What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

[gunstockjack]

Very classy Gene. Beautiful work.

 

[jacobsblades]

Very classy Gene. Beautiful work.

I agree:thumbup:

 

[jon_slider]

the stag has a surprising texture!

yes, it is very porous, basically marrow bone.. I caution you not to oil it or you will fill the pores with oil, which will darken the material, and potentially trap dirt

see my attempt to dissuade people from soaking bone in oil. I dont think most people recognize the darkening effect of soaking.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...here?p=13441561&highlight=porous#post13441561

otoh, I am in favor of oiling wood, but fwiw, the walnut is stabilized, so oil will have little effect. You have excellent taste, I love the Heirloom Walnut.

This is made off of an old Keen Kutter pattern.

Very handsome and slender. Nice to see you chose to put the pen blade on the pile side. Outstanding flush fit of spine to spring, a cut above what we see on production knives.

Curious to see the Keen Kutter, they interest me, and also to know the weight of each knife.. My two blade Barlows vary a lot, 64 grams for this Keen Kutter, 80 grams for this redbone

94 grams for the following stag scaled BFC 2009, my first knife in D2, interesting material, does not patina at all from my Mexican food test

 

[waynorth]

I want to say a big THANK YOU to barry! I thought all the barlows with 3rd cut stag sold until I also got an email from him! I also purchased a walnut from him which I missed when they first came out! Both of these knives are amazing! I can not believe the quality. I would also like so say a big THANKS to charlie for making it possible for me to own these knifes! Now on to some pictures!

Not the greatest photo's. Also the stag has a surprising texture!

They make a nice pair! Great photos!

Happiness is a sheepfoot Charlow:

Indeed! And did you make the slip, Barry??

This is made off of an old Keen Kutter pattern. It is a traditional pattern with modern materials.

Nice stretch of the traditional boundaries!!

Here is a very weird one my dad recently picked up. I haven't found a lot of info on it but I've definitely never seen one like it. The only thing on the tang is the Queen stamp and etched on the actual blade it just says Queen Steel Made in USA that's it. It's very light weight and the scales are some sort of delrin.

Aluminum, concealed backspring Barlow! They cast the frame back then.
Don't know how they assembled it!!??

 

[waynorth]

94 grams for the following stag scaled BFC 2009, my first knife in D2, interesting material, does not patina at all from my Mexican food test

I kept that knife pristine for five years Jon, just so your test results would not be tainted!
The dinner looks great!:thumbup:

I have heard D-2 called a "semi-stainless" steel. It does not suffer patina gladly!

 

[sitflyer]

.....

 

[black mamba]

The 3rd cut looks great on the TCs. Thanks, Charlie, for not doing them with clip blades, saving me some money!

 

[puukkoman]

94 grams for the following stag scaled BFC 2009, my first knife in D2, interesting material, does not patina at all from my Mexican food test

D2 is very much more resistant to patina than most of the steels we're used to seeing on our beloved barlows. It can darken over time, though. Some of my D2 knives have grown a few shades darker, while others haven't changed at all.
Love the stag on yours, very nice! :thumbup:

 

[jon_slider]

I kept that knife pristine for five years Jon, just so your test results would not be tainted!...
I have heard D-2 called a "semi-stainless" steel.

Still untainted, and no plans to boil it

 

[Nal0n]

Fyi: D2 has, by sepcification, 11.8% Chrome in it. That is only 1.2% short of everything we would label "stainless".
I, personally, am not surprised that you have to actually put in some "work" to convince it to get any kind of patina

 

[JustinR]

My lovely third cut charlow showed up today. Snapped a pic with its cousin.

This new one is just begging for a natural patina so I'm going to get started on that tomorrow. Not sure if I will force a patina the bolster again, might need a different method as I am not very happy with how it came out on the sawcut red bone.

 

[jon_slider]

Not sure if I will force a patina the bolster again

Patina is easily polished back off with Sunshine cloth or other jewelry cloths. However, it will also remove the etch, so I dont recommend you use it on your new blade. I also dont recommend you force patina your new blade, as that will also cost you the etch. If you believe the urban myth that patina protects against rust, consider this alternate theory, OIL protects against rust (use ONLY on the blade, not the handle scales)

You really do have excellent taste , the long pull spears are outstanding!

 

[JustinR]

The etch is the main reason I like a good patina on the blade...not a fan.

I initially forced a patina on the bolster due to some rust I removed a bit to aggressively with some emory cloth. Good and scratched up now, didn't want to put the effort into polishing the scratches out so I just coated the bolster in lemon juice.

I like the look but it turned out very uneven.

 

[jkulysses]

Patina is easily polished back off with Sunshine cloth or other jewelry cloths. However, it will also remove the etch, so I dont recommend you use it on your new blade. I also dont recommend you force patina your new blade, as that will also cost you the etch. If you believe the urban myth that patina protects against rust, consider this alternate theory, OIL protects against rust (use ONLY on the blade, not the handle scales)

You really do have excellent taste , the long pull spears are outstanding!

Your gonna have to take an angle grinder to them fingernails if they get much longer LOL.

Love the red bone on that Charlow for sure!

 

[jacobsblades]

oopsies

 

[jacobsblades]

They make a nice pair! Great photos!

Thanks!

yes, it is very porous, basically marrow bone.. I caution you not to oil it or you will fill the pores with oil, which will darken the material, and potentially trap dirt

see my attempt to dissuade people from soaking bone in oil. I dont think most people recognize the darkening effect of soaking.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...here?p=13441561&highlight=porous#post13441561

Thanks for the tip! The walnut is slowly creeping up to be my favorite! Looks like you got quite a bit of knife cover info under your belt. If I could borrow your brain for a second I got a question. If the stag is very porous would fish guts/blood stain it? Also I love the walnut and would hate to stain it, or warp it. It's stabilized so does that mean its pretty hard to stain? I only have a few knives with wood covers and those are ebony, so I've never worried to much about them. Thanks in advance!

 

[JustinR]

The fish blood and guts would definitely add some character to those third cut stag handles.

 

[gunstockjack]

I think this Northwoods qualifies as a good traditional barlow, though the blade is somewhat non-traditional for the pattern.





Charlie, you pegged it; I made the knife slip.

 

[jon_slider]

If the stag is very porous would fish guts/blood stain it? Also I love the walnut and would hate to stain it, or warp it. It's stabilized so does that mean its pretty hard to stain?

the stag is unstabilized and makes a beautiful unique handle, that is porous, to varying degrees depending how much marrow is exposed, I would keep it clean

The Walnut is stabilized by soaking with Acrilic resin that is as dense as Ebony, and extremely stable, it should not warp, and would be difficult to stain, its the better choice for blood and guts, if thats what you want to use if for. High end knife handles are often stabilized, in order to prevent shrinking and cracking. The wood fibers are soaked in clear hard acrilic, so water cant soak into the fibers. I dont know how acrylic takes die, but I doubt food would stain the stabilized wood.

fwiw, these are just my opinions, and they change as I learn more, so take anything I say as needing confirmation from a reliable source.

Here is a pic of my Walnut Sheepfoot, it sees a lot of use as a cheeseboard knife

 

[paulhilborn]

I think this Northwoods qualifies as a good traditional barlow, though the blade is somewhat non-traditional for the pattern.





Charlie, you pegged it; I made the knife slip.

WOW, what a beauty Barry!!!

Paul