Russell or Camillus Barlow?

[Pipeman]

Left unfinished osage orange darkens pretty quickly with exposure to sunlight and oxygen. Even with three coats of UV blocking urethane in indirect sunlight it will darken to a deep nut brown in 8 years. Much less time in more direct light and no finish.

Regards

Robin

 

[Markesharp]

Left unfinished osage orange darkens pretty quickly with exposure to sunlight and oxygen. Even with three coats of UV blocking urethane in indirect sunlight it will darken to a deep nut brown in 8 years. Much less time in more direct light and no finish.

Regards

Robin

Thanks Robin. I read on a woodworking website the same thing. A couple members swear by using "Son-Of-A-Gun" automotive interior spray because it does a great job of blocking the UV rays and can be applied very easily on a regular basis. The results from their pictures that they showed has me sold on the Idea.

BTW I did use a good wood oil finish on the handles......four coats

 

[Pipeman]

A friend of mine made an osage bamboo laminated long bow about 25 years ago without any finish, it's a deep milk chocolate brown now, just beautifil patina.
I haven't forgotten the Walrus ivory I promised. I'm cutting some in the next few days for the leuku so I'll get you a pair of scales.
Haven't had good luck cutting this piece, it has it's own internal tension and it snapped in three as I cut it which meant a Total rethink of the leuku sheath.

The barlow looks fantastic Mark

Best regards

Robin

 

[Gevonovich]

Fantastic work, Mark! This one is going to age wonderfully!! I need a shop and to learn to do this.

 

[Markesharp]

A friend of mine made an osage bamboo laminated long bow about 25 years ago without any finish, it's a deep milk chocolate brown now, just beautifil patina.
I haven't forgotten the Walrus ivory I promised. I'm cutting some in the next few days for the leuku so I'll get you a pair of scales.
Haven't had good luck cutting this piece, it has it's own internal tension and it snapped in three as I cut it which meant a Total rethink of the leuku sheath.

The barlow looks fantastic Mark

Best regards

Robin

Thank you Robin, I appreciate it. Sorry to hear about the Ivory snapping I know you will come up with something awesome :thumbup:

Fantastic work, Mark! This one is going to age wonderfully!! I need a shop and to learn to do this.

Thanks Gevo. Set up shop and I will help you.

 

[Gevonovich]

Thank you Robin, I appreciate it. Sorry to hear about the Ivory snapping I know you will come up with something awesome :thumbup:



Thanks Gevo. Set up shop and I will help you.

I really appreciate that, Mark. After I get settled I will set something up and your on, my friend!

 

[Old Engineer]

Info I found when researching about my Russell Barlow:

From Knife Forums:

Russell went out of business in 1932, since then all Russell knifes are commemorative and reproductions.

The original John Russell company used a number of tang stamps over the years - but never any curved markings. These came later when John Russell & Co merged with John Harrington Cutlery Co (Southbridge, Mass) in 1933 - combining factories and becoming Russell-Harrington -- which I think is still around, though they dropped all their pocketknife lines in 1941 as WW II was getting started.

The curved Russell and USA on the tang is from 1933-1941. Other curved Russell stamps are from this same period also. The classic RUSSELL straightline stamp was dropped in 1933.

Historical context of the Russell Barlow knife: ( I think Jon Slider created this info )

1797 John Russell born in Greenfield
1873 John Russell Cutlery Company formed, headed by Richard N. Oakman, Jr.
1874 John Russell dies in Greenfield
1876 Russell Barlow prototype introduced, using the straight line tang stamp RUSSELL
1890 W. P. Dustin becomes head of Russell Cutlery Co.
1914 to 1918 ww 1
1920 Prohibition
1920 Womens right to vote
1929 begin great depression
1933 End of Prohibition
1933 Russell merges with Harrington, begins using the Curved Russell tang stamp with Arrow thru the R
1941 End great depression, Pearl Harbor, US enters World War 2
1941 Russell Harrington stops making the Russell Barlow.
1945 US drops atomic bombs on Japan, end of World War 2
1950s Russell Harrington repairs barlows for members of the Barlow Bearcats, using a tang stamp with diamonds on each side of the R, instead of an arrow
1968 Colonial builds a Commemorative Russel Barlow set for Dexter-Russel, tang stamp had diamonds on both sides of the R
1971 German replica Russells appear, curved tang stamp has arrow through the R, some have long pull blades
1974 Schrade issues a Russell commemorative with Delrin scales, same knife as the scrolled bolster Schrade 206

It appears there were two re-productions attempted by German cutleries - one most likely being Eye Brand.

