What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

[waynorth]

Like Rip Van Winkle - Welcome back Amos!!

I've always loved Barlows Amos, as you know, and everyone and his sister was asking where to get a good one, so I talked to Bill at GEC, and between the two of us, we came up with one that floats both our boats - and a bunch of other peoples' besides.
This thread has a lot of the history. If you start at the beginning (which is getting to be a daunting task at 164 pages!), it unfolds nicely.

Nice to see your Barlow collection (again), and to hear you are looking after the boys!

To all my regular friends here: Amos provided moral (and other) support, when I was muddling through my first SFOs.
Hope you stick around Amos!!

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

To all my regular friends here: Amos provided moral (and other) support, when I was muddling through my first SFOs.
Hope you stick around Amos!!

Way I recall it was you providing moral and other support to a fellow returning to and getting deeper into traditional knives.

Recon I'm going to have to go back to page one and read the book. I'd ask if the movie version was out yet, but as we know, "The book is better."

Good seeing a bunch of the old crew still around. Y'know me. I wander in for awhile then fade back into the hills for awhile. LOL.

 

[pmew]

I have been meaning to post this beefy picture for a while, we were talking about meat tea at one stage?!?!


Paul

 

[gunstockjack]

 

[jon_slider]

Thanks for the link to your photos gunstockjack, they are excellent. I especially like this one, as it shows off the sawcuts.
Sawcut bone makes a good traditional barlow.

Sometimes a good traditional barlow has a ringed bolster with a Branding mark, a long pull Primary with a Swedge, and 3 pins in the saw cut bone covers.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/527126-quot-Old-Knives-quot/page6

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/522788
Albert Baer owned Ulster, Imperial, and Schrade in 1946 and Camillus in 1963, this quote thanks to Codger from Alberts papers:
"after the Second World War, I made the Keen Kutter brand in Camillus."

Im not sure if Albert is saying he made knives in Camillus after WW2 or after 1963, but I think that Keen Kutter looks a lot like this Camillus.

 

[pertinux]

The Smooth Blue Bone would be so gorgeous! Pertinux would probably buy all of them though then post pictures every other day and tease us with them!

I heard that.





Were there a run of blue barlows, I would joyfully share. So there!

The thing is, "blue" is not a traditional color per se, and almost more, a good blue can be surprisingly difficult to achieve. That said, Case seems to do a good job with their navy blue, as well as the even less neo-traditional Mediterranean Blue that is my favorite of their offerings (I threw "less neo-traditional" in there to see if I could make Jon's beret spin as the gears turned).


But hark, what doth catch the light on yonder windowsill?

~ P.

 

[waynorth]

'Tis hard to hide the eclat of that Yeller!

 

[pertinux]

'Tis hard to hide the eclat of that Yeller!

For true! I laughed when I saw the veritable glow through the wax paper.

Unwrapped:

I marvel at how unobtrusively the spey fits into the handle.

Such beautiful lines....

How I love this etch-- symmetry, whimsy, evocation. :thumbup:

As nice an artistic touch as the cut swedges are on prior clip blade releases, my fingers rejoice in the smooth-from-the-get-go, non-catching drawn swedge on this nail-nick iteration:

(To my eye, the nail nick and drawn swedge yield no style points to the cut swedge and long pull, and its tactile smoothness give it the edge. Er, because it lacks one! Not that I don't love me some long pulls....)

Now having this knife in hand, I wonder that I ever balked at the notion of a spey main, or worried that the clip "secondary" (a full blade in its own right) might be uncomfortable when using the spey. This is a very comfortable knife. I'm hesitant to lose the etch (too) soon-- I like it that much-- but will be putting this knife through fuller paces anon. Why, I do believe I even have a jar of marmalade on hand. Not that I like marmalade, but there are principles at stake.

But now, the true test-- the flinging into the yard. See it?

Well, neither do I, and neither did I, and in fact after taking the above picture and moving in for a close-up I couldn't find the knife right off, and let's just say it's a good thing it's bright yellow.

Let's try again:

(Middle o' Pile)

Relocated, a pale imitation of Barry's excellent contrasts of yellow and green(s):

But really, such a color. I am going to have a lot of fun with this one, and hope to better capture some of the yellow's creamy depths in the days ahead.

~ P.

 

[black mamba]

Pert, since yellow goes so well with blue,
it might be the thing for you to carry two!

 

[waynorth]

For all the yakking that has gone on over the years, about how easy it is to find your yellow knife if you drop it, this is the first "fling" test I have heard of!!
Made my day, now that I have quit laughing enough to type!!
A "bright" idea indeed, Sarah!!
What is that old adage? - the proof is in the putting - in this case, the "flinging"!!

