What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

I just read back through this thread looking for the story on the walnut blanks for the sheepsfoot. Apparently Charlie's dad had kept the blank for quite some time before passing it on to his son, who was kind enough to pass it on to his brother, Charlie. What I'm wondering, is how old this particular piece is? Now that I have the knife in my hand, it feels old and has a lot of soul. This tid-bit of information would just add to that!
 
getout87 said:
What I'm wondering, is how old this particular piece is?
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Great question, I cant find the quote but I think Charlie said it was from the 50's, hopefully he will enlighten me further.

Im also curious to learn when the Gabon Ebony on the second run Charlows, came into Charlies posession. iirc he got it in a trade in San Francisco, not sure when. Also not sure if its stabilized or not. Curious minds...

What makes a good traditional Barlow is steel that rusts :-). I just learned that the STL designation on the GEC tube, means all steel construction, no Nickel Silver bolster. Curious what steel is used for bolsters and liners in the Charlows, so far all Ive heard is Low Carbon.

I can confirm that the bolsters and liners rust, the boys knife that went camping in the rain, and stayed in its leather pouch for a week after, developed pepper spots on both the bolsters and liners. It is also marked STL on the tube, same as the Charlows.

you can see the rust on the bolster in this pic

IMG_6904.JPG
 
jon_slider said:
Great question, I cant find the quote but I think Charlie said it was from the 50's, hopefully he will enlighten me further.
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Here's the quotation, or at least, what Charlie has said in this thread:
waynorth said:
There will be some Ebony, two sawcut bone colors, and possibly some black walnut.
My father had a couple of walnut gunstock blanks in his closet from the 1950s. My brother gave me one of them, and I of course immediately thought "knife Handles"!
We are just looking at it to see how it finishes up.
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As far as 'how it finishes up,' the walnut was/is stablized, the ebony isn't. From a current thread in Maintenance regarding the restoration of a (GEC) ebony finish:

Bill DeShivs said:
Ebony does not need (and won't take) stabilizing.
The factory finish is done by buffing on a buffing wheel. You can use 0000 steel wool to refine the 400 grit finish, then use Simichrome polish on a rag in "shoe shine" fashion to polish the ebony.
Then, a coat of wax will help.
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~ P.
 
> Ebony does not need (and won't take) stabilizing.

I agree Ebony does not need stabilizing. However, it Does take stabilizing. I corresponded with the vendor of a stabilizing product, and he told me he tested it on Ebony and the sample increased in weight by 10%, indicating some of the product was absorbed into the sample.

He went on to say that softer woods will absorb more, and will increase in weight more, but Ebony will definitely accept stabilizer, if offered.

Further, when I asked GEC if their Ebony (Macassar) was stabilized, their reply was "all our wood is stabilized"

So I remain curious whether Charlies Gabon ebony was stabilized, not by GEC, but prior. From what GEC told me, they buy the wood already stabilized and do not do it in house, except Charlies walnut, which they did stabilize in house. GEC also said they stabilize all their bone in house. But they did not say that they stabilized Charlies Gabon ebony, though that bears confirming.

I also dont think African Blackwood needs stabilizing, but I dont know that GECs is not stabilized. Hoping Charlie will share what he learns about that.

> You can use 0000 steel wool to refine the 400 grit finish, then use Simichrome polish on a rag in "shoe shine" fashion to polish the ebony.

sounds good, have not tried that
I finished this Ebony Boys Knife with 600 grit emery paper and stropping with green rouge, I do the same to my Charlows.

C46F80EB-91A8-47AA-82A8-77F1FA69BCDC-10405-000004EF87CEC024_zps17a4baae.jpg


A good traditional barlow blade steel will patina:
18DE4004-6F9D-4B5D-9B70-E8D0DF623B7D-10527-000006706EF93FED_zps9e502441.jpg
 
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Thanks all! This knife just seemed to triple in weight with the history. Man i love this thing already
 
i just saw they have a bunch of #15 barlows one blade and two blade up on that web site i can't mention. lets just say i want one, but not bad enough where i will have to overpay by alot..
 
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cards94 said:
i just saw they have a bunch of #15 barlows one blade and two blade up on that web site i can't mention. lets just say i want one, but not bad enough where i will have to overpay by alot..
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you have a visitor message from me

Between the World Wars, Remington made a good traditional Barlow, by hiring away the production manager of the USA Boker factory at Valley Forge in 1919:

IMG_6922.JPG
 
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It was a Case XX Barlow with a sawn delrin handle that got me hooked on them. Eventually my Barlow collection numbered 100 knives but nothing like yours. Thank you for posting this collection!
 
