What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

I love the Walnut, wish they'd use it more often.

 

This is easily my favorite thread on the porch, Im always so jealous looking at those GEC Barlows
This Case will keep my content until I can get my hands on one.


When I was a young guy I remember Barlows being the knife most people carried, and this pattern is still what I think of when I think “pocket knife”.
I enjoy this one. It doesn’t have the nicely radiused bolsters and covers that seems more common on other Barlows but otherwise it feels like the ones I remember from childhood.


This old red bone is the only other I have, it’s retired but I love pulling it out to fondle those beautiful covers.

 

Little soupy out this morning.

 

What’s the story behind the “flipper bait”?

 

Ah, so a measure against unscrupulous buyers/recipients? My next guess was something to do with dolphins

 

That's what happens when you let somebody else name your knife for you.
But seriously... I won the knife in a GAW and the owner wanted to make sure the winner wasn't going to turn around and try to make a big profit off his generosity. I think that just makes it more special and unique, I could probably sell it for five times as much now.
Just kidding @meako

 

Ha, that’s pretty clever. With a gift that generous I’d be a bit irate if some greedy miscreant used it as a way to make a quick buck. It does make it unique, and at the etching looks well done. Does nothing to hurt that already great looking Barlow

 

Makes it one-of-a-kind and very unique.

 

I chuckle every time I see you post a pic of "Flipper"

 

I did it on porpoise...nyuk nyuk.
I know John DF aint no flipper but I felt compelled to ? Put a ? Seal on it? guffaw guffaw.

 

Priceless!!!

 

"Mary gave him a brand-new 'Barlow' knife, worth twelve and a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a 'sure-enough' Barlow, and there was an inconceivable grandeur in that..."

I wanted my own 'sure-enough' Barlow knife ever since I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was little. But I must admit that once I got around to acquiring Barlows, I went a little crazy:

I acquired all five of these over the span of a month or so. It's strangely difficult to find a modern-production Barlow with sawcut bone handles (in my opinion the proper type for a Barlow), so I had to do it myself on natural bone scales. I used the $13 Rough Rider in the center as the testbed for my technique.