Northwoods Knives: Everyday Barlow ... Opinions?

[euthymic]

"I get the whole "hand made" argument but I do not agree that all hand made items should have problems."

I just wanted to reiterate what Crowemag stated here. Hand made does not justify "wart's." Several of the issues posted in this thread (and other recent Queen threads) would make me believe that at least some folks at Queen don't take pride in what they are doing. While the Daniel's family has been described as taking steps to "right the ship" and I hope they are successful, any description that lesser manufacturing quality is justified because the product is hand made seems ludicrous. I respect that others may have different tolerances for what they expect for their money (and I'm sure the typical consumer does not mind or even notice issues like strangely ground blades, off center blades, gaps in bolster/covers, etc.), I just can't agree that these practices are OK because the product is hand made. For instance, are Queen knives really MORE hand made than GEC or Moki? or, perhaps, are there some folks working at queen that are just going through the motions and don't have high expectations for what they are producing? As I've stated before, the most personally frustrating aspect of this is that Queen is certainly capable of making a great knife, but compared to other manufacturers at this price level (which in the case of a SFO with great steel is considerably higher than the norm) their poor consistency makes purchasing a gamble. Unfortunately for Derrick, in bringing to market a product that many enthusiasts (including myself) really want, he is required to work with the suppliers available (i.e, Queen). I ended up returning my knife for store credit as I was not personally happy with the compromises made but respect the majority that are happy with their knives and envious of those that received a particularly well built specimen. I just do not like the insinuation that lesser manufacturing quality is synonymous with "hand made".

Now as I step off my soapbox, I wanted to add I really like Derrick's choice of cover materials on these and the box elder and birdseye maple in particular are things I've not often seen on production knives. Perhaps he can send some of that wood to other manufacturers for future Northwoods SFO's so that I can pick up some in the future (hint hint )

 

[paulhilborn]

I agree with euthymic

When I heard handmade in the past it referred to "attention to detail" and "Craftsmanship". My wife and I own two businesses, I do handyman work and restoration work as well as own a furniture store, so Handmade to me has a very positive meaning.

I was fortunate to have received a quality knife this run but it sounds like I just got lucky---again, I LIKE my knife:thumbup:

 

[SeeYa]

Hi guys, I ordered a spear sawcut EB from KSF and had it sent directly to Rob Bixby for sharpening (TheApostleP on Youtube). He had a blue clip in for sharpening and did a video of both at the same time. I dont have it in hand yet but based on this, it looks like I might have lucked out. Thought you might enjoy a closeup look; I know I sure did:

[youtube]lXzYsrsdZoA[/youtube]

The blue one seems to be mine 'cuz Rob told me that it had been the best of the ones he had in for sharpening.
Still have to wait for it till Xmas

 

[Will Power]

I certainly concur with euthymic. Lumping hand-made, together with accepting sloppy workmanship as part of the 'magic' will ultimately serve nobody who likes Traditional knives.

It is vital to be able to tell it how it is, good or bad, and it means nothing whether owners or vendors are 'great guys' or not, if the product is found wanting at the price it seeks.

A Queen Barlow, it is true, may struggle since the bar HAS been set so high by GEC with their Tom's Choice and NF examples. This is in itself somewhat paradoxical given that the Barlow was 'traditionally' viewed as a rough-house pattern, cheap, tough and by implication, rather crude, Gents' knife it was not with correlated high fit&finish. So this may be obscuring the matter.

However, another SFO which I just got, albeit a different pattern, I think is almost certainly Queen made, shows total excellence in build&execution. Moreover it is not expensive either. We can obviously agree that build-quality is still patchy under the 'new' ownership, a lot of tolerance depends on price and outcome.

 

[okbohn]

I think the idea of made by humans (at least as I use it) is not to excused poor craftsmanship, but to explain why things are not dead on consistent. That I stand behind.

There is no excuse to turn out shotty stuff, even if it is made by a monkey.

