What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

Electrician barlow?

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First time posting in this thread and what a doozy it is!

I just got into traditionals and I wanted a barlow to be my first. I prefer single blades, I love the long bolster and the design is so hammered into American history that I felt it was the perfect start.

I went with the S&M #69 for a few reasons, now that it's arrived I'm thrilled to say that it's everything I hoped it would be.

I'm a Pennsylvania native, born and bred. This is something that I hold very dear and my hometown/state instill great pride within me. Because of this, I wanted something from the keystone series. The thin stylized variant on mine works perfectly with the design, while not taking too much real estate away from the stag.

I prefer stainless to carbon for folders that will be carried and used, and I'm delighted that this uses ATS-34. I've never actually had a knife made with it, but I have had a dozen or so in 154CM (still have several) and I love the stuff.

The bolster stamp is also one of my favorites, for me it's rivaled only by the Northfield Nf. While the northfield stamp is clean and elegant, the S&M stamp has a bold and industrial look to it. I think it compliments both the gnarly stag and the clip blade perfectly.

The slabs on my example are killer, I prefer them to be heavily textured and grooved and this one was picked out of a lineup (quick shout out to Austin of C. Risner). I'll have to get a shot of the back but it's very well matched with a similar flame like pattern at the bolster, fading to heavy, dark grooves toward the butt end. The single "flaw" with this knife is that the back side scale has a very slight gap where it meets the bolster on one of the edges. It's not big enough to cause any issues and I'm perfectly fine with it.

Blade centering is dead on, pull is heavy at an 8 but it's not a nail breaker and should loosen up a tad once it's broken in. I absolutely love the long match striker pull and it's well struck and perfectly aligned. Back spring sits flush closed and just a hair proud when open. Absolutely zero wobble in either direction, opens and closes with an addicting snap.

Thank to all of your for amassing 500 plus pages here! I looked through at least a hundred in my effort to see what's out there and get an idea of what I like. I'll get to the other 400 at some point. :cool:



 
RDaneel said:
How about a harness Barlow?

Seriously, I'd love to see another run of the long pull spear. Kinda slim pickens out there for us neophytes to get one in the secondary market.
Click to expand...
I looked into having something with a clip blade, crownlifter, and awl/punch on a #15 frame but it never came to fruition.
evanPGH said:
First time posting in this thread and what a doozy it is!

I just got into traditionals and I wanted a barlow to be my first. I prefer single blades, I love the long bolster and the design is so hammered into American history that I felt it was the perfect start.

I went with the S&M #69 for a few reasons, now that it's arrived I'm thrilled to say that it's everything I hoped it would be.

I'm a Pennsylvania native, born and bred. This is something that I hold very dear and my hometown/state instill great pride within me. Because of this, I wanted something from the keystone series. The thin stylized variant on mine works perfectly with the design, while not taking too much real estate away from the stag.

I prefer stainless to carbon for folders that will be carried and used, and I'm delighted that this uses ATS-34. I've never actually had a knife made with it, but I have had a dozen or so in 154CM (still have several) and I love the stuff.

The bolster stamp is also one of my favorites, for me it's rivaled only by the Northfield Nf. While the northfield stamp is clean and elegant, the S&M stamp has a bold and industrial look to it. I think it compliments both the gnarly stag and the clip blade perfectly.

The slabs on my example are killer, I prefer them to be heavily textured and grooved and this one was picked out of a lineup (quick shout out to Austin of C. Risner). I'll have to get a shot of the back but it's very well matched with a similar flame like pattern at the bolster, fading to heavy, dark grooves toward the butt end. The single "flaw" with this knife is that the back side scale has a very slight gap where it meets the bolster on one of the edges. It's not big enough to cause any issues and I'm perfectly fine with it.

Blade centering is dead on, pull is heavy at an 8 but it's not a nail breaker and should loosen up a tad once it's broken in. I absolutely love the long match striker pull and it's well struck and perfectly aligned. Back spring sits flush closed and just a hair proud when open. Absolutely zero wobble in either direction, opens and closes with an addicting snap.

Thank to all of your for amassing 500 plus pages here! I looked through at least a hundred in my effort to see what's out there and get an idea of what I like. I'll get to the other 400 at some point. :cool:



Click to expand...
Great first post! That's an awesome looking knife. I'm the same way about PA.
 
>I'm delighted that this uses ATS-34. I've never actually had a knife made with it, but I have had a dozen or so in 154CM (still have several) and I love the stuff.

They are the same composition. ATS-34 is produced by Hitachi Metals and 154CM is produced by Crucible Industries. :)
 
Thanks guys!!

Mark, yes that's why I made the reference to 154. Guess I should've worded that differently, lol. I simply hadn't used its Japanese counterpart before.
 
Nice Keystone Evan!:thumbup:
Nice "S" for Pertinux, Sarah!;) Great lightning-strike, Dan!!:D
You have some cool lightning going on also, Mark!!:eek:

Some cool oldies, Guestwho!:)
 
Two gifts from a local friend, and two from Rendezvous time!
Thanks Gary, for the Imperial and the Schrade - Very nice ones!!

I am ever grateful to you, Rob, for that amazing and rare Southington!
And the aged Furness with French Ivory came from one of the crowd at the Rendezvous! For the life of me, I can't remember who!! Please help me out here - I talked to so many people, my old brain has momentary CRS (Can't Remember Shoot!)!!

All are greatly appreciated, and all influence future Barlows, rest assured!!

Southington%20and%20other%20gifts_zpswrffslij.jpg
 
Southington has to have one of the best vintage bolster stamps. :thumbup:

Stunning to see factory glaze lines and edge on that Schrade. Really Let's you see the high level of craftsmanship as it left the factory.
 
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