What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

It took a lot of work, but I did get that shiny new ball squeezed into that rusty old cage!:D (sorry about the same barlow over and over again, but you "run with what you brung", right?) My first ball in a cage, and I Loved this project, it will be the first of many. Since I've become "urbanized" in the last 20 years or so, there's not as many chances to use a knife for actual work. Cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle bin isn't really cutting it (:D) anymore, so whittling it is!





BTW, one of my boys, age 8, did a little whittling with the TC as well, and I made an interesting observation: of all the knives I've let him use (mostly smaller to fit his hand and with a clip blade) the sheepsfoot TC has been the most comfortable for him to whittle with. Great for push cuts.
 
Nice work Brad!!

Nice that you are teaching the young'un how to handle a knife also!!

Lucky kid to have such a Dad!!
 
coolio said:
It took a lot of work, but I did get that shiny new ball squeezed into that rusty old cage!:D (sorry about the same barlow over and over again, but you "run with what you brung", right?) My first ball in a cage, and I Loved this project, it will be the first of many. Since I've become "urbanized" in the last 20 years or so, there's not as many chances to use a knife for actual work. Cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle bin isn't really cutting it (:D) anymore, so whittling it is!

BTW, one of my boys, age 8, did a little whittling with the TC as well, and I made an interesting observation: of all the knives I've let him use (mostly smaller to fit his hand and with a clip blade) the sheepsfoot TC has been the most comfortable for him to whittle with. Great for push cuts.
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Brad, excellent work! You did a very nice job of creating a sphere. That's not easy today let alone in a cage. I also think you've done a fine thing by teaching your son some knife skills!

Curtis
 
coolio said:
It took a lot of work, but I did get that shiny new ball squeezed into that rusty old cage!:D (sorry about the same barlow over and over again, but you "run with what you brung", right?) My first ball in a cage, and I Loved this project, it will be the first of many. Since I've become "urbanized" in the last 20 years or so, there's not as many chances to use a knife for actual work. Cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle bin isn't really cutting it (:D) anymore, so whittling it is!





BTW, one of my boys, age 8, did a little whittling with the TC as well, and I made an interesting observation: of all the knives I've let him use (mostly smaller to fit his hand and with a clip blade) the sheepsfoot TC has been the most comfortable for him to whittle with. Great for push cuts.
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I may be bias, but I love seeing carving work! Great job! Kids too! :D
 
coolio said:
It took a lot of work, but I did get that shiny new ball squeezed into that rusty old cage!:D (sorry about the same barlow over and over again, but you "run with what you brung", right?) My first ball in a cage, and I Loved this project, it will be the first of many. Since I've become "urbanized" in the last 20 years or so, there's not as many chances to use a knife for actual work. Cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle bin isn't really cutting it (:D) anymore, so whittling it is!
...
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Growing up on a dairy farm, I used my knife every day for work and for recreation. Many years later, I've renewed my interest in knives, and have many fine knives (IMHO) but not much work for them, which bothers me a lot! So I'm trying to do some whittling when I get some spare time. Gotta tell ya, Brad, your fabulous ball in cage shows me how much room for improvement I have! :eek::o I've worked at whittling "free-standing" balls quite often, and have never come anywhere near the sphericality you achieved in your project! Beautiful work!! :thumbup::thumbup: (When's your next whittling class for guys like me who can use a little (??) help? :D:D)

- GT
 
Jack Black said:
Thanks Bob, thankfully we all have the benefit of a lot of existing research and writing. It's also worth noting that we're going back to the early history of spring knives, when Britain was moving away from the previously dominant French cutlery influences, and a lot of new designs and ideas were flying about. As today, fashion has a big influence, and having something different to your competitor can give you an edge in an overcrowded market. I don't think Barlow knives were originally sold as a strong, working pattern, why would they be? The blade shapes on the earliest knives certainly don't indicate that, rather they are based on table cutlery blade shapes of the time. The basic models would have been cheap though, and while others made similar knives, the Barlows made famously good knives. As the pattern developed, particularly with so many in use, and in the young 'New World', it's not hard to see how Barlows earned a reputation as a tough no nonsense jack knife. That big bolster would undoubtedly make it a tougher knife than a shadow pattern for example, but whether or not it actually made it any stronger or not, I'm sceptical, I'd have thought the size of the pivot pin would have been a bigger factor than the amount of metal surrounding it. That old pattern has certainly been a lasting fashion though hasn't it? :)
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Following on from the historic Barlow discussion a few pages back, and elsewhere in this thread (as well as, most recently here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ckleberry-Finn-and-tom-sawyer-should-have-had ), I thought a few of the posters here might be interested to read these passages I came across last night in Simon Moore's Cutlery For the Table; A History of British Table and Pocket Cutlery , a book I thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in cutlery history :thumbup:

