From the "something old" pile, a well-loved Clauss #51 Barlow of indeterminate age, needing a little TLC (but not as much as it might seem):
Dating this knife has not been easy, as it doesn't seem to be a popular marque (though Fremont was purportedly the center of the cutlery universe at one time). The company was established in 1887, though from the scant information available online and in Goins' it appears Henrie reestablished Clauss in Fremont sometime between 1917 and 1920. I suspect this particular knife might be post-1954, when the company changed names from Henkel-Clauss Company to Clauss Cutlery Company, though there is information that the cursive tang stamp was in use as early as 1892 and I've seen fixed-blade versions with the same stamp dated to the 1930s. I imagine it'd be easier to narrow the window down if we could identify the maker (Challenge Cutlery was known to produce knives for them, among others).
And from the "something new" pile, my second Case centennial edition daddy Barlow, a delightful departure from the usual big Barlow configuration with the typical full-length clip along with a full-length, extremely large "secondary" spey blade -- essentially a very large trapper in a swell-end frame. I spent literally months haggling over price on this one. This example has a couple blemishes from the factory when some poltergeist got into the equipment and tried to drill rocker pin holes in both scales in the wrong places. There's also a little gunk on the pile side scale but it doesn't appear to be a permanent problem. These are purely cosmetic considerations; the knife is big and bold and makes a pretty great user knife. I give you the daddy Barlow trapper (traplow?
):
This is not a knife for people with back problems.
It's a full-sized daddy Barlow with two full-thickness blades. Pictured here, next to the single-clip Sabre I carried yesterday:
"Big Red" went straight from the mailbox to the pocket. It might be there for a while, assuming my belt doesn't snap from the extra strain.
Dating this knife has not been easy, as it doesn't seem to be a popular marque (though Fremont was purportedly the center of the cutlery universe at one time). The company was established in 1887, though from the scant information available online and in Goins' it appears Henrie reestablished Clauss in Fremont sometime between 1917 and 1920. I suspect this particular knife might be post-1954, when the company changed names from Henkel-Clauss Company to Clauss Cutlery Company, though there is information that the cursive tang stamp was in use as early as 1892 and I've seen fixed-blade versions with the same stamp dated to the 1930s. I imagine it'd be easier to narrow the window down if we could identify the maker (Challenge Cutlery was known to produce knives for them, among others).
And from the "something new" pile, my second Case centennial edition daddy Barlow, a delightful departure from the usual big Barlow configuration with the typical full-length clip along with a full-length, extremely large "secondary" spey blade -- essentially a very large trapper in a swell-end frame. I spent literally months haggling over price on this one. This example has a couple blemishes from the factory when some poltergeist got into the equipment and tried to drill rocker pin holes in both scales in the wrong places. There's also a little gunk on the pile side scale but it doesn't appear to be a permanent problem. These are purely cosmetic considerations; the knife is big and bold and makes a pretty great user knife. I give you the daddy Barlow trapper (traplow?
):This is not a knife for people with back problems.
It's a full-sized daddy Barlow with two full-thickness blades. Pictured here, next to the single-clip Sabre I carried yesterday:"Big Red" went straight from the mailbox to the pocket. It might be there for a while, assuming my belt doesn't snap from the extra strain.