There is more information on AAPK forums about Russell Barlows.

Just bumping this thread for D Duckdog Stuart to find easily .

Harry

 

[Duckdog]

Just bumping this thread for D Duckdog Stuart to find easily .

Thanks for the help in identifying the maker of my "Russell" barlow, Harry. On the chance that @waynorth , Markesharp or others on this original thread see the bump, I'm posting pics of my "Russell" so the stamps can be seen (unfortunately, the early images in this thread seem not to be available anymore).

If you click on a picture, it should expand so the tang and bolster marks are easier to see.

Thanks for any information on this knife's possible origins'
- Stuart

 

[Old Engineer]

Thanks for the help in identifying the maker of my "Russell" barlow, Harry. On the chance that @waynorth , Markesharp or others on this original thread see the bump, I'm posting pics of my "Russell" so the stamps can be seen (unfortunately, the early images in this thread seem not to be available anymore).

If you click on a picture, it should expand so the tang and bolster marks are easier to see.

Thanks for any information on this knife's possible origins'
- Stuart

Thought that this thread may be a good place to show this Russell Re-production which was made in 1998 by maybe Camillus . As you can see Stuart , there is a lot of differences between yours and mine .
Edited : There are those who also believe that mine were made by Colonial and not Camillus .

This is the only picture that I have to show of the Box that confirms the year they were made , but nowhere on the box or the box that the box came in show who made the Russells . Mine are both Serial Number #0915



Harry

 

[MerryMadMonk]

Harry, yours were made by Colonial.

Stuart, I haven't seen one like yours before.

 

[Old Engineer]

Harry, yours were made by Colonial.

Stuart, I haven't seen one like yours before.

Thanks for confirming that Al . Just 2 minutes ago I was reading an article by Jon Slider that also said that it was made by Colonial and he claimed that he got the info from Dexter-Russell.

Harry

 

[Duckdog]

Thought that this thread may be a good place to show this Russell Re-production which was made in 1998 by maybe Camillus . As you can see Stuart , there is a lot of differences between yours and mine .
Edited : There are those who also believe that mine were made by Colonial and not Camillus .

Thanks, again, Harry, for your help and for showing that nice group.

Harry, yours were made by Colonial.

Stuart, I haven't seen one like yours before.

Thanks, Al. I hadn't found anything that looked like my knife (though a lot of old threads on Russells have images that are no longer viewable), either, hence my posting it on BF. I am getting a great education as I follow the trail, though. BTW, Al, a little background: I inherited most of my traditional knives from my stepfather and am slowly going through the boxes, identifying and cataloging as I go. I don't have any information of where he obtained them (I know that it was all done without help from the internet) or what he knew about them. I do know that he liked Case and Queen, but there is a broad representation of makers in the piles that I am going through.

- Stuart

 

[MerryMadMonk]

That sounds like fun, Stuart! ... at least to me! Good Luck and please continue to show us what you got!

 

[Markesharp]

Thanks for the help in identifying the maker of my "Russell" barlow, Harry. On the chance that @waynorth , Markesharp or others on this original thread see the bump, I'm posting pics of my "Russell" so the stamps can be seen (unfortunately, the early images in this thread seem not to be available anymore).

If you click on a picture, it should expand so the tang and bolster marks are easier to see.

Thanks for any information on this knife's possible origins'
- Stuart

Hi Stuart,

I never did get a definitive answer on what company made my Russell barlow.
Mine had the same bolster stamp as the straight line Russell's did.
The tang stamp although curved was different than yours. My photos went bye bye went Photo Bucket changed and I didn't save any back up pic's......lesson learned.

If I was to guess I would say it was made by Camillus in the early to mid 40's.