The diversity of form and uses for folding knives (and forks) reached a peak during the 18th and 19th centuries. They were used at fashionable al fresco meals and they were a definite requisite for experienced travellers. Folding cutlery was also used in more everyday walks of life, replacing the knife in sheath of earlier centuries. Examples of early 18th-century folding-knives show that their mechanism remained unaltered from the time of the spring-back knife’s invention in the mid to later 17th century. Blades echoing styles of contemporary table knives were made for folding-knives, until the scimitar blade was superseded by the sharper pointed blades towards the turn of the 18th century...

Whilst folding-knife blades changed shape, either to serve a special purpose or to suit a cutler’s whim, the demand for pocket knives steadily grew and cutlers searched around for new ideas; new designs were required to increase the versatility and popularity of their products. This gave rise to a massive variation in proportional designing: bolsters increased in length or were kept short, blade points were almost infinitely variable: spear-ended, square-ended, rounded, or sloped...

Scimitar-bladed knives were made either with the blade tip overrunning the end of the handle (c.1700-c.1770) or, later (c.1770-c.1790), with the cutting edge only, enclosed within the blade slot so the blade could be easily opened. The coming of the sharper-tipped spear point blade necessitated the point, and therefore most of the blade, to be enclosed within the haft making the blade more difficult to open. In order to solve this problem, cutlers regularly stamped nail nicks onto blades from about 1790.
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A new and longer-bladed folding-knife evolved during the later 18th century which appears to have proved popular since this type of knife has been frequently found both in English urban archaeological digs and in America where it was exported at the time of the Independence uprising. The bolster was extended to twice its usual length and the end of the tapering pistol-grip haft was often made from metal only, roughly equalling the bolster in length and leaving a shorter area for the scales, like an inset scale knife. It’s scales varied in composition from bone and wood to tortoiseshell and even leather. The blade shape also varied, from the standard fish-shape, to a scimitar but with a sloping and sharp point. Although many firms produced knives of this style, those of John Barlow [Grandson of Obadiah Barlow of Campo Lane, Sheffield] were the most renowned, the new-styled, long-bolstered knife was dubbed, during the 19th century, the ‘Barlow Knife’.
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singin50 said:
Brad, if I tried that there would also be a finger in there!:D
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Believe me Perry, there were a couple of "better slow down" moments. I am not very patient, this helped me with that, a little. And, anyone can do this, I am not skilled with a knife, and this was my first whittling project. Just when I would think, "how the heck am I going to make that huge cylinder into a sphere", it would just start to come together. I was as surprised when it worked out in the end.
 
This should qualify as traditional enough, yes? Case XX, -65 to -69, spear point master and same side nail nicks. I rather prefer the spear blade, nothing wrong with clip point, but the look, the "flow" is IMO nicer with a spear point, especially in the closed position.

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The guy manning the tang stamping station was not having one of his best days, though. Must have been a Monday morning when this pattern number was struck. Well, we all have the shaky hands sometimes, huh?

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And then there is this one too. Far more modern materials and construction, so not quite as traditional, but very sturdy. Canal Street really succeeded with this model I think. Having blades of 14-4 CrMo and liners and bolsters of stainless steel is nothing to look down upon, either. Still, a slightly different beast, this.

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Frankki, nice Case, really hard to go wrong with those red bones. I like the Canal Street also, would love to see it in some vintage saw cut bone, would be a dead ringer for some of the vintage ones I love.
 
Added a vintage Kutmaster from Utica so far this week, excellent condition with nice full blades. This style with the saw cut handles really appeals to me as a traditional Barlow.
In comparison I have this Barlow that is just marked Made In USA, after comparing the 2 I would say it is also a Utica.
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