What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

MEAKO....I fully understand....Nice pics and knives mate and insanity is only a state of mind...institutionalised will be your next step,onya!.....FES
 
I've been with the fire brigade for nearly 30 yrs.One could say I'm properly institutionalised.
Yes one could say that...but I wouldn't hear because I'd be down in the bushes near the mailbox ...wait. sshhh...whats that noise? the postie?
 
Thanks for those stainless lambs feet with composite handle pics Jack. The spine and edge of those is almost parallel, like a Sheep Foot, like the cheap chinese one you showed previously.

I guess the reason Charlie says there are no Traditional Lamb Foot barrows, is because he is in America?

Your following photo is super interesting. The top knife has the non pivot end of a Texas Toothpic, which as you know is a remnant of the Spanish Conquistadores Navaja. Note that both of the old knives you show here have curved, navaja like handles, not barlow teardrops.

dkki.jpg


Here is an old Navaja, with a large barlowish bolster

s046.jpg


I wonder it the long bolster of the Barlow was influenced by the Navaja?:-)

and todays pic in every post:

3338F2B0-1C89-4D58-82DC-63490FBBB7FD-6754-000002D5A1990DC0_zps5d0950ff.jpg
 
jon_slider said:
Thanks for those stainless lambs feet with composite handle pics Jack. The spine and edge of those is almost parallel, like a Sheep Foot
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Yes, the reason I made the comment about the Rodgers and Wostenholm names being disconnected from the past is that the fact Lambsfoot Barlows (and the blades ARE more like a Sheepsfoot) are being produced under those names today, doesn't necessarily mean there is a tradition of doing so.

Likewise, with Trevor Ablett's knives, (which ARE a true Lambsfoot blade, and carbon steel), Trevor likes to use a lot of brass on ALL his knives.

Long-bolstered knives though came in many patterns, even fruit knives.

jon_slider said:
I guess the reason Charlie says there are no Traditional Lamb Foot barrows, is because he is in America?
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Sorry, I missed that, but if that's the case, I don't think it would have anything to do with where Charlie does or doesn't live.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
jon, the Templars will be after you now! :D
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nah, they went out of vogue before the Barlow was invented :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar
"The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake.[9]"


while researching the origin of the Barlow, I got on a tangent about Crucible steel, first made in Sheffield in 1740, aka wootz or Damascus steel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucible_steel
Crucible steel is generally attributed to production centres in India and Sri Lanka where it was produced using the so-called "wootz" process and it is assumed that its appearance in other locations was due to long distance trade.[14] Only recently it has become apparent that places in Central Asia like Merv in Turkmenistan and Akhsiket in Uzbekistan were important centres of production of crucible steel.[15] The Central Asian finds are all from excavations and date from the 8th to 12th centuries AD, while the Indian/Sri Lankan material is as early as 300 BC.In addition India's superior iron ore has trace vanadium and other rare earths which unintentionally leads to the formation of carbon nano tubes in Indian crucible steel which was famous throughout the middle east for its ability to retain its edge even after prolonged usage…

European accounts from the 17th century onwards have referred to the repute and manufacture of ‘wootz’, a traditional crucible steel made specially in parts of southern India in the former provinces of Golconda, Mysore and Salem…

The known sites of crucible steel production in south India, i.e. at Konasamudram and Gatihosahalli, date from at least the late medieval period, 16th century.[19] One of the earliest known sites, which shows some promising preliminary evidence that may be linked to ferrous crucible processes in Kodumanal, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.[20] The site is dated between the third century BC and the third century AD.[21] By the seventeenth century the main centre of crucible steel production seems to have been in Hyderabad. The process was apparently quite different from that recorded elsewhere.[22] Wootz from Hyderabad or the Decanni process for making watered blades involved a co-fusion of two different kinds of iron- one was low in carbon and the other was a high-carbon steel or cast iron.[23] Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout ancient Europe, China, the Arab world, and became particularly famous in the Middle East, where it became known as Damascus steel.[24][25]…

Central Asia has a rich history of crucible steel production, beginning during the late 1st millennium AD.[35] From the sites in modern Uzbekistan and Merv in Turkmenistan, there exists good archaeological evidence for the large scale production of crucible steel.[36] They all belong in broad terms to the same early medieval period between the late 8th or early 9th and the late 12th century AD[37] Contemporary with the early crusades.[36]…

English crucible steel
Crucibles next to the furnace room at Abbeydale, Sheffield
Crucible_Steel_near_to_Beauchief%2C_Sheffield%2C_Great_Britain.jpg



A new technique was developed in England by Benjamin Huntsman, a clockmaker in search of a better steel for clock springs. It was only in 1740 after he moved to Handsworth near Sheffield, and after years of experimenting in secret he perfected his process.

see this video for a modern remaking of crucible steel for an Ulfbehrt sword
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbLyVpWsVM

The Ulfbehrt sword appears in 1000 ad in the hands of the Saxons (Sax means knife)

trail said:
We had a thread on this knife recently but I'd still like to put a shot on the Barlow thread since this is almost certainly the oldest Barlow most of us will ever see. As best we could figure, made by either Matthew or Luke Oates..., Sheffield England, late 1700s to early 1800s.
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note the above Barlow does not have the Spanish Navaja handle curve. It appears to be a single spear blade knife.

and yet another American traditional (Does traditional mean from the 1800s to the 1900s?) spearpoint barlow pic:

6EB1111A-072E-4AD7-9293-A83D3D1EC361-8552-000008F2B332E7AC_zps59be6ecf.jpg
 
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I was standing next to that stack of crucibles just a couple of weeks ago Jon! I've got a load of pics of Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet I need to upload at some point (though it won't be in this thread).

Don't like to use other people's images without asking them, but came across this pic of an older IXL Lambsfoot Barlow. Always worth remembering though, that a Sheffield cutler might marry any blade to any handle if circumstances dictated.

 
meako said:
2013-09-03170736_zps0a48f356.jpg~original

2013-09-03162547_zps73082519.jpg

Happy to announce that I have NOT GONE INSANE thanks to my good ol mate the postie.
He brought forth the Charlow a mere 2 days after Fathers day(it was Sunday out here).
Theres an old saying-
"Good things come to those who wait"
Sure I was waiting in the bushes near to my mailbox with a length of sturdy rope for the last few days but the saying remains true.
Thank you Charlie.
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:D

Well photographed Mr. Meako!! That sawcut bone is mellowing nicely, BTW! Like Sarahs.
Nice to hear the Walnut arrived safely!!
 
waynorth said:
I wonder how the bolsters would look blued?
Now you got me thinking about going out and getting some gun blue!
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No gun blue here, but this picture shows how well my ebony all-steel #25 took to its vinaigrette, bolsters and all:

Biledebony_zps81e8bac5.jpg~original


SubSpace said:
Nope. Lime juice. I just cut up the lime for my drinks and, while sipping, spread the juice around the blade with my finger to keep it even. After a few drinks, it looks like that.
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I shall have to try this. One should first investigate at least a few mixed drinks that accessorize well with lime to "get the hang of it," yes? :)

mrjefe2u said:
Bluelows?
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We're getting closer!

jon_slider said:
Two sheepsfoot blades, a wharncliffe, and a lambcliffe:
IMG_0017.jpg
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Raise your hand if you recognized my knives, with my descriptive ("lambcliffe" is the giveaway)....

Jack Black said:
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Fantastic, Jack! The white bone versions are really something. :thumbup:

waynorth said:
meako said:
2013-09-03162547_zps73082519.jpg
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That sawcut bone is mellowing nicely, BTW! Like Sarah's.
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Ain't it just? My own antique amber is so much My Knife®, I'm consistently surprised when it shows up in others' pictures, especially with similar manifestations of use! ;)

Looking good, Meako!

~ P.
 
pertinux said:
Raise your hand if you recognized my knives, with my descriptive ("lambcliffe" is the giveaway)....
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Hard not to miss that was your pic P, even when re-posted in a way that doesn't generally happen here :)

pertinux said:
Fantastic, Jack! The white bone versions are really something. :thumbup:
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Thanks :) I had some business near the ancient West Yorkshire market town of Pontefract today, so called in at Pontefract Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontefract_Castle) to take a few more pics. Here's my Charlow admiring the view from the old brew house :)



genewiseman said:
I made this using vintage Remington bolsters and stag.
9670096268_62b0ec17a6_z.jpg
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Fantastic work Gene :thumbup:
 
Wabi sabi. That's what has caused me to invest almost $500 (don't tell my wife) in these beautiful Charlows. And yours, burnside, may be the most beautiful I have ever seen. Whenever I receive a new GEC, I immediately look for those little flaws, intentional or not, that prove that it was made by real human beings, hard working men and women, in Titusville PA. I don't regret a single purchase, knowing I'm helping to support those folks at GEC and getting to carry and use these little beauties.
 
Dr. Scott said:
Wabi sabi. That's what has caused me to invest almost $500 (don't tell my wife) in these beautiful Charlows. And yours, burnside, may be the most beautiful I have ever seen. Whenever I receive a new GEC, I immediately look for those little flaws, intentional or not, that prove that it was made by real human beings, hard working men and women, in Titusville PA. I don't regret a single purchase, knowing I'm helping to support those folks at GEC and getting to carry and use these little beauties.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments on the soup bone!

I've gone through quite a few Charlows myself since the first release. Some I regret letting go of, but the three that I have settled on are my keepers. They have spoken to me more so than the others. The soup bone was a chance pick up on the for-sale forum, and it was definitely the best deal I have gotten on a barley used Charlow. If I had to keep only one, the soup bone would probably be it.
 
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