Opinion, Please

afishhunter

afishhunter

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Ulster and Imperial Barlow, both made in USA, and roughly the same vintage. (Ulster on top)

In your opinion, was the Ulster well loved, used, and carefully sharpened over the years, or did Ulster use narrower blades than Imperial?
View attachment 1631083
View attachment 1631084
I suspect "well loved, used, and carefully sharpened".
Both are tight, no dreaded wiggly wobblies on either blade. :)
 
Not my knife ... found picture on pinterest
Shows a relatively unused Ulster said to be from the 50's, for comparison ...

EL1oad2.jpg
 
I'm thinking 'carefully sharpened' too.

Seems to be a little bit of recurve in the clip blade's edge, in 1st photo. And the pen blade in the 2nd photo is narrowed starting a bit forward of the ricasso/plunge. Both the recurve in the 1st photo and that narrowing forward of the plunge in the 2nd suggest both blades have been resharpened to a significant degree. I say this, because I see the same in some of mine that I've resharpened many times, mainly in pursuit of improving my own sharpening skills. So, I knew what they looked like when 'new', and I've seen them change in the same ways over time. That narrowing forward of the plunge happens because it's next to impossible to get the same consistent contact all the way up to the ricasso when sharpening a blade on stones, as most of us do. So the edge always gets more sharpening wear in a portion starting some distance forward of the ricasso.
 
Last edited:
Obsessed with Edges said:
I'm thinking 'carefully sharpened' too.

Seems to be a little bit of recurve in the clip blade's edge, in 1st photo. And the pen blade in the 2nd photo is narrowed starting a bit forward of the ricasso/plunge. Both the recurve in the 1st photo and that narrowing forward of the plunge in the 2nd suggest both blades have been resharpened to a significant degree. I say this, because I see the same in some of mine that I've resharpened many times, mainly in pursuit of improving my own sharpening skills. So, I knew what they looked like when 'new', and I've seen them change in the same ways over time. That narrowing forward of the plunge happens because it's next to impossible to get the same consistent contact all the way up to the ricasso when sharpening a blade on stones, as most of us do. So the edge always gets more sharpening wear in a portion starting some distance forward of the ricasso.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
In my opinion, both blades on the Ulster and the secondary on the Imperial look, to my eye, to have been sharpened many times over. The main blade on the Imperial has also been sharpened some, but looks mostly full.
 
Well used, for sure. The belly on that clip looks more like the belly on a modern “Zulu” blade. Like a hybrid between a sheepsfoot and a spear. They didn’t come with that slight belly from the factory, but with a full and generous one that could take many sharpenings.
 
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