Dating a Barlow by the Bolster Tree?

[jon_slider]

Three Boker Barlows,

Left knife, 3 handle pins, saw cut bone, clip point main with mark side swedge, 3 brass liners, Boker USA model 493.

Middle knife, 2 handle pins, smooth delrin, spear point main with no swedge, 3 brass liners, Boker Germany model 492 with Solingen tang stamp.

Right knife, 3 handle pins, second cut stag bone, spear point main with mark side swedge, 2 brass liners, middle liner is steel, Boker USA model 492.

Note all three knives use slightly different tree stamps on the bolster. Note the pen blade on the German Boker has a different tang than the US ones.

Can anyone point me to a link that helps date a Boker Barlow by the Bolster Tree, the type of liners, and type of handle covers, am curious to learn more about the dates of manufacture of the three knives pictured.

thanks and Happy Holidays!

 

[arizonaranchman]

Very nice! That red one in the center is a beauty! Wood or bone? Hard to tell but appears to be wood?

Sorry can't answer your question but I had to comment

 

[jon_slider]

the pretty in the middle is transparent smooth plastic, delrin. rule of thumb: 2 pin handles are delrin, 3 pin handles are bone
the one on the left is cow bone with a very fine sawcut, I was excited to find that one, on the right is second cut stag, that I mistook for plastic originally, one of my more bonehead ideas , on par with my dabacle of erroneously publicizing my misunderstanding that GEC uses stabilized bone.

here are the liners btw, hopefully they will help narrow the year range.. to my suprise the bone handled one has all brass liners, on the left, followed by the german pretty red delrin, and lastly the stag, with one steel liner.. Rumor is that a steel liner may mean pre ww2, Im waiting for confirmation before announcing that. Im guessing the Bone is a 1950s and the red pretty a 1990s, but dont tell, I have no confirmation on any of that yet.

 

[jon_slider]

So far no one seems to know when the different style trees on the bolster are from.

> there is no tree on the early 1950s Bokers.
> The pre-war Boker barlows all appear to have used steel liners up until sometime between 1941-1953. After that they went to brass.
> Boker USA used three handle pins on the older knives, but sometime between 1972-1975, they went to only two.
> The handle material was changed from primarily bone to delrin in the 1960s.

This knife has the tree, brass liners, 3 handle pins and bone handle covers, therefore, based on the above info, it would be from after 1953 and before the change to Delrin in the 1960's

 

[r8shell]

It seems like whenever a pattern was produced for a very long time, it gets confusing trying to pin down every variation (look at some of the Buck 110 data sheets).
My newly resurrected Barlow is two pinned, skinny tree, Delrin. I think you said it was a USA made, late 1970's. It has a steel middle liner, if that means anything.

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It can be fun or frustrating depending on one's state of mind.

 

[jon_slider]

It has a steel middle liner, if that means anything....
It can be fun or frustrating depending on one's state of mind.

Yes, its all about the attitude
The steel center liner is normal for 1970-80's USA models
nice work bringing that one back into service
disclaimer, Im only venturing my opinion, and Im no expert. In fact, Ive been mistaken recently, several times. The one pictured in the first post with the off white colored handle, I thought was plastic, that I now think is stag. And now the knife I pictured in this thread that I thought was bone handled, Im beginning to think might be delrin. I often speak authoritatively, a character trait from years of being a teacher, when in fact Im just opining to the best of my current knowledge, and welcome a more complete education.

Happy New Year!

 

[Lyn Soeder]

I have a Boker Tree Brand barlow knife that I purchased new in 1967. The tree definitely matches the one on your white knife. Hope this helps a little.