 

[black mamba]

I've heard of shot putting, but not "barlow putting" . . . sounds more like a dessert.

 

[pertinux]

Pert, since yellow goes so well with blue,
it might be the thing for you to carry two!

Hey, I'm on it. Look for "Sverige" colors on the morrow, for T-bone Tuesday.

Speaking of colors, there's also a new brown in town, a deeper, less-red brown than previously seen-- but one which unexpectedly evinces hints of mauve under my camera lens(!):

Rest assured, Charlie and GEC did not produce purple barlows!

The single-bladed spey is so very sleek, the epitome of "low profile."

Here it is with a pen-behind spear barlow with the saddle brown of the second run (a run primarily comprised of clip main barlows, but with some spear mains included).

A better representation of their respective colors:

(Really, the spey barlow's saddle brown is lovely and dark. Also brown. I shan't be flinging this one....)

~ P.

 

[Pokerface]

I also had a nice little surprise when I got home today. I ordered the African Blackwood knife for myself and one of the scales has beautiful chocolate streaks running longways; however, I don't think the camera picked it up very well....

My brother has also been bitten by the TC Barlow bug. I gifted him my Walnut Sheepsfoot Barlow...he helped me replace all 16 spark plugs in the big ole HEMI and that was the one he picked when I gave him a choice in the litter. Anywho, he picked up a Saddle Brown Barlow from this run.

Sorry for the hastily taken pictures...I promised the kids that the x-mas lights were going up today...




And here is the Saddle Brown next to my Antique Yellow Sheepsfoot...

 

[burnside]

pertinux, that yellow bone looks gorgeous. Very nice pick up :thumbup:

I hope we see the yellow bone on the next release of spearpoints (assuming there will be another spearpoint release that is). I'm seriously tempted to pick one up with the single clip blade.

Actually, the idea of a smooth blue bone single spearpoint charlow has me drooling even more.

For now, I'm still carrying my spearpoint soup bone charlow and loving it...

 

[waynorth]

It is nice to see proof positive that all the knives are arriving as they should!

Another batch is going out tomorrow!
I am astounded at how the Brown Sawcut colors look in various pictures!! I see red and purple undertones in the pix, but
I looked at a few, and they all look - - well - - BROWN, in person!
Kinda cool actually.

Thanks all for posting pictures!

 

[JSCHENK]

Dropped my barlow this morning while taking keys out of my pocket. Nicked up the edge of the blackwood and a small nick on the bolster. That's what I get for leaving church early to hurry off to the bagel shop.

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if the wood is dented you can take either a few drops of water and put on the dent and allow the dent to raise then sand off...thus eliminating having to sand too much off. if that doesn't raise the grain enough try a damp cloth resting on the wood and an iron quickly touching the damp cloth just over the dent, this will steam the dented wood fibers and lift the dent right out. then sand and buff flush.

 

[burnside]

if the wood is dented you can take either a few drops of water and put on the dent and allow the dent to raise then sand off...thus eliminating having to sand too much off. if that doesn't raise the grain enough try a damp cloth resting on the wood and an iron quickly touching the damp cloth just over the dent, this will steam the dented wood fibers and lift the dent right out. then sand and buff flush.

Thats really good to know..Thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

If I had known about this, I might not have sold off some of my favorites in the past.

 

[burnside]

Just noticed the new GEC cover story mentions a new #44 Barlow scale? I wonder if this is going to be a Daddy or Granddaddy barlow? Very interesting.

 

[larson1122]

Just noticed the new GEC cover story mentions a new #44 Barlow scale? I wonder if this is going to be a Daddy or Granddaddy barlow? Very interesting.

It's the Northwoods #44 Barlow for KSF. It is pretty big at 4.249" closed.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1122181-44-Northwoods-barlow

http://greateasterncutlery.net/blog/gallery/44-northwoods/

 

[pertinux]

I am astounded at how the Brown Sawcut colors look in various pictures!! I see red and purple undertones in the pix, but
I looked at a few, and they all look - - well - - BROWN, in person!

I'm still baffled. Yes, in person, mine looks as brown as brown can be, as per GEC's own pictures (though looking again now I can see hints of what has become more apparent in other images):

The "mauve" that showed up in my own first pictures sure was a surprise!

I love the coloration in the bone (clearly, it takes more than "brown" to make this lovely Brown), but would still like to be able to capture the covers as they look to me, not as revealed only via lens.

I shall try again.

~ P.