwing Thanks!

 

[JTB_5]

Will try this again Fodderwing Thanks!

Wow!

 

[5K Qs]

My wife Terri loves animals, sometimes maybe more than me but I'm OK with that as long as it's "sometimes" Over the past few weeks we have been having what seemed to be a stray cat showing up in our yard. ...

This morning when I got out of bed there was freezing rain/sleet and 30 MPH winds... meanwhile little Bing is home, nice and warm, playing with his brother Emil and the grand-kids "Sometimes" things do happen for a reason

View attachment 1006570

You tell a great story, Kevin!
Kudos to you and Terri for your kindness and concern!

- GT

 

[r redden]

veitsi_poika Kevin what a great cat story . I'm glad Bing was reunited with it's owner.