Will Case ever release another Barlow knife?

E

Eric J

Joined
Oct 29, 2005
Messages
392
I'd sure like to see a two-bladed Barlow in CV. Does anyone here know why they stopped making this great pattern?
 
They bring the pattern out from time to time.
I think they need to be a little more thoughtful of their patterns. Didn't they put a shield on their last Barlow?? (Not my choice!!:rolleyes:)
Call them up! I've had pretty good luck with their customer service.
 
I agree that a Barlow in Cv steel would be a winner! One of my favorite Case knives is my 70s era sawcut Barlow :thumbsup:
 
waynorth said:
Didn't they put a shield on their last Barlow??
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I have three of their more recent production Barlows - all had shields, but unembellished smooth bolsters.

I spoke with a Case factory rep (Katie Shonts-Saar) a few years ago at a local event about them discontinuing a number of patterns and also doing away with the "vault" program, where they would rotate patterns out of production for a while, then bring them back out and put something else in the vault.

Gist of it was they wanted to focus production on fewer patterns, so they were retiring some patterns indefinitely / permanently. Full-sized Copperhead was among the casualties, as well as Barlows. The do add a new pattern every year or so, usually Tony Bose designs. But then you'll also see other patterns start to dry up or be offered in very few handle materials. So maybe a quiet phase-out.

Nothing stopping them from changing their mind in the future, I suppose. They may undo all of those decisions.
 
The popularity of Barlow patterns might help them change their mind about bringing the old pattern back or making a new one!
 
I had heard they were going to come out with some new barlows.....but I think I saw it on Instagram.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Nice looking knives, they definitely need to release an affordable brown jigged delrin model in CV without a shield.
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Thanks! When I was first getting into pocket knives with a hobbyist interest a few year ago, I had memories of traditional knives from when I was a kid in the '60s. Two that always stuck in my mind were a jigged dark brown bone scout style knife, and a sawcut red Barlow which my dad kept in the tackle box for when we went fishing. I think the red handles were plastic, and I have no idea of the brand. I am pretty sure it was not an expensive knife at the time, which is what Barlows originally were - inexpensive working knives.

So I was always looking for Barlows at first. I found two of those as new old-stock at a local non-chain hardware store that was/is a Case Platinum dealer. The old kind of hardware store. Magic places, if you've ever been to one. Remnants of a past age. They were priced a little high compared to on-line, but they were right there for the buying, so bought them I did. The third I picked up on the Exchange here.
 
jc57 said:
Thanks! When I was first getting into pocket knives with a hobbyist interest a few year ago, I had memories of traditional knives from when I was a kid in the '60s. Two that always stuck in my mind were a jigged dark brown bone scout style knife, and a sawcut red Barlow which my dad kept in the tackle box for when we went fishing. I think the red handles were plastic, and I have no idea of the brand. I am pretty sure it was not an expensive knife at the time, which is what Barlows originally were - inexpensive working knives.

So I was always looking for Barlows at first. I found two of those as new old-stock at a local non-chain hardware store that was/is a Case Platinum dealer. The old kind of hardware store. Magic places, if you've ever been to one. Remnants of a past age. They were priced a little high compared to on-line, but they were right there for the buying, so bought them I did. The third I picked up on the Exchange here.
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Real nice.
The closest I've come to such a hardware store is the one 12 miles away in the town my father grew up called messecks hardware, but they're Ace affiliated.
The one in my town is recent and is just a privately owned ACE hardware store, but you have to really pay attention to even notice ACE on the messecks sign.
In the same town there also an old lumber yard with an old school nail scale where you can buy a specifoc ammount of a specified type of nail, that's something you don't see a lot of anymore but I've never been to a true old school hardware store with lots of old things still available.
 
jc57 said:
I have three of their more recent production Barlows - all had shields, but unembellished smooth bolsters.

I spoke with a Case factory rep (Katie Shonts-Saar) a few years ago at a local event about them discontinuing a number of patterns and also doing away with the "vault" program, where they would rotate patterns out of production for a while, then bring them back out and put something else in the vault.

Gist of it was they wanted to focus production on fewer patterns, so they were retiring some patterns indefinitely / permanently. Full-sized Copperhead was among the casualties, as well as Barlows. The do add a new pattern every year or so, usually Tony Bose designs. But then you'll also see other patterns start to dry up or be offered in very few handle materials. So maybe a quiet phase-out.

Nothing stopping them from changing their mind in the future, I suppose. They may undo all of those decisions.
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Wow, this is good information. It does seem odd that one of the patterns to phase out would be the barlow! Oh well. It's a shame, but, as you say, I guess they could change their minds some time.
 
There is a Blade Show rumor that they are coming back next year..:thumbsup: John
 
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They also made some with 154 cm in 2007. Photo from the web (not my knife, unfortunately). 250 made. The popularity of the pattern skyrocketed years laters on Bladeforums. I think a barlow with 154 cm steel may sell better now than it did back then.

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One thing that I've learned from old catalogs is that if you don't think it exists then you probably just haven't looked at enough catalogs to have seen it yet. ;) . There are some old Russell barlows (not my knife, unfortunately. photo from the web) with shields but it's not as common. I've seen so few that a shield does seem odd on a barlow to me. Queen has also put shields on barlows.

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Eric J said:
I'd sure like to see a two-bladed Barlow in CV. Does anyone here know why they stopped making this great pattern?
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Case is not alone in not making Barlows. Not a lot of USA factory made Barlows are being produced right now. Queen made the pattern until closing recently, Bear and Son possibly still makes one, GEC makes them occasionally.
 
Makes me wonder what the real world numbers were sales wise for Case Barlows. Here we have a skewed perspective having had our Barlow renaissance thanks to Charlie and his wonderful TC's popularity. Case does huge runs in comparison and if the numbers moved was abundant and timely I can't imagine they would drop them. I'd definitely be down for one or two if they brought them back.
 
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