 

[MadMaximus]

Welp, the ones I ordered are on their way back to KSF, I really wanted to like them. The word sloppy was used, and thats exactly what I got. (not trying to sound like a jerk, but just getting to the point)

This is no way a knock on KSF, they seem to be taking care of me. I will continue to do business with them, this sort of stuff happens. I was really hoping to get ahold of a denim Michigan Jack, but apparently showing up 30min after they're listed isn't fast enough!!

 

[paulhilborn]

Someone posted a page or two back about if the blade had a swedge they'd have grabbed one....got me thinking that it would look good with said swedge...

I just received the new Ken Onion Work Sharp and thought I'd give it a shot during halftime of the Patriots game...I need to clean it up with finer grit belts but its a start.


I apologize as my phone would not focus well on the blade with the glare of the lamp over my shoulder

Will finish up one night soon...

 

[Luger1952]

Nice job Paul! You must be brave and have a darn steady hand. Lloyd

 

[paulhilborn]

Nice job Paul! You must be brave and have a darn steady hand. Lloyd

Thank you Lloyd, my wife Nanc says I just dive in and figure it out as I go along The steady hand was the most difficult part...had to use a Sharpie on the spine as I was blind with my starting point for the beginning of the swedge being upside down.

 

[neal70]

i think some folks may have misunderstood my comment or analogy to handmade knives. knives from individual crafters or small shops and even a few larger cutlers should be held to a higher standard,i agree. what that standard is ,is up to the makers when they make,and to the buyers when they buy. shoddy workmanship shouldn't be rewarded with money.all knives (i think) will at some point or points be touched by human hands and therefore qualify as handmade,but in this forum overall that has a very different meaning, one with more stringent qualities; however when i originally made that post i was simply trying to offer a different viewpoint, an alternate way to perceive what in one light is a defect and in another is character , or in another light an acknowledgement that nothing is perfect. my l.t. wright dosen't have the perfect grinds of my dozier,but it dosen't cut less efficiently(thanks ksf best fathers day ever,1st tho too). again just my opinion,hardly worth the time to write and definitely worth what is paid nothing(unless you have a membership in which case sorry! )

 

[bleh]

Someone posted a page or two back about if the blade had a swedge they'd have grabbed one....got me thinking that it would look good with said swedge...

I was the one who said that, and you did a fantastic job! Looks leagues better now, although I still lament the lack of the stamp on the pile side bolster and the spotty quality. I'm still holding on to my dollars, mainly because I have some other commitments coming up.

 

[paulhilborn]

I was the one who said that, and you did a fantastic job! Looks leagues better now, although I still lament the lack of the stamp on the pile side bolster and the spotty quality. I'm still holding on to my dollars, mainly because I have some other commitments coming up.

Thank you Sean, once you mentioned it I thought that it should have a swedge as well. I too would like the bolsters to both be stamped:thumbup:

 

[cchu518]

I called up and Tyler handpicked mine, took the time to go through two of them and give them the eyeball for fit and finish. I'm really enjoying this one!



Dead center, no gaps and solid fit and finish.

 

[kootenay joe]

"Tyler handpicked mine"
I think Tyler at KSF is the most sincere and helpful person in Traditional knife sales anywhere. But don't tell people these things or he will be inundated with special requests and it's not good to over stress the best guy 'out there'.
kj

 

[NMpops]

Hmmm, if that was a Case, someone would say the the blade looks a might off center. Just sayin.....

 

[HST]

I will still say that these EDBs are a favorite of mine. The are sharper than "ish," have a great 4-5 pull, and just a joy to use. Now that I am more versed as to what is a GEC knife - I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm sure mine were hand picked (they were), but they are made just as well as 'almost' every GEC that I've gotten. It's gonna be raining here for days; and I'll be toting a variant of an EDB, until it quits next week. Seriously, look at some of GEC's knives recently made (all I can truly compare too). I would never say that they have better QC -- that statement takes into account production numbers. With all that being said, I'd still feel more comfortable buying a knife made by GEC. Before you flame me, if I told you what I've spent on pocket knives (all production, all GEC, besides 3 EDBs) since I started in August (I think), you'd probably dislike me more than you do now.

I absolutely love these knives, and think some of you are missing out, because of a few bad examples.

