Barlow? Share all your Barlows here.

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DirtDawg said:
Ts, because the advertisinghose are a couple of good looking knives. I recently got a clip-blade version like that. Can you tell me what the handle material might be on those, and or what time frame they may have been manufactured? I'm working on spiffing mine up a bit and will post photos as soon as I get there. Solid knife!
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Thank you. they do inspire confidence.
And I do have a spear/pen.
I think it's the same plastic stamped differently. (I think the sawcuts are stamped or cast.) I think the advertiser was stamped too hard and too hot. I don't think it's celluloid. Bakelite?
If the spear is the same age as the others, I would guess the latter 1960s, because the advertising has a 7-digit phone number that's all numeric, and I remember when the first two digits were alphabetic memnonic. (FI(reside) instead of 34).
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screened porch said:
I remember when the first two digits were alphabetic memnonic. (FI(reside) instead of 34).
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When I was a lad we were CHapel for 24. My mum was AJax(?) for 25.
"Life" got so much easier when they went to numbers ... and it wasn't necessary to dial 1 plus the area code to make a local call.
Of course the no per minute domestic long distance charges of today are rather nice. 😁

Knife content so I don't get in trouble:
Two that have never been in my "birth state" (different from my "home state") ... unless postal messed up ... and a favorite carry pair.👍
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I don’t have many fancy or expensive knives. Oh wait, let me re-phrase that… “I don’t have ANY fancy or expensive knives”. But then, I don’t collect knives anymore. I like to say “I accumulate memories”. The Barlows shown in the image are one example.

A most disliked knife for me as a child, and even into very young adult life, the Barlow - the cheap Barlow - the one with a broken blade, a blade that refused to open, the Barlow with a loose or missing handle scale… yep, that Barlow. Too large to ride comfortably in my pocket back then… and heavy too, let’s face it, a Barlow is a lot of knife.

I’ve had three of the Barlows shown in the photo since 1983, when my father-in-law passed. More on those later. Fast forward to mid-2022, when my old high school buddy sent a batch of old, used knives to me. They came from his dad’s collection some years back when his dad passed.

In this batch happened to be a no-name, no-country of origin Barlow knife in sort of an ivory color. It has light jigging that reminded me of rabbit tracks in the snow. Since I was between knife refreshing projects on my bench, I picked up said knife out of curiosity and just began cleaning it up - all the while, trying to research it to see where it came from. It isn’t great quality by any stretch of the imagination. But then, it seems to be a solid knife.

To get this out of the way, I’ve decided that the knife likely originated in Pakistan. I’ve found a number of knives on-line, with the same or similar jigging pattern - all from said country. Surprisingly however, the fit and finish isn’t as shabby as one might expect. But that isn’t really the subject here.

I never have gotten to sharpening said Barlow after spiffing it up, but as I placed it on the shelf with the other three, Queen, Schrade, and Japan Barlows, my thoughts went to my childhood, and those times I shared with my two older brothers. Oh, the adventures we had - playing ball, fishing, riding our worn out bikes, boating, playing “Splits” with our derelict and broken down old knives, and any or all of the things three young brothers might conjur up in the back corners of the neighborhood in the 1950’s and 60’s.

I lost my oldest brother in 1963, as he returned home from basic training. My other brother, who pretty much disowned me a number of years back, passed a couple of years ago. But, as much as my older brothers picked on me in our growing up years, and despite being absent from my life for many years following, I miss my brothers. I miss the adventures we had together. So… as I placed said cheapo Barlow on the shelf, I looked over the other three, and my mind went to all of the cheap and less-than-nice Barlows I had in my hand and pocket over the years - Imperial, Colonial, USA, Japan, and any others my memory refuses to dig up - and to the cherished memories of life with my brothers.
That’s when I hit the air waves and went fishing in the bay, just like I would fish for real fish in Mastadon Lake as a young boy, and all of the other waters “us boys” would fish together over the years to come - while we had them. Unlike fishing as a young boy though, I’ve actually caught a few keepers out of the bay, as you can see. Yep, I liked to eat Carp too.

