What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

cards94 said:
if you're sold a knife with the point a hair above the handle, can it be fixed? also, i'm still trying to figure out what a kick is or where it's located.
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Your options if you receive a knife that does not meet your expectations for fit and finish, is to return for refund, or replacement. You can also send it to GEC for repair.

I googled knife parts description for you
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/research/knife_definitions.php

also, here are photos of my modified (left) and unmodified (right) Sheepfoot Charlow kicks

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and the resulting back spring drop when closed (the modified one on the bottom). Changing the kick does not affect the spring position at half stop, nor at full open. fwiw, both my sheepfoot charlows have proud backsprings in half stop. The single bladed one is flush when full open. The two bladed one has the spring just barely below the liner, enough to catch a finger nail, when fully open. I currently have 5 GECs on the #15 frame. None of them have flush springs in the half stop position, not even the one that I sent to GEC for repair of a wobbly blade, that I caused by opening and closing the knife too many times while watching TV. In fact, 3 out of 5 of my 15's have wobbly blades from the same "break in" behavior of mine. I have not been willing to send them back to GEC for repair, nor do I have experience hammering my own pivot pins to tighten them up.

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and here is the result of filing the kick, on the knife on the left. The blade now sits about 3/16" lower at the tip

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Jack Black said:
That's interesting Charlie. The term 'farmer' is still commonly used by some Sheffield cutlers, but not to describe a spey-blade.
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Seems like any knife or blade intended for agriculture/husbandry/gardening applications can be referred to as a "Farmer's" something or other, in broad terms.
I have a hard time accepting the inexact nature of English usage sometimes.
Retailers for instance playing fast and loose with Knife Pattern Labelling makes me cringe!
 
getout87 said:
Charlie any new details for the upcoming Charlow runs?
waynorth said:
No answers on the "when" except it will be this year, but there will be three blade configurations:

> Single blade Spey.

> Spey with a Clip behind it, like a trapper. That configuration was produced in Sheffield, and later in Germany over the last century or so.

> Single Clip. We've done these before, but because of overwhelming requests, we are producing a short run with different handles than the first run.

I have been looking at old catalogs, and have found that the "Spey" blade configuration has also been sold as a "Budding" blade, and as a "Farmer's" blade by various cutleries.
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getout87 said:
Charlie any new details for the upcoming Charlow runs?
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An echo! See above. :)

~ P.
 
cards94 said:
so the barlow experts say, it's not a good idea to file the kick down?
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It is a grand idea - as long as you know what to expect.
I've done it many times, especially on using knives. It can be a very practical solution to blade "peek".
N.B: Once you do it, it is not fair to expect the maker to fix it if you are disappointed!
 
here's what i'm looking at with my knife. the blade sits a little bit below but i'm thinking about dropping it down a little more.
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Personally, I wouldn't drop it, but I relish a flush or near-flush backspring more than I care about the usual high profile of a Sheepfoot blade. It looks (fuzzy) like the point is well into the handle.
You must please yourself.
 
i'm going to leave it alone. it's sits below and i'm looking at it too much and reading into things from reading other threads and posts.
 
LEOGREG said:
Interesting experiment Jon. I tried this about six months ago on my Otter Anchormesser, the more I filed the kick, the lower the back spring sunk between the bolsters. My thumb and I both agreed on the need for flush springs in the closed position so we terminated the project. :-) It would seem it was ever thus. This old rope knife also has a protruding blade but the back springs are perfectly flush in the closed, open and even half stop! position.
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One would think that in the era of CAD machining there ought to be a better compromise.
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That is a cool old rope knife LEOGREG!
I love the heavy rat tailed bolster AND the shield, as well as it's placement!! Most unusual. :cool:

Right there is food for thought Charlie. ;) I'm thinkin Bill would be ecstatic!!

Dave
 
When GEC does another barlow run before the year is up, people are going to step on each others heads to get one. :p
 
Wharcliffe (or Ettrick) style blades may have found usage in Barlow "frames".
Still looking into it - maybe for next year.
 
csisland said:
When GEC does another barlow run before the year is up, people are going to step on each others heads to get one. :p
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I upped the count a bit, in hopes of covering your (and others) concerns, csisland.
 
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