Your thoughts on the 'definitive' working man's folder?

M

MG_Saldivar

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Feb 5, 2005
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I spotted a NIB Schrade Imperial Barlow on eBay today for a great price from a seller with a high rating, so I pulled the trigger... SAKs make up the majority of my traditional folder collection, but I've always had a soft spot for Barlows since a Barlow was my first pocketknife, and my grandfather carried one his whole life.

Given the utility of one large clip, one small pen blade, the utilitarian handle shape, and the humble but serviceable scale materials on most 'working' Barlows (Delrin or some other hard plastic, or wood), I'll always view the Barlow as the definitive working man's slipjoint.

Still, I'm sure there are many contenders. What slipjoint do you see as THE knife of the working man?
 
I think at one time the barlow WAS the working mans knife. In fact the Russell was rough cut sawn bone, with little in the way of anything fancy about it. And you're right, with one master blade and a small pen blade there is little it can't handle in the real world exept for skinning a brontisourus.

I think the sodbuster is right up there on top of the working mans knife. The single blade plain folder seems to be a universal work knife all over. The Opinel and Douk-Douk of France, the okapi of South africa formerly of Germany, the plainer versions of the navaja, the Mercator K55 of a couple of generations of Europeans.
 
I have always liked a medium stockman pattern. A large clip blade for just about everything, a sheepsfoot for opening boxes and cutting leather, etc. and the smaller pen blade or spey blade kept razor sharp for fine work. Lot of blade there, and useful for just about any knife work that comes up.
 
Gotta be the sodbuster, inexpensive, durable, you can do anything that needs doing with a pocket knife with a soddy. they also look pretty cool.
 
Knife pattern popularity must be a really regional thing. I live in mid/North Alabama, and I cannot really recall ever seeing anyone carrying or using a barlow styled knife. Or a sodbuster. I have only seen one man in my entire life using a sodbuster, an old friend from school days, he has carried a yellow Case for many years. Around here, the two knives of choice were and probably still are the medium stockman and the trapper. I have seen literally countless yellow Case trappers and brown delrin Schrade Old Timer stockmans in my lifetime, more of the stockmans than the trappers. There was a time when virtually everyone around here had an Old Timer stockman laying on the nightstand with their change and watch. Some of the more affluent business men about the local towns would have a bone handled Case stockman. Lots of kids carried "scout" knives, like the Camp King that I had as my first ever knife. I never even knew there WAS such a thing as a sodbuster pattern until I was in my thirties and saw my friend toting one with him.
 
Phil, I hate to hijack my own thread, but out of curiosity, are there many 'tactical' knife knuts in your area? Might that be why the slipjoint users are pretty much confined to using those two patterns?
 
Was an electrician.
All the guys had a Colonial Electricians carbon folder with a spear blade and a lockable reamer-stripper-screwdriver.
Has a bail and hangs off your tool pouch
Still have it 35 years later
 
CASE Yellow Handle: spoiled for choice, Peanut, Sodbuster, Mini Trapper:thumbup: Too bad there's no yellow handle Barlow.

Any kind of Opinel.

A not too complex SAK

A small lockback, Schrade Old Timer style 3" closed.

Spyderco Delica would be the modern choice: slim, clip,lockback.

Workingman's knife must be compact,tough and easy to pocket&sharpen.
 
MG_Saldivar said:
What slipjoint do you see as THE knife of the working man?
Click to expand...

I don't. I think THE knife of the working man is probably a Chinese-made razor/utility box-cutter type thing that he purchased in the check-out line at Home Depot for $1.99.
 
" I think THE knife of the working man is probably a Chinese-made razor/utility box-cutter type thing that he purchased in the check-out line at Home Depot for $1.99."

that's what i've been noticing lately and for some reason i find it kind of depressing.
 
If you could turn the farmers, ranchers and cowboys...especially the older ones...in my part of Texas upside down and shake them, you would probably have more medium and large stockman knives fall out of their pockets than anything else. This is a generalization, but it seems to hold true in South Central Texas. They could be Old Timers, Cases, or Eye Brand, but they would be there!

Ron
 
I remember lots of jack knives, of all brands growing up, 2 blades seem to do the job but I don't remember any barlows.
 
I'd have to say it depends on what part of the country you are from. However, worldwide, and in general? Sodbusters. That pattern is so popular EVERYWHERE, that it has to be considered number one. One wide blade. Very comfotable ergonomics. Simple, tough, useable and dependable. Has to be a soddie. SAKs are also very popular. Heck, I was watching survivorman the other day, and they were giving the "Behind the scenes" episode, and Les was in the Amazon. He is talking to his guides, and the one guy, who is an amazon native, is working on his spear using a SAK. He had a machete with him and still had a SAK. Was it Les'? Maybe, but I don;t think so, as Les had his multitool. If an Amazon indian carries a SAK to use in that environment, it HAS to be considered a working knife.
 
El Cuchillo, I agree with the SAK, sir! I have one with me or somewhere around me most every hour of every day...and that's been true for more years than I care to remember! When I was in Colombia, a SAK was the most common pocketknife to be found.
 
jackknife said:
... I think the sodbuster is right up there on top of the working mans knife. The single blade plain folder seems to be a universal work knife all over. The Opinel and Douk-Douk of France, the okapi of South africa formerly of Germany, the plainer versions of the navaja, the Mercator K55 of a couple of generations of Europeans.
Click to expand...

Amen, brother! As usual, I'm in complete agreement with you. I really like an old, hard-used Case Sodbuster I bought from an old black man last year who was using it to cut up the greens he was selling out of the back of his old pickup truck. I'll always have an Opinel or two around, especially their #8 Garden model with the spear point blade and tapered handle. But somehow I've grown almost irrationally fond of that first cottonpickin' Douk-Douk I bought. It goes with me everywhere now. :D
 
mnblade said:
I don't. I think THE knife of the working man is probably a Chinese-made razor/utility box-cutter type thing that he purchased in the check-out line at Home Depot for $1.99.
Click to expand...

In Israel, where I now live.
The standard work knife is the plastic box cutter with long disposable blade.
Cost $1 and breaks after a short while and you buy a new one.
Very few people carry knive because of the security.
 
No doubt you are right, but how can one 'bond' with a box-cutter:eek:

And, even if they only cost a couple of dollars, over a year or two they cost more than an Opinel or CASE Sodbuster which will last a lifetime with a bit of care. Too much chuck-away stuff in all societies these days, wasteful and ugly:mad:
 
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