10060464016_d5bc5338f1_z.jpg

This is a photo of my best old Barlows. I bought the Russell at a gun show in Tulsa a couple years ago and the Remington I got from Jon Slider recently. I had posted that I would like to have a Remington in good shape and Jon gave me that knife. I would like to thank Jon again for that. The knife is in very good shape and the pearl handle has even survived without any cracks after all these years. I never thought I would have a Remington in that good of shape. Thanks again Jon!
10060432984_c5a2613743_z.jpg

This is a photo of a Daddy Barlow that I just finished. It is 4 1/2" closed with iron bolsters and liners with rough cut bone scales. I tried to make it as close to how it would have been made "back in the day". The only thing that I changed was that I used D-2 steel because I can heat treat D-2 better than I can heat treat 1095. It has been in my back pocket ever since I got it finished.
 
jon_slider said:
Great question, I cant find the quote but I think Charlie said it was from the 50's, hopefully he will enlighten me further.

Im also curious to learn when the Gabon Ebony on the second run Charlows, came into Charlies posession. iirc he got it in a trade in San Francisco, not sure when. Also not sure if its stabilized or not. Curious minds...

What makes a good traditional Barlow is steel that rusts :-). I just learned that the STL designation on the GEC tube, means all steel construction, no Nickel Silver bolster. Curious what steel is used for bolsters and liners in the Charlows, so far all Ive heard is Low Carbon.

I can confirm that the bolsters and liners rust, the boys knife that went camping in the rain, and stayed in its leather pouch for a week after, developed pepper spots on both the bolsters and liners. It is also marked STL on the tube, same as the Charlows.

you can see the rust on the bolster in this pic

IMG_6904.JPG
Click to expand...

If you have trouble with getting rid of the rust, please, use this stuff. It works wonders for me.

http://www.bladehq.com/item--Super-Premium-Polishing-Paste-1-oz--10014

(and no, i'm not doubting your rust-cleaning abilities, this stuff is just awesome and I want to share :))
 
genewiseman said:
10060432984_c5a2613743_z.jpg

This is a photo of a Daddy Barlow that I just finished. It is 4 1/2" closed with iron bolsters and liners with rough cut bone scales. I tried to make it as close to how it would have been made "back in the day". The only thing that I changed was that I used D-2 steel because I can heat treat D-2 better than I can heat treat 1095. It has been in my back pocket ever since I got it finished.
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I really like that, looks great! :thumbup:
 
jon_slider said:
Great question, I cant find the quote but I think Charlie said it was from the 50's, hopefully he will enlighten me further.

Im also curious to learn when the Gabon Ebony on the second run Charlows, came into Charlies posession. iirc he got it in a trade in San Francisco, not sure when. Also not sure if its stabilized or not. Curious minds...
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Jon and Nate, The Walnut was indeed a gunstock blank some time in the 1950's, and stayed that way until it became Barlow handles in 2013. My brother John inherited it in 2003, when Mom passed.

The Gabon Ebony was from a hardwood dealer in San Francisco, who was a friend of my other brother Michael (who lives in Pasadena). It was some old stock that the fellow saved for instrument makers. Not quite big enough for guitar fretboards, it was perfect for our purposes. It was not stabilized, being dense enough for handles without any treatment!.

I've been looking for something interesting to put on the next batch.
 
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That is a nice looking Barlow, Gene! It has the proportions of a typical 3 5/8" regular size Barlow. At 4 1/2", it must be a substantial piece of hardware!
Nice!!
 
genewiseman said:
10060464016_d5bc5338f1_z.jpg

the pearl handle has even survived without any cracks after all these years.
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Im very happy that Remington Barlow came to you Gene. The pearl is truly deep and beautiful, I could not believe it was real. I was the only bidder on that knife. I found it minutes after I read your post about wanting one. So I knew it was going to be yours from the beginning.

I did enjoy handling it very much, but I bought it for a song and I only found it because you asked, so there you have it. Im pretty sure its genuine, I checked with several people.

Now about your Russell, it is not Russell made. I believe it is actually a Camillus contract build. I like it, looks to be in good shape.
on your knife:
1. The spring pin at the spine is not centered on the handle
2. The pivot pin for the blades is not touching the arrow.
see more discussion of Russell spring pin positions here http://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37404&start=30

pertinux said:
The real deal:
IMG_4952.jpg
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Thanks for posting pics Gene, and for your kind words. I would like to see more pics of your Daddy Barlow too.

and btw, I blame Charlie, for you getting that Remi. He started it by giving me a knife a while ago. Im just the messenger. Thanks Charlie. Enjoy it Gene.
 
Thanks for the info Jon. I really hate to hear that my Russell is not a Russell though. I can't remember what I gave for it but it wasn't all that much. I guess that is why I got it as cheap as I did. Do you have any idea how old it might be?
Thanks again,
Gene
 
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