Barlow knife:
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http://www.alloutdoor.com/2014/01/21/old-school-edc-history-barlow/>
One thing that hasn’t changed in three centuries is the fact that one of the best knives for EDC is still the Barlow.
The Barlow is a traditional knife pattern that was first produced in the 1700s in or around Sheffield, England. It has a long bolster, a tear drop shaped handle, and a clip point blade. They almost all open with a nail knick. Dozens of companies have made Barlow pattern knives, and today you can get a cheap overseas-made version for $5 or fine custom ones for more than five figures.
From Sheffield, England, the Barlow, like other goods, was sent across the ocean in huge trade routes. It made its way up the Mississippi and into early America. Everyone that had a pocket knife in 1800s America probably owned a Barlow once in their life. They were cheap enough that even poor people could carry one. They were the first widespread EDC knife, so universal, in fact, that by the 19th century the word “Barlow” was genericized and came to mean “folding knife.” (Interesting note: I can’t think of another term that was specific, became generic, and then reverted back to a specific meaning). The Barlow was mentioned in two books of Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. This quintessential English, common man knife took hold in the New World and became the epitome of an American folding knife.
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http://barlow-knives.com/history.htm>
The barlow knife was designed to be tough, and to be affordable. To keep the price low, the blade was high carbon steel, and the handle was bone, and not much time was spent in polishing it. To make it tough, the bolster was big and thick. The original barlows had only one blade. Now they have two, and more care is taken in finishing and polishing them.
John Russell may have been the first American to manufacture Barlow knives. The John Russell Company, now the Russell Harrington Cutlery Company of Southbridge, Massachusetts, first mass produced Barlow knives at their Greenfield Massachusetts, factory in 1875. They were called the Russell Barlow knife and instead of the word BARLOW on the bolster, they were stamped with Russell’s mark, an R with an arrow through it. Today these Russell Barlows are valuable antiques.
The history of the barlow knife has been difficult to trace. At least four American Barlow families have claimed that they invented the barlow knife. According to Laurence A. Johnson (1) the Barlow knife was probably first manufactured by Obadiah Barlow at Sheffield, England, around 1670. (2) Obadiah’s grandson, John Barlow, joined the business around 1745 and it was he who was chiefly responsible for developing the exportation of the Barlow knives to America. Another source says the barlow knife was also made by Luke Furnace of Stannington, which in the eighteenth century was a small village on the outskirts of Sheffield. Luke Furnace’s name occurs in the Sheffield directories from 1774 and 1787, but not in the 1797 directory, so he was presumably dead by then. He put the mark “1760” on his knives. The original Barlow, after whom the knives are named, was working in Sheffield at the same time as Luke Furnace.An 1823 directory of Sheffield, England cutlers (knife makers) shows Samuel Barlow on Neepsend (Street). In the Sheffield suburb of Stannington, Barlow Bros. is listed as a cutler. (3)
