Forum generosity / jackmaster vs china copy

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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Feb 11, 2016
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Today I received the imperial jackmaster barlow that was gifted to me by r8shell
And I was pleasantly surprised, I had no clue what to expect ( I'll admit that I was expecting it to be badly worn and possibly rusty ).
When I saw the knife I immediately said " wow " because it was in better condition than I could've ever expected. The clip blade was practically unused with zero play, and the pen blade also had zero play but was lightly used with a bad sharpening in its life.
Here it is when I got home I immediately went to the garage to give it some tlc, I flushed it out with some wd40+ an air compressor. then I carefully tightened the scales, and sharpened the pen blade ( both were already pretty sharp, but the pen blade needed some slight work ) and gave the clip blade a quick touch up.
After about 10min of work plus air compressor wait, I ended up with an awesome new edc that should serve me well for many years.
I plan on posting an update/comparison when I receive the China copy in case anyone's interested.
I'd really like to say thank you to r8shell, and to the great people here on the bf's traditional sub-forum, where the nicest ( and less argumentative ) members frequent👍
 
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BearBug said:
Very nice! Great looking clip. Nothing like a near new blade with patina!
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Definitely,it's a blade that I won't be afraid to use because the patina will hide any wear.
I also got a free Altoids tin that the knife was in, and I'll probably store some oil and small sharpening stone in it specifically for this knife.
 
That is a great looking Barlow. I know you will enjoy using it. Way to go r8shell, a very gracious gesture.
 
Great knife, great people here, and R8shell is top notch!! Thanks for posting your story! :thumbup:
 
I decided to kinda clean up the pen blade and stuck it in an orange to give it a nice patina.
It was perfectly useable but it looked a little weird.
It almost looked like it was made of cv, because it saw all the use and didn't have much patina.

OK post a pic to show how it turns out.
 
Congrats, Hickory n steel! :thumbup: Gotta love those old Imperials!
Very thoughtful, Rachel! :cool:

- GT
 
Thanks ! I'm sure glad to have it👽
Here's how the patina on the pen blade turned out.
I wasn't really going for a spalted pattern, but sticking it into an orange was the easiest way to do it. I probably should've just gave it a thin coat of ketchup, to make it more match the clip blade .
 
Hickory n steel said:
Thanks ! I'm sure glad to have it👽
Here's how the patina on the pen blade turned out.
I wasn't really going for a spalted pattern, but sticking it into an orange was the easiest way to do it. I probably should've just gave it a thin coat of ketchup, to make it more match the clip blade .
Click to expand...

I'm so glad you like it. :)

The patina will even out as you use it, though I think it looks great now with the "camo look". There's nothing like a patinaed blade with a shiny, fresh edge! :thumbup: I'm curious to see the Chinese made version in comparison. My guess is it will be stainless steel, but I wonder if it will be shell construction?
 
r8shell said:
I'm so glad you like it. :)

The patina will even out as you use it, though I think it looks great now with the "camo look". There's nothing like a patinaed blade with a shiny, fresh edge! :thumbup: I'm curious to see the Chinese made version in comparison. My guess is it will be stainless steel, but I wonder if it will be shell construction?
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I know it was stainless for sure, and I think it was shell construction.
But then again I thought it was an imperial so who knows.
I'm sure it won't be as thin and slicy, or as sharp.
It'll likely just sit in my collection weather or not it's any good, but I won't know till I get it.
I'm certainly gonna compare the two.

I'm really digging this jackmaster.
Currently im still trying out different ways of carrying it since I'm not a fan of knives that aren't tiny being loose in my pocket.
Currently I have it on my belt in a pocket clip sheath I made, I just ran my belt through the space between the sheath and clip so it rides horizontally.
It holds nice and tight, but since the leather is thin and pliable I can just push it out from the bottom.
 
I usually carry a small secondary folder like my bulldog baby saddlehorn or buck 283, but I realized that the pen blade on this Barlow is about the same length and decided to cut back a little.
So now the leatherman micra which usually rides on my tool keychain ( in my nite ize pock-its ) is now in my pocket using the dangler clip I made for the 283, because I've been using it a little more lately and want it a little more accessible.

My secondary folders don't really see much use anyway, and I've already noticed myself using this pen blade more that I ever used my secondarys .
Plus I've always got the leatherman micra and fuse blades to use in a pinch of I'm worried about putting too many eggs in one basket.
 
OK be receiving that China Barlow tomorrow so I'll post a comparison when I get it.
I hope it turns out to actually be a jackmaster copy , otherwise I'll feel pretty stupid for having thought it is one.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I'm sure it won't be as thin and slicy, or as sharp.
...
Currently im still trying out different ways of carrying it since I'm not a fan of knives that aren't tiny being loose in my pocket.
Currently I have it on my belt in a pocket clip sheath I made, I just ran my belt through the space between the sheath and clip so it rides horizontally.
It holds nice and tight, but since the leather is thin and pliable I can just push it out from the bottom.
Click to expand...

"Thin and slicy" is probably the best description I've heard for those carbon Imperial Barlows of that era. Kudos to Rachel for her generosity, proving once again what an awesome place our porch is. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Before I found the Cult of the Peanut (and, later, the fabled Clan of the Coyote), I would often let my Barlow "ride watch", since it fits nearly perfectly into the watch pocket in both of my preferred brands of jeans. Since then, it usually just gets front right pocket. Since I normally have a 4¼" stockman or trapper with me, the Barlow is the "small" knife, so I've just become accustomed to having it on my right hip. If there's no small knife for the day, the Barlow's right back in the watch pocket.

I look forward to the comparison with the import.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Do you guys think I should post the update here, or start a new thread ?
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Assuming our humble mods haven't a better idea (commandment :o), perhaps updating the name of the thread itself and posting your review herein would be the best move, for resources, lack of fragmentation, and it retains the people who've already subscribed to the thread. That's how I'd do it, anyway. YMMV! :cool:

Edit: I'm going to double down on my "rename the thread" suggestion for two reasons: 1) Clicking the "First unread" link from the subscription page takes you to an activity stream page instead of the actual thread, and 2) You get redirected to that same activity page when posting a response. If I were (still) a gambling man I'd say it was because of the emoji thumbs-up character in the current title. Unicode 8.0 (emoji+) requires more than one byte, that could be upsetting certain pages in the forum. Deeper inspection may find a different cause but it's fairly easy to test, at any rate. Do with the information what you will. :D
 
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OK let the pictures speak for themselves, but first I'll say that the knife is she'll construction and overall it actually seems like a semi decent knife.
 
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