What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

That Northwoods is a beautiful take on the Barlow Knife!

Barry, your slip makes a great background for it. You've been inspired by Saint Crispin!
 
jon_slider said:
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
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Thanks for the great deal of information! I just assumed they put a coating to stabilize it somehow? Not a soaking. It wont just be a fish cleaner but it will see some in its life time so I figured I should find out first haha. That walnut sheepfoot is a looker!:thumbup:
 
The Walnut is done under pressure - so I am told . . .
 
Actually, I've never been too big a fan of the Barlow for some reason and I guess I don't have a good reason why. They are stout, good working knives. I do have a couple though. The Gary Crowder custom which is like a bank vault it's so solid, and a Case model I've had for years and don't even recall how long or exactly which scale materials used. I think it's smooth bone. A rather plain shield on her though. Sorry for the rushed, poor pic.

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Joe58 said:
Actually, I've never been too big a fan of the Barlow for some reason...
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That's exactly where I was, until about a year ago...

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This one is a real work of art, real Quality. Everyone at GEC who touched my walnut Charlow got it exactly right. Received this one from Barry on Monday. It's such a beauty that it went straight from the tube to my pocket.
 
arizonaranchman said:
A fine knife deserves to be carried and used daily. That's exactly what the Barlow was put on this earth for...

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Sorry! I missed this! I agree I would rather smile when looking at a knife, then say ehh its okay. Your single spey sure is a looker! every time I see it I want one!
 
Joe58 said:
Actually, I've never been too big a fan of the Barlow for some reason and I guess I don't have a good reason why. They are stout, good working knives. I do have a couple though. The Gary Crowder custom which is like a bank vault it's so solid, and a Case model I've had for years and don't even recall how long or exactly which scale materials used. I think it's smooth bone. A rather plain shield on her though. Sorry for the rushed, poor pic.

55b7417ae1b37a03abec5198b71854ea_zps34b29de1.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that Crowder knife one of his early knives? He makes some really nice knives!!
 
Joe58 said:
Actually, I've never been too big a fan of the Barlow for some reason and I guess I don't have a good reason why. They are stout, good working knives. I do have a couple though. The Gary Crowder custom which is like a bank vault it's so solid, and a Case model I've had for years and don't even recall how long or exactly which scale materials used. I think it's smooth bone. A rather plain shield on her though. Sorry for the rushed, poor pic.

55b7417ae1b37a03abec5198b71854ea_zps34b29de1.jpg
Click to expand...

I like that what appears to be a Family Brands Standard Barlow, at least the shield is what's found on Standards. As for the bottom knife, I can see a wharncliffe blade on the next "Charlow" would be nice; better if Case would put out a wharnie on a Barlow.
 
Was there any special reason why the recent run of barlows, and boys knives, had a nail nick instead of a long pull? Was it just time to use the nail nick since the recent run(s?) had a long pull?

I for one think the long pull looks best, and If more spear point barlows with long pull is made I'll get one.
 
sogflash said:
Was there any special reason why the recent run of barlows, and boys knives, had a nail nick instead of a long pull? Was it just time to use the nail nick since the recent run(s?) had a long pull?

I for one think the long pull looks best, and If more spear point barlows with long pull is made I'll get one.
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Charlie makes a point of ensuring that each run is slightly different from the last :)
 
sogflash said:
Was there any special reason why the recent run of barlows, and boys knives, had a nail nick instead of a long pull? Was it just time to use the nail nick since the recent run(s?) had a long pull?

I for one think the long pull looks best, and If more spear point barlows with long pull is made I'll get one.
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I'm with you--the long pull looks great. I had decided I "needed" one of the Harness Jack's (7), and was a little down that it didn't have the long pull and monster cut swedge. But once it was in my hand, I saw Charlie's genius. It is smooth in the pocket and hand, and the location of the nick makes it easy to grab. Now, I wouldn't have it different for anything. I know we're talking barlows here, bit the recent HJ is built on the same frame (15), and the spears look identical to me. If you're a collector, I realize this doesn't matter. But if you're a user, this nick configuration might even be better. Of course, opinions are opinions, and YMMV.


Michael
 
sogflash said:
Was there any special reason why the recent run of barlows, and boys knives, had a nail nick instead of a long pull? Was it just time to use the nail nick since the recent run(s?) had a long pull?

I for one think the long pull looks best, and If more spear point barlows with long pull is made I'll get one.
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As said above Charlie makes it a point to mixed it up and each Barlow run is unique in some way or other. For now I don't think you'll be seeing long-pulls anytime in the near future on his Barlows. The nail nick is what you'll be seeing for awhile now most likely. If you want a long pull it'll have to be found on the exchange from one of the members who is selling one privately. Watch the exchange and be QUICK when one shows up, cuz you'll probably have less than an hour before it's gone.

I have the nail nick on my single spey Barlow and love it. I like long-pulls also, but it's not a deal-breaker for me. My knives are users and see regular carry so it's not that big a deal to me.
 
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My bank account applauds the information you gave me, but I was hoping the last two numbers in the tang stamp would be a big enough change ;)
 
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