What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

To be or not to be ..... a Barlow :cool:

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So much knowledge - so little time.

Starting at the beginning of this thread, and reading the first twenty or so postings in their entirety, as well as the last half dozen or so, I decided this might be the place to ask my question.

Having placed a knife in my pocket for the first time some 66 years ago, a Barlow pattern knife has occupied that space from time to time, mostly Imperials or those with a JAPAN tang stamping. In that time, most of said knives had BARLOW stamped on the tang, including the Old Cutler I recently acquired.

This brings me to my question. Why would the pattern name be stamped or engraved on the bolster of said knives instead of the manufacturer’s brand name, and on so many different brand knives? It seems to me that, of all the various patterns available, the Barlow is distinctive enough that it wouldn’t need to be labeled.

I look forward to hearing what you folks have to say about this. In the meantime, I’ll continue to clean up this Old Cutler and read more postings.

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waynorth said:
I've never seen an info write-up on him, or his methods. It seems he was off the grid!!
I can't remember where I heard the story about him, but it was when I posted this, that I heard it!!View attachment 1979682
He had his own tang stamp, obviously!! ;)
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Ran a Google search. He may be a South African maker. Another link say he is a Kentucky maker??? The Kentucky reference shows your knife. Great find whoever made it..
 
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Rich S said:
Ran a Google search. He may be a South African maker. Another link say he is a Kentucky maker??? The Kentucky reference shows your knife. Great find whoever made it..
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I followed your lead, Rich and googled him!!!
Kentucky sounds right!! A land of knife shows and Barlows!!! 😆


( I copied this from a posting at AAPK from"stringplucker")
"Back in the mid 1980's, I remember going to a gun and knife show in Cincinnati with my dad. He was standing in an aisle, talking to an old guy, and bought a knife from him...it was a Mervin Masters Barlow style knife. Sometime between then and dad's passing in 2010, the knife was either sold, lost, or traded for M1A1 parts. I always liked that knife.

Apparently Mervin Masters would make these knives out of old files and sell them at knife shows...always wearing bib overalls. His craftsmanship has been described as rough, but I look at differently. It's not only a knife, but a piece of Northern Kentucky folk art."
 
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