I got a free Barlow!!

S

SPHayes

Joined
Nov 8, 2002
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Had some new neighbors move in this week. Went by to say hello and ended up staying for a few beers. Another neighbor (Jim) whom I had not meet before joined us. We all got to talking and it turned out that the new neighbor (Dan) collects swords. Mostly fantasy junk but he had a few nicer reproduction sabers. This brought up my knife habit. Jim then said oh I have a knife you can have, ran home and came back with a Imperial Barlow. He said it is about 30 years old. In good user shape with a few pits. I was very suprised and pleased. I plan on dropping a six pack by for him this weekend.
Patrick
 
Excellent! I love it when I am given a knife. They have more value to me than the ones I buy myself. Any chance you could post a pic. of your barlow?
 
Congratz!
Is there any better gift than a knife?

I really like the Barlow pattern as well as the history behind it. Mark Twain wrote about it in Tom Sawyer it was also The King of the Cowboys, Roy Rodger's favorite pattern. I wish someone would give me the Case Roy Rodger's Stag Barlow. ;)

My first Barlows were a gift from my wife back in '99. It was the J. Russell stag Barlow set, Barlow and Daddy Barlow. Still the best Barlow I've handled.
 
Free is a great price for any knife!
Its one of the few patterns that I haven't owned yet...not sure why .........I like the looks and the history of the knife......guess I need to get one of them soon!

Good score SPHayes!

Kap :cool:
 
I carried the Barlow for a few days and I really like the pattern. It is very nice in the hand and rides well in the pocket. I may look for a nicer example with solid scales and bolsters. The hollow construction of the Imperial feels cheap. That said the carbon blades take a good edge. I have not cut enough with it to comment on edge holding. A barlow with solid bolsters and stag scales would be a nice knife. I'll have to start looking.
Patrick
 
Good for you, Patrick. My neighbours will just look at me with horror whenever I bring up the subject of knives.

Some people are just so knife-shy! :D
 
I have an Irish made Barlow that I believe is similar to your Imperial, an inexpensive good user, the carbon blades take and hold an edge and the walk and talk is fine.

Yes the the hollow handles feel cheap and they are much worse when the plastic scales break off, I´m considering disassembling and making new handles for mine, just some wood scales to epoxy on.

If you look around you should be able to find plenty, old and new, from cheap Pakistan made to fancy customs, a search on this forum should bring out some nice ones.

Edited to add a link to a thread on Barlows, unfortunately the pictures seem to have disappeared:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240287&page=1&pp=20
 
Don Luis,

Have you ever met a knife that you didn't want to rehandle? ;)

Just kidding. I'm almost done with that SAK rehandle job. I'll post a pic if it's good enough, but not here. You bring the socks...

Glenn
 
glennbad said:
Don Luis,

Have you ever met a knife that you didn't want to rehandle? ;)

Just kidding. I'm almost done with that SAK rehandle job. I'll post a pic if it's good enough, but not here. You bring the socks...

Glenn
Click to expand...

Maybe it´s some kind of Freudian thing :D , actually it´s good when you can fix something or make it better. surely lots of people here have the same feeling. My Barlow is very similar to the rehandled camper you´ve seen elsewhere, it´s broken and worth fixing, unfortunately there´s always too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

It will be nice to see your SAK.


SPHayes,

Some nice Barlows in this linc taken from that other thread, German made Russell Barlows in carbon steel:

http://worldwideknives.com/Russell/Russell1.html
 
I've got a couple of the old ones that were made in the USA that I picked up for about $1 each. One has a blade broken and both have some chips out of the handles but those old knives are tough as nails. I've used them for every thing, including paint scrapping and they take a good edge. I think the metal in those old knives is better that much of the new stuff. As a side note, I picked up an old Western 822 barlow pattern the other day at a flea market for $1. It is in good condition with the very tip broken off the main blade. Those old Imperials are good old, cheap knives.
 
PhilL....
Do you happen to know if Russell actually made your barlows? Or if they were maybe made by Schrade, like the 1974 barlow set was at least rumored to have been. :confused:
They are quite nice....I saw them in the other thread. :)

Bill
 
Bill, the knife set was ordered directly from the John Russell Co. and it had J. Russell Green River Works on the box. Of course anyone could have made the knives. Whoever made them I still think they are the nicest Barlows I've ever handled. A very good friend of mine ABS Master Smith P. J. Tomes was very impressed with the small Barlow when I showed it to him, and it takes a lot to impress him.

I was bidding on another of the smaller stag Barlows on an Ebay auction a couple of weeks ago and just got beat out at the last minute. :mad:
 
Funny you should mention that smaller barlow.......I just won 1 on eBay..........but it was just yesterday, so we weren't competitors. :D
Thanks for the reply, I look forward to handling/carrying the knife, based on your comments, and of course those of a slipjoint master like
Mr. Tomes.

Bill
 
Well this thread made me drag out a old copy of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and sure enough it mentions the Barlow knife on page 70.
It seems that Huck and Jim drifted unto a frame house that was going down the river in high tide.
In that house he found a "bran-new Barlow knife worth two bits in any store"
He also mentions a Clasp Knife earlier in the book and towards the end of the book uses three case-knives to free Jim one of which he and Tom convert to a sawtooth.
Now does anyone know what he meant by a "case-knife"??
Was Mark Twain talking about the "Case" company which I don't think was even in business when the book was written or was "case-knife" a style of knife back then?
The first copyright on the book was listed as 1884.......... :confused:
BTW what a great book....I had forgotten how well it reads even though it is dated.

Kap
 
Mary gave him a bran-new "Barlow" knife worth twelve and a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a "sure-enough" Barlow, and there was inconceivable grandeur in that - though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited to its injury, is an imposing mystery and will always remain so, perhaps.
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

All the stores was along one street. They had white domestic awnings in front, and the country-people hitched their horses to the awning-posts. There was empty dry-goods boxes under the awnings, and loafers roosting on them all day long, whittling them with their Barlow knives; and chawing tobacco, and gaping and yawning and stretching - a mighty ornery lot.
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
 
This is a good illustration of why you ought to drink every time the chance presents itself. :D
 
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