Queen Barlow #69 Feathered Buffalo Horn

btmccutcheon

btmccutcheon

Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
1,123
Derrick, you made me break a promise to my wallet last week, but it filled a gap in my collection on a few counts. I didn't have anything by Queen, didn't have any buffalo horn, and to be honest didn't have this particular Barlow. That is until this little beauty arrived today.






Blades are pretty centered, however the main blade is just a hair off.



Fit and finish is very good, except for a hairline surface gap between the right liner and spring just below the bolster. No light is detectable between liners and springs though.



The blades are D2, with etching a little more faint than I would like. But I do like the shape of the clip point blade a little more than GEC's. I'd say pull is about a 6 with half-stops and nice snaps in both directions. No play at all. I do prefer a secondary blade to be in front of the main making both accessible from the mark side. The secondary pen on this one is behind the main forcing me to turn the knife over to access the blade from the pile side. First-world problems. Can anyone enlighten me regarding the "1/2" on the etch?



It looks just a hair bigger than a TC Barlow and possibly a tad heavier, but I could be mistaken as I have no scale.



Overall, I'd say it's a really fine knife that I think is beautiful and solid. I think most people would be very happy with it as I am. However, with that being said, I'm still partial to my Charow which will continue to reside in my pocket. As much as I like it, I still prefer what I've seen from GEC.
 
Congrats, BTMac! :thumbup::thumbup: That looks like, and your initial report makes it sound like, a superlative knife! :thumbup::thumbup:
Seems like I've seen quite a few examples of Queen's buffalo horn covers lately, and I apparently have a weakness for horn. ;) Your new barlow looks VERY good to me! Thanks for your fair and balanced report of first impressions!

- GT
 
The 1/2 is the two bladed variant of the barlow. The single blades are just #69.

Great looking knife. I'm happy to hear another good review about this year's Queens. I've really been liking these knives, and the more examples we have of good knives the more confident I am that I haven't just been lucky in my purchases. Thanks for the review.
 
These contemporary Queen Barlows do look decent, I saw somebody posting a really good looking one in Walnut the other day.

It's nice that they can give GEC a run for their money and they seem good value as well. I actually like having the Pen behind the Master, I prefer the main blade closest to me. No logic, just inclination.

Thanks, Will
 
I'm impressed! That Barlow is pure magic! (And rumor has it that the U.S. no longer produces quality implements.)
You are a blessed individual.

Captain O
 
Very nice! I have a buffalo sleeve board and it is in my pocket right now:) The Barlow you have there is on my short list and could be in the rotation sooner now thanks to you...
 
I keep looking, but have been gun shy, after my last two Queen collabs.
 
Bigfattyt said:
I keep looking, but have been gun shy, after my last two Queen collabs.
Click to expand...

I spoke with Queen today, and they said that they were being far more careful with their heat treating. You can likely stop being so "gun shy" when it comes to their products.

Captain O
 
Charlie's Harness Jack, Edition #2 is also done on the pattern #69 frame by Queen.
It fits very well in my hand! :thumbup:


IMG_0738-1.jpg



Dave
 
As Dave said, same as the #2 Edition knives of Charlie's from a several years back and a very nice size and frame indeed!:thumbup:
 
These knives look great, but I have a question. Is the Buffalo Horn actually feathered, or is that just an adjective that Queen put on them to describe something about the horn? If the former, what does feathered mean? If the latter, what does feathered mean?

Basically, I'd like to know what feathered buffalo horn actually is. It looks pretty darn cool.
 
Biggie_Robs said:
These knives look great, but I have a question. Is the Buffalo Horn actually feathered, or is that just an adjective that Queen put on them to describe something about the horn? If the former, what does feathered mean? If the latter, what does feathered mean?

Basically, I'd like to know what feathered buffalo horn actually is. It looks pretty darn cool.
Click to expand...

"Feathered" simply means there are lighter and often white streaks running through the material. Some of the ones I looked at had much more feathering than this one, others I've seen have much less. As polished as the horn is on this knife I couldn't get a shot without some glare, but you can see it clearly on the end opposite from the bolster on the mark side, and between the three pins closest to the bolster on the pile side.
 
Biggie_Robs said:
Basically, I'd like to know what feathered buffalo horn actually is. It looks pretty darn cool.
Click to expand...

I interpreted it as a reference to the coloring. If you look at the first picture of his barlow you can see some color that looks like it was painted on with a feather. Here's another example from a trapper that looks like somebody dipped a feather in a light colored paint and then lightly ran it across the horn:



I might be off base on this, but that's what I thought of when I saw Feathered Buffalo Horn.
 
So feathered buffalo horn is something that Queen came up with to describe their buffalo horn that had this coloring? It's not an industry-wide term?
 
Captain O said:
I spoke with Queen today, and they said that they were being far more careful with their heat treating. You can likely stop being so "gun shy" when it comes to their products.

Captain O
Click to expand...

Curious about this comment, as I don't recall, but haven't necessarily been following, heat treatment of Queen blades being a major quality issue. Also, this brings to mind that, in days past, Queen used Peterson? heat treating on their D2 blades, and they were marked PH-D2. Is that no longer the case?

Nice looking knife. Does it have one of those curious edge-thingies on it as reported by Macchina?
 
MarkPinTx said:
Curious about this comment, as I don't recall, but haven't necessarily been following, heat treatment of Queen blades being a major quality issue. Also, this brings to mind that, in days past, Queen used Peterson? heat treating on their D2 blades, and they were marked PH-D2. Is that no longer the case?

Nice looking knife. Does it have one of those curious edge-thingies on it as reported by Macchina?
Click to expand...

It was fairly sharp, but I rarely see knives out of the box that are as sharp as I would like. Strangely, Rough Riders, Opinels, and SAKs are the sharpest I've found out of the box. This one, when I saw it I thought it would likely not see much pocket time as I'm still partial to my gifted Charlow. I typically don't put a nice knife to stone unless I'm sure I will bee carrying it.
 
MarkPinTx:

I should have been more specific, and stated that their back springs were, at one time, failing due to poor heat treatment.

Captain O
 
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