What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?

When you have enjoyed a fair quantity and quality of life, and you gather enough scars from tripping over life's pitfalls, you win the privilege of, at least pretending, to be a philosopher.
And you try, if you still have some spirit, to ruminate on the things that make life just a little better for you and your tribe.
I am honored to know a guy who lives and breathes pocketknives, and likes to discuss them with me when he has time. He's not yet at full rumination, like my own self!! But he has a few moments now and then!
Anyway, having been an avid collector of Barlows, and being still a gung-ho appreciator of same, I undertook to discuss with my friend the subtle things that attract people to the humble Barlow knife, and that keep me going back again and again to delight in them.
There is the simplicity, the sturdy presence, and often the simple but proud insignia on the bolster. I told him it was about time someone made the closest thing to a traditional Barlow that could be achieved in today's world, and he agreed this would be a worthy achievement.
Since we live 3000 miles away, I sent him a roll of old Barlows, as an aid to discussion, including some of the ones pictured here:


I think the oldest and youngest Barlows I own are in this third scan. One of these could be 130 years old!!

The knives in this picture are from a parallel universe, where people write upside down! I don't know how they got here.


If you are an old hand at antique knives, don't say anything yet. I'm sure a lot of the newer members will enjoy figuring out the identities of the more ambiguous markings.

Enough for one post, I will tell you more about our discussions shortly.
Respectfully submitted, waynorth.

 

There are a lot of years represented there, Jim!

 

Well, a lot of you know WHO makes (will make) a good Barlow, but I found the process such fun, I wanted to re-live it with you all!

Now the lower, right knife in the first scan is a righteous Barlow. It is not too broad in the beam, is beautifully fitted, and I really like the signature design on the bolster. Some of them have too much information, or don't catch your eye like an abstract design will catch it. That one at the lower right is from New York Knife.
They were masters at putting a pleasant knife in a person's hand. Well made and perfectly functional, NYKs are a joy to carry and use. Unless you know better, you might mistake the N in the signature for a Z, but either way it is a great graphic. Love to hear Gene's take on that (Gene, the master of the Forum Label, opine us please!!)

Note, some of these knives have hammered pins, as opposed to "spun" pins, attesting to their respective eras! They look so good on simple saw-cut bone handles don't you think??

 

Sometimes, you know what is coming, but the anticipation is fun just the same!!

 

~P, Spear blades were often listed as the first option, with a clip blade being a close second.
Schrade, Case, KeenKutter and some others offered optional blades such as a sheepfoot, or a spey, or sometimes a "one-armed man" blade that you could hook on something and open one-handed.
The secondary, if present, was almost always a pen.
Spey bladed Barlows are usually the rarest. I have seen two made by Case, and managed to score one by Schrade Cut Co. That is in a few decades of looking!

 

You are bang on, ~P. That one has real nice proportions.
Some are quite crude and blocky, like a Chevy sedan. This one is like a Jaguar XKE!

 

I want to thank everyone for the compliments! I wish I could invite you all in for a CF* and CE** fest!


*coon-finger
**chicken-eye