Hopefully something interesting to hand down to grandsons...

Stringplucker

Stringplucker

Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Messages
152
I used to have a Balow, two of them actually, that I won at a county fair when I was child. I lost one on a ride at the fair on the first day, but was better able to hold on to the second one on the second day. I carried that knife everywhere I went as a kid, and put the knife through hell. I don't know who made it, but am assuming that it was Imperial. I lost that knife, as well as most of my knives and nearly all of my belongings, 10 years ago in a housefire. The knives I own now from prior to the fire were in my tool box at work or in my truck, safe from the flames.

The other day, I ordered my second first Barlow, an Imperial made version, from an online auction site. It's seen better days, and one of the scales has a chip missing from it...but the price was right. I hope to have it sometime this week, if the seller sends it off. I've always admired this style knife, ever since I won my first one at the fair. I'm hoping this one becomes the beginning of a collection of Barlows. I told my wife that I wanted to begin collecting knives, and the Barlow seemed like a good one to start the collection with. I want something that I can hand down to my grandsons.

I plan on starting off with this Imperial, and hope to add many others. For some reason I'm drawn to those made for advertising, as well as the basic brown saw cut scaled versions.

I know the big auction site is a good place to find great deals. Since I'm physically unable to attend gun and knife shows like I used to, I'm stuck with internet purchases. Can someone direct me to any other site where I can get some decent deals from the comfort of my chair?
 
Sounds like a good plan. There are so many different Barlows out there that you'll never run out of options.

I'll make a suggestion if you don't mind. Consider enabling your email option so members can can contact you privately. There are many dealers who are not Bladeforum sponsored dealers and those cannot be suggested in this open forum without breaking the rules.

I might be able to suggest a few myself. :)
 
Railsplitter said:
Sounds like a good plan. There are so many different Barlows out there that you'll never run out of options.

I'll make a suggestion if you don't mind. Consider enabling your email option so members can can contact you privately. There are many dealers who are not Bladeforum sponsored dealers and those cannot be suggested in this open forum without breaking the rules.

I might be able to suggest a few myself. :)
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Thank you for the suggestion...Done.
 
I haven't heard from you so I guess that means you haven't heard from me either.

Check your visitor messages in your profile.
 
I just sent you an email:) I have found auction sites to be hit or miss but I sent you my favorite place to browse.
 
I don't know why, but emails aren't coming through. I'm hoping they are just stuck somewhere in the system. I've checked both my regular and junkmail folders, and nothing is coming through.

Thanks for the link, Rick. I'll check it out right away.
 
Well, the Imperial came in this morning's mail. As stated, it has a bit of a chip missing from one of the scales. This one looks to be a user, until I get around to doing something about it. I read a thread about re-scaling them, making a solid bolster and such, and it doesn't seem too difficult to me. This will be a good candidate for that, since it's not a valuable knife, and the blades look to be in great shape.

I saw two different ads for Barlows that caused me to bid on them...and I won. Both are Colonials...one a barlow, and the other a Master Barlow. Both have matching colored scales. I think they'll do fine as they are, and will need minimal cleaning. The price for both was well within my means.
 
Barlows are a great collecting choice. They are very distinctive and there have been many produced over the years.
 
I'm a fan of similar knives. The everyday user style that were once ubiquitous when men just plain carried knives.

I'm up for suggestions if folks have a good place to procure them and I believe I can reveive all types of messages as well.

Also to Stringplucker I may have a spare barlow laying around that's similar to what you are looking for. If you're interested it's yours, just send me your address.
 
One of my favorite edc's is an old imperial Barlow that was sent to me by a generous forum member almost a year a go.
They have such nice thin blade that take a razor edge easily, and are overall nice and lightweight making them carry easy in the pocket.
 
Neko2 said:
I'm a fan of similar knives. The everyday user style that were once ubiquitous when men just plain carried knives.

I'm up for suggestions if folks have a good place to procure them and I believe I can reveive all types of messages as well.

Also to Stringplucker I may have a spare barlow laying around that's similar to what you are looking for. If you're interested it's yours, just send me your address.
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Email sent...Thank you!
 
Here's the two I picked up this past week. Neither are in stellar condition, but serviceable is how I'd describe them. The Master Barlow had rust that had been addressed by the prior owner, so I had no problem doing some more work to it. I'm not done with it, but will have it looking great in a few days. I know that most people don't like to see old knives cleaned up, but these are common enough that I have no issues with it.

Anyway, I have an Imperial Barlow and a Colonial Master Barlow. I have a Colonial Barlow coming to match the Master Barlow next week, in the same color, and I picked up a few advertising Barlows online as well. My goal is to have at least one from each maker, as well as a number of advertising Barlows. I plan on eventually replacing the shell scales on the Imperial, due to a chip missing. I need to get some Nickel Silver and chose a scale I like. It seems simple enough, and will give me something that is different from anything else out there, since it would be custom work, done by me.

Cleaning the Master Barlow was enjoyable. My wife followed me down to the shop and watched...good quality time spent with her is time well spent.

upload photos
 
Really nice knives in good honest condition! Those are in really great shape as users. Many other Barlows out there have blades that been worn or ground down by previous owners beyond all recognition. The ones you have are in good shape. It will be interesting to see the results of how re-handling goes! To me it always seem as if these older knives that have not been in use for a time really seem to "appreciate" being restored and put back to use.
 
To me, any knife should be used. I understand the desire to hold one, still in the box, and not use it...because SOMETIMES the value increases. However, through my toolmaker's eyes, I see every knife as a tool, and there's nothing sadder for me to see than to see a tool that isn't ever used.

The Master Barlow has some pitting on the blade near the spine. It was worse before I got it...I wish I had taken a before photo. I'm not interested in taking all of those out, because it gives a blade character. However, I want to be able to grab any one of these blades and use it for what it was created for. Production knives should be used, and used often, IMHO.

I plan on making memories with some of these blades while spending time with the grandkids. I want them to have good memories of me using one to fix something of theirs. This way, sometime in the future, they'll come across it and remember that day in their lives. I still have memories of my grandfather using an Imperial peanut knife to fix my screwed up shoelaces...and I'm now the owner of that blade. I just cleaned and sharpened that knife yesterday, then used it to cut an apple to share with my grand-daughter. Making memories is important to me.
 
Stringplucker said:
To me, any knife should be used. I understand the desire to hold one, still in the box, and not use it...because SOMETIMES the value increases. However, through my toolmaker's eyes, I see every knife as a tool, and there's nothing sadder for me to see than to see a tool that isn't ever used.

The Master Barlow has some pitting on the blade near the spine. It was worse before I got it...I wish I had taken a before photo. I'm not interested in taking all of those out, because it gives a blade character. However, I want to be able to grab any one of these blades and use it for what it was created for. Production knives should be used, and used often, IMHO.

I plan on making memories with some of these blades while spending time with the grandkids. I want them to have good memories of me using one to fix something of theirs. This way, sometime in the future, they'll come across it and remember that day in their lives. I still have memories of my grandfather using an Imperial peanut knife to fix my screwed up shoelaces...and I'm now the owner of that blade. I just cleaned and sharpened that knife yesterday, then used it to cut an apple to share with my grand-daughter. Making memories is important to me.
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Amen, amen. The most important part of the hobby is transferring memories, in stories and actions. Thanks for being here by the way, you're doing your collecting the right way, through using objects for making memories. Now, I'm planning to carry my grand dad's knife tomorrow, nothing fancy--but it was his, and I still remember!
 
Thanks for the kind words. I have many memories from knives and tools my dad taught me to use, just like he had with his father.
 
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