 

[cchu518]

There's plenty of room around here for everyone to like what they like and the GEC brand is very much liked I don't see the need to call them out. There's going to be a very traditional camp where 1095 carbon blades are a must for a traditional knife and in that vein GEC is the go to maker. I personally don't agree with that flavor of blade but I do understand. In general I'm really pleased to see american crafted products that can be appreciated and held so close literally and figuratively to all the knife nuts out there. While I love the RR brand I currently EDC a Case and now this Northwoods which are American made. I love the Case that I have as it is very precision machined. And the Northwoods in some ways is not perfect like the hand ground swedge on top of the blade, but it's that craftmanship the fact that someone did that is what I appreciate and GEC has the same quality. (They don't get a pass in my book for their butter knife dull blades when new). But I can look beyond that. lol.

I've only had three or four GEC's (my favorite being the Buckaroo model) and they were all fine knives except for not having a proper beveled edge ground to it which I had to create myself. But once past that issue they were all fine knives. I earnestly would say from what I've seen the Northwoods Presidential and the EDB by Queen are close to par with a slight edge going to GEC (the Presidential I had was pretty awesome) as well as Canal Street Cutlery. I'm glad to have the variety (sad to see CSC go).

For 1095 traditionals I tend to scour for vintage ones myself though so that might explain why I don't pick up too many GEC's for the most part. But for newly minted 1095 traditionals GEC is still where it's at!

I will still say that these EDBs are a favorite of mine. The are sharper than "ish," have a great 4-5 pull, and just a joy to use. Now that I am more versed as to what is a GEC knife - I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm sure mine were hand picked (they were), but they are made just as well as 'almost' every GEC that I've gotten. It's gonna be raining here for days; and I'll be toting a variant of an EDB, until it quits next week. Seriously, look at some of GEC's knives recently made (all I can truly compare too). I would never say that they have better QC -- that statement takes into account production numbers. With all that being said, I'd still feel more comfortable buying a knife made by GEC. Before you flame me, if I told you what I've spent on pocket knives (all production, all GEC, besides 3 EDBs) since I started in August (I think), you'd probably dislike me more than you do now.

I absolutely love these knives, and think some of you are missing out, because of a few bad examples.

 

[HST]

First and foremost, I didn't call anyone out - by any means. I clearly stated I like GEC. Just like you picked apart a GEC, so can I; but what I can't explain is all the disdain for the EDB made by Queen for Northwoods. As to "the traditional camp," EDB is a pocket knife and its maker has been around longer than GEC. A pocket knife is a pocket knife despite its steel. Most custom pocket knives do not use 1095, they use a more modern steel, and CPM154 is commonly used. I'd say loosely, the best steel I've seen used on a pocket knife is CPM154. I'd be willing to bet, most of your "traditional camp" has a custom that they treasure, and it doesn't have 1095 as its steel. Like you said, Case knives are milled, and these knives are hand made. There's going to be idiosyncrasies from one knife to another.

There's plenty of room around here for everyone to like what they like and the GEC brand is very much liked I don't see the need to call them out. There's going to be a very traditional camp where 1095 carbon blades are a must for a traditional knife and in that vein GEC is the go to maker. But for newly minted 1095 traditionals GEC is still where it's at!

 

[cchu518]

It's the stainless vs high carbon with traditionals.

Not going to get very far on that argument, I would say the great majority is in the high carbon camp. I'm in the stainless camp myself... -squarely. So I feel the the pain as well. Lol. I had a wonderful Canal Street Cutlery pinch in 440c. Not very popular even though the thing felt near custom. it's really similar to the sport bike crowd vs Harley (v-twin) crowds. When me and my wife rode we would look for the highest horsepower in the most capable chassis bike. My wife went from a Ducati 750SS to a GSXR 750. I always flip flopped though. I went from a R6 to an RC51 (twin) to a Superhawk 1000 (twin). For me it was the best of both worlds Vtwin fun in an awesome chassis.

 

[HST]

That's what I'm saying, the flavors of life. Cheers, to all of our wonderful choices...