Karbar Barlow Like Grandpa's

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Brian.Evans

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The other day all the family and several friend gathered at our house for the babies' 2nd and 3rd birthdays. I was really glad to see grandpa, he's been slowly getting worse and worse as he gets older and these past six months or so have been rough. I happened to ask him what knife he had in his pocket that day.

He started digging,
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And pulled out this old Kabar Barlow, which he said he's had "a while."

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I started looking for Kabar Barlow like grandpa's. What little boy doesn't want to be just like his grandpa? Nevermind I'm not a little boy anymore, but he's still my grandpa.

I looked on the bay, but WAY overpriced. Overpriced at half as much as asking price. So that idea was out. I just put the idea on the back burner for a while and let it simmer.

I stopped in at a local antique dealer on the way home yesterday. Now, this place generally doesn't have a very good selection of knives. But yesterday, I happened to find this:

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Obviously, it's a Kabar 1013. This is exactly as how I got it. I am not concerned about worth, so I'm planning on cleaning it up as much as I can, within reason. It does have a bunch of pain in the saw grooves in the pile side. If anyone has any ideas on how to get rid of it, let me know.

Covers are synthetic. I've done absolutely no research on age, but it's remarkably similar to my grandpa's, isn't it? I'm tickled pink to have this bit of connection to my family. Now I have a knife exactly like my dad's and one like grandpa's. Very cool.

I'm still on the hunt for a better example of the Kabar. Apparently I've become a Barlow guy.
 
Awesome story and great knife. Bet it tickled Grandpa that it meant enough to you to go out and find one like his as well.
 
Congrats on such a discovery. Amazing you just walked in and there it was! I'm happy for you in this discovery. Your grandpa's knife is a classic example of a worn and well used EDC if there ever was one.

I only have one TC Barlow (I like it though, as there's no dilemma of "which one do I carry today??") and it's in my "Top 3" of the EDC rotation.

My baby... A single spey Barlow in AB
 
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Congrats on your find, I recently found my first similar Barlow, although I have no familiar connection to mine. It doesn't even look like yours has marks of use, just poor storage, so not only does it mean something to you because of your grandpa, now you will be appreciated by the knife as it's true life starts now, it's finally going to be a knife!! So are you a clip guy like your grandpa? Pretty clear what his most used blade is!!
 
You know, I wasn't a clip guy, until I was given my TC Barlow in red sawcut bone. Now, I guess I am, because I haven't carried anything else since. Even my ill fated pony jack experiment was a clip. So, I guess I'm a clip guy now. Heck, I wasn't even a Barlow guy before. I actually disliked the pattern.

It's grown on me a little. :D lol. It's in the top one of my edc notation. (That's not a spelling error by the way, it's a joke. Get it? Haha)

There is significant pitting on both blades, and quite a bit of leftover dried paint in the bottom of the sawcuts on the pile side. I would assume this thing was rode hard and literally put away wet a few times in its life. It looks like it was cleaned up, but I'm not really sure. There aren't sandpaper scratches, and it doesn't look buffed. I have to look at it a bit more to decide what exactly happened. I haven't had a chance to do anything to it yet.
 
That's a cool find! The paint cleanup is a hard one. You don't want to scratch up the delrin, for sure. It is painstaking, but I have used a razor blade or sharp pin and run it through the grooves one at a time. I'm not sure mineral oil would soften it up enough.
 
Nice find. Looks like grandpa has sharpened that knife a lot. Yes every boy wants a knife like grandpa
 
glennbad said:
That's a cool find! The paint cleanup is a hard one. You don't want to scratch up the delrin, for sure. It is painstaking, but I have used a razor blade or sharp pin and run it through the grooves one at a time. I'm not sure mineral oil would soften it up enough.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about wire brushes, maybe brass. Or a very sharp stick. Or never mind, it's fine.
I have a similar knife by Camillus that had a lot of whitewash or something on it. Wish I could remember what I did to it.

Great find, OP- I go a long time without seeing a real Barlow with solid bolsters.
 
Nice find, and thanks for sharing such a great story medicevans! If a good soak in mineral oil doesn't soften up the paint to the point where it can be scraped off with a bamboo skewer point, perhaps just let it be for what it is. It's very cool that you now have a knife like your Grandpa's, and that you still have your Grandpa! Reading this gave me a warm feeling and a smile:)
 
Thanks for sharing your story. Made me stop and think about both my Grandfather's that are long gone now. Pretty amazing that you found a matching knife.
 
I have one pretty similar that I bought new in the late 80's or early 90's. It might very well be older than that though as I got it from a knife dealer on the gun show circuit. They are nice knives and left over from when I carried Barlows at all times until the Spyderco Endura got it's hooks in me in 92. I've carried one of those since then but still have and like my Barlows. The Ka Bar, A dyed green Remington model and a Imperial Ireland model sold by Ace for $4.95 back then got the most carry and except the Imperial are still around and carry able.
 
Turns out I'm a Barlow guy too. Nice pick up. I've got my Dad's old Barlow. I carry it now and then. It's not very tight. In fact it is nearly ready to fall apart! That blade is black with age and probably the sharpest knife I own. Got an RR Barlow for Christmas and it is very nice looking, still, it is marked China and I can't get past that. When I'm done picking up Old Timers, I plan to hunt up a Kabar or Barlow brand barlow knife for keeps. It just has that"connection".
 
Looks like grandpa sharpened the main blade a "few" times. I recently bought a Kabar Barlow. I'd like to add a few more barlows to my collection. Thanks for the story and the picture of grandpa, god bless him.
 
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