- Joined
- Aug 23, 2014
- Messages
- 3,922
I think I got real lucky here, I would think this Barlow is one of a kind, it is a Gardner 1876, Primble has an fantastic thread with the history of Gardner here,
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-1905-quot-and-Gardner-Cutlery-quot-1876-quot
The example I snagged is unusual in a couple ways, first it is unfinished, the handles never final ground to the knife, the bolsters as cast, the blade with its grind marks and no final edge, it has never been used.
Second it is made the way the old English cutlers made the Barlow's, bolsters and liners cast as one piece. It is a little larger than the English examples I have in the collection. I don't remember another American made knife that has the looks of those old English Barlows. It makes sense as Joseph Gardner was English and employed Sheffield cutlers in the Shelburne Falls Mass factory.
As far as I can tell the company was only in business from 1876 to 1883 although Gardner had many years in the cutlery industry including working at Russell.
The knife has a special meaning to me as my Father is from Greenfield Mass, my Grandfather and Uncles worked in the tool and die factories, Millers Falls Tools, Greenfield Tap and Die, great companies that made great products that sadly no longer exist.
The knife came from a New Hampshire town 40 miles away from Shelburne Falls, how it sat unmolested for 130 years I don't know, was it handed down from someones Great Great Grandfather that worked at Gardner, I guess will never know.
Some comparison shots, English Barlow and a TC 14,
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-1905-quot-and-Gardner-Cutlery-quot-1876-quot
The example I snagged is unusual in a couple ways, first it is unfinished, the handles never final ground to the knife, the bolsters as cast, the blade with its grind marks and no final edge, it has never been used.
Second it is made the way the old English cutlers made the Barlow's, bolsters and liners cast as one piece. It is a little larger than the English examples I have in the collection. I don't remember another American made knife that has the looks of those old English Barlows. It makes sense as Joseph Gardner was English and employed Sheffield cutlers in the Shelburne Falls Mass factory.
As far as I can tell the company was only in business from 1876 to 1883 although Gardner had many years in the cutlery industry including working at Russell.
The knife has a special meaning to me as my Father is from Greenfield Mass, my Grandfather and Uncles worked in the tool and die factories, Millers Falls Tools, Greenfield Tap and Die, great companies that made great products that sadly no longer exist.
The knife came from a New Hampshire town 40 miles away from Shelburne Falls, how it sat unmolested for 130 years I don't know, was it handed down from someones Great Great Grandfather that worked at Gardner, I guess will never know.
Some comparison shots, English Barlow and a TC 14,
