What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

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For me I want a clip main , and for the secondary a good conventional pen is fine but a sheeps foot or coping is even better.

This is kind of just an aesthetic matter because I most carry pretty small pocket knives, but I personally don't really like a spear or sheeps foot main in a Barlow.
Maybe the right broad spear could catch my eye but I think clip points look best on barlows with the sheeps foot and spear best suited to a single blade barehead Jack.
It's just a matter of what I picture as a Barlow.

To me a good Barlow should have carbon steel blades, and it's covers should be in an organic tone /color of some kind.
Wood, stag, bone, delrin...etc whatever it is the color should be something more organic and along the lines of what was seen in the barlows heyday 100 years ago.
That is to say bright vibrant fruity colors don't look right on a Barlow to me, they can look good and be appropriate on a lot of different knives but are out of place on a Barlow.

This is an example of what isn't a " good traditional Barlow ".The shield though unconventional isn't really my problem, it's the color. I don't like it in general, but especially not on a Barlow.


And this is my attempt to make a good traditional Barlow out of it.
 
Hickory n steel said:
For me I want a clip main , and for the secondary a good conventional pen is fine but a sheeps foot or coping is even better.

This is kind of just an aesthetic matter because I most carry pretty small pocket knives, but I personally don't really like a spear or sheeps foot main in a Barlow.
Maybe the right broad spear could catch my eye but I think clip points look best on barlows with the sheeps foot and spear best suited to a single blade barehead Jack.
It's just a matter of what I picture as a Barlow.

To me a good Barlow should have carbon steel blades, and it's covers should be in an organic tone /color of some kind.
Wood, stag, bone, delrin...etc whatever it is the color should be something more organic and along the lines of what was seen in the barlows heyday 100 years ago.
That is to say bright vibrant fruity colors don't look right on a Barlow to me, they can look good and be appropriate on a lot of different knives but are out of place on a Barlow.

This is an example of what isn't a " good traditional Barlow ".The shield though unconventional isn't really my problem, it's the color. I don't like it in general, but especially not on a Barlow.


And this is my attempt to make a good traditional Barlow out of it.
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That's a very good attempt lol. What did you use to dye the scales?
 
Stockaholic said:
That's a very good attempt lol. What did you use to dye the scales?
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Thank you.
I dyed it for 10 minutes with RIT chocolate brown, vigorously polished it with some green compound on a rag, lightly torched it all over, then another dye bath for 5 minutes, and a light final hand polishing.

I think I've settled on calling this hot chocolate bone.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Thank you.
I dyed it for 10 minutes with RIT chocolate brown, vigorously polished it with some green compound on a rag, lightly torched it all over, then another dye bath for 5 minutes, and a light final hand polishing.

I think I've settled on calling this hot chocolate bone.
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Thanks, I'll have to try that. I have several grey bone Case knives and while I actually do like the color on most of them, I agree with you that it doesn't look quite right on a Barlow.
 
Stockaholic said:
Thanks, I'll have to try that. I have several grey bone Case knives and while I actually do like the color on most of them, I agree with you that it doesn't look quite right on a Barlow.
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Keep in mind that you can get spots on carbon steel blades and decent corrosion on the tangs because RIT liquid calls for some salt to be ( I tried not using salt, it worked on some but the Case knives definitely needed it )
generally you want the knife to cool before rinsing to avoid a temperature shock that could crack the bone, but I wanted to rinse the dye off ASAP to avoid the corrosion so I quickly dunked it in some less hot water to cool it down a little before rinsing / scrubbing in hot faucet water then blowing out with the air compressor.
You just don't want to go directly from hot to cold.

There's a couple threads on dying knives if you wanna search for them.
 
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Hickory n steel said:
Keep in mind that you can get spots on carbon steel blades and decent corrosion on the tangs because RIT liquid calls for some salt to be ( I tried not using salt, it worked on some but the Case knives definitely needed it )
generally you want the knife to cool before rinsing to avoid a temperature shock that could crack the bone, but I wanted to rinse the dye off ASAP to avoid the corrosion so I quickly dunked it in some less hot water to cool it down a little before rinsing / scrubbing in hot faucet water then blowing out with the air compressor.
You just don't want to go directly from hot to cold.

There's a couple threads on dying knives if you wanna search for them.
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Thanks for the advice. I'll probably practice on a lesser pattern before I commit to ruining a Barlow 😂😂😂
 
Primble said:
I'm really sorry to be the bearer of bad news ................................... but it sure looks like to me that you collect them. :thumbsup: 😍 🤣
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majorpain1 said:
Daddy Barlows count, don't they? I recently picked up the newer red Robeson after not getting a Daddy for quite a while. I don't really collect them but I do have a collection of them, if that makes sense.
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Nice non-collection!!! 😁
Of course Daddies count!!Daddies Misc 1.jpgDaddies Misc 2.jpgDaddies Misc 3.jpg
As do Curved Barlows!!Curved Russell A.jpgCurved Russell B.jpgCurved Russell C.jpg
 
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