Russell barlow

B

bob b

Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
78
Hello all,Purchased a nice barlow from a local dealer,Master blade is etched Russell green river works,Tang is stamped solingen germany,Stag scales,Bolsters appear to be steel and one side has a R with an arrow,Any info on this brand would be helpful. Thanks Bob B
 
bob b,
That is a reproduction of the John Russell Barlow, once made by Green River Works (which is now Dexter-Russell) here in the U.S.A.. It seems they MIGHT currently be made by Boker, in Germany. The arrow on the German knives has more feathers than the original version. Here are a couple links to the German versions, for information only of course.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43335&item=6524015035&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43335&item=6523585416&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

They come with a spear or a clip master blade....usually sell for around $35.

There have also been some reproductions made by Schrade ('70s) and Colonial ('98, I believe) that show up now and then. I couldn't find one up on eBay right now. The arrow has 3 feathers, and the arrowhead is a bit different on these, and they usually bring a bit more, especially the older ones.

Hope that's a bit of help.

Bill
 
Current Russel Barlows are made in Brazil, according to my distributor's catalogue.
 
Spokes,
Do you happen to know who it is that assembles/makes them in Brazil? Does it say anything in the distributor information? That is interesting.

I thought I read that those were made by Boker in the facility in Argentina..... :confused:

Anyway, just trying to help... :)

Bill
 
I wish I had a really pretty one to show you but I don't. This is the best genuine Russell barlow I have. The other one is actually a carry knife. At any rate here's an image of the original.

russellbarlow.jpg
 
Since I had the camera out, I went ahead and shot my Russell barlow carry knife. It is a single blade model. You can see they made clip blades in addition to the spearpoint you saw in the other image. There isn't much blade left on this one so I keep it sharp and use it from time to time.

russellbarlow2.jpg
 
Apparently the Russell Barlows are still made in Germany but other Russells are made in Argentina I would not be surprised if they were made by Boker, which I think makes other German brands too, here's a couple of Links to indicate Germany for the Barlows (one of the Barlows at least) and Argentina for the Bowie, for most of the Barlows there is no mention of origin:

http://www.discountcutlery.net/en-us/dept_21896.html

http://worldwideknives.com/Russell/Russell1.html

Blades Two, nice knives and also the Leica.

Luis
 
Hello Luis,
Nice to have you chime in with a couple of links. Sure does look like Germany for the folders, and Argentina for the fixed blades.

I should have edited my post above, but old age struck me (just last night, of course) and I forgot to do so.... :o
It should have read...."made by Boker and maybe assembled in the facility in Argentina. But the Brazil part from spokes was like a good curveball and caught me flatfooted. Still wondering about that.... :confused:

Spokes, can you shed any more light on the information from the distributor? Maybe they mentioned the wrong country by mistake?

Bill
 
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