Another high school classmate of mine said that I need two more Barlows to make the o in BARLoW the same size as the upper case letters. I jokingly told him that I was outbid on those two, but the more I look at it, the more I like the results, because when it comes to knives in my possession, I set the BAR LoW as compared to many of the beauties I see on the pages of this forum.

Now to decide which Barlow to stick in my watch pocket today… they don’t seem as large or obnoxiously heavy as they once did.

And look what made the Kut to be carried today.
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DirtDawg said:
View attachment 2074551

I don’t have many fancy or expensive knives. Oh wait, let me re-phrase that… “I don’t have ANY fancy or expensive knives”. But then, I don’t collect knives anymore. I like to say “I accumulate memories”. The Barlows shown in the image are one example.

A most disliked knife for me as a child, and even into very young adult life, the Barlow - the cheap Barlow - the one with a broken blade, a blade that refused to open, the Barlow with a loose or missing handle scale… yep, that Barlow. Too large to ride comfortably in my pocket back then… and heavy too, let’s face it, a Barlow is a lot of knife.

I’ve had three of the Barlows shown in the photo since 1983, when my father-in-law passed. More on those later. Fast forward to mid-2022, when my old high school buddy sent a batch of old, used knives to me. They came from his dad’s collection some years back when his dad passed.

In this batch happened to be a no-name, no-country of origin Barlow knife in sort of an ivory color. It has light jigging that reminded me of rabbit tracks in the snow. Since I was between knife refreshing projects on my bench, I picked up said knife out of curiosity and just began cleaning it up - all the while, trying to research it to see where it came from. It isn’t great quality by any stretch of the imagination. But then, it seems to be a solid knife.

To get this out of the way, I’ve decided that the knife likely originated in Pakistan. I’ve found a number of knives on-line, with the same or similar jigging pattern - all from said country. Surprisingly however, the fit and finish isn’t as shabby as one might expect. But that isn’t really the subject here.

I never have gotten to sharpening said Barlow after spiffing it up, but as I placed it on the shelf with the other three, Queen, Schrade, and Japan Barlows, my thoughts went to my childhood, and those times I shared with my two older brothers. Oh, the adventures we had - playing ball, fishing, riding our worn out bikes, boating, playing “Splits” with our derelict and broken down old knives, and any or all of the things three young brothers might conjur up in the back corners of the neighborhood in the 1950’s and 60’s.

I lost my oldest brother in 1963, as he returned home from basic training. My other brother, who pretty much disowned me a number of years back, passed a couple of years ago. But, as much as my older brothers picked on me in our growing up years, and despite being absent from my life for many years following, I miss my brothers. I miss the adventures we had together. So… as I placed said cheapo Barlow on the shelf, I looked over the other three, and my mind went to all of the cheap and less-than-nice Barlows I had in my hand and pocket over the years - Imperial, Colonial, USA, Japan, and any others my memory refuses to dig up - and to the cherished memories of life with my brothers.
That’s when I hit the air waves and went fishing in the bay, just like I would fish for real fish in Mastadon Lake as a young boy, and all of the other waters “us boys” would fish together over the years to come - while we had them. Unlike fishing as a young boy though, I’ve actually caught a few keepers out of the bay, as you can see. Yep, I liked to eat Carp too.

Another high school classmate of mine said that I need two more Barlows to make the o in BARLoW the same size as the upper case letters. I jokingly told him that I was outbid on those two, but the more I look at it, the more I like the results, because when it comes to knives in my possession, I set the BAR LoW as compared to many of the beauties I see on the pages of this forum.

Now to decide which Barlow to stick in my watch pocket today… they don’t seem as large or obnoxiously heavy as they once did.

And look what made the Kut to be carried today.
View attachment 2074566View attachment 2074567
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Nice post Frank :thumbsup:
 
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