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"EVERY MAN NEEDS A BARLOW!"
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If there ever is to be a pocket knife selected because of lore and literary fame, it would have to be the "Barlow!" And rightly so--it is a handy-sized, rugged, attractive, comfortable, and inexpensive little knife--and how about carrying a piece of history around in your pocket?! When I hear the words "Barlow knife," I automatically think of boyhood.... ever-active, exploring, inquisitive, into-everything, curious little boys.
After all, boys are always needing to pry something, cut something, or if bored, merely whittle (look at old-timer whittlers---we never outgrow it!) And there is always that strange knife game that little boys have heard of---mumblety--peg, the one with the nebulous/multiple spellings, and the even more obscure rules! Little boys just simplify the game---and throw their knives into the lawn!
The Barlows likely achieved some of their "boyhood knife" status due to the writings of Mark Twain. The knives are mentioned in his two most famous and popular books-- "Tom Sawyer," and "Huckleberry Finn":
Mary gave him a bran-new Barlow knife worth twelve and a half cents, and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a "sure enough" Barlow and there was conceivable grandeur in that... ----"THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER"
All the stores were along one street. They had white domestic awnings in front, and the country people hitched their horses to the awning posts. There was empty dry goods boxes under the awnings and loafers roosting on them all day long, whittling them with their Barlow knives; and chawing tobacco, and gaping and yawning and stretching a mighty ornery lot. ----"THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN"
To me, a Barlow exudes a whole set of mental images, coming to me from real life and from reading. This knife reminds me of a barefoot boy, on the way to the old fishing hole, carrying his cane pole and his Barlow in his pocket. Or hot summer afternoons in
Whatever it's used for, you can bet that a boy's Barlow is beat up--as well as dull-- and probably a bit rusted, and who knows--it may have been thrown at a lizard a time or two! Unfortunately, knife sharpening is a skill most little boys don't have...and alas, they say a "safe kmife is a sharp knife"...I'm not so sure.
The Barlow in its beginnings was a single blade knife, the blade being two and a half to three inches long. A second shorter blade is often added today. It has always been a tough little knife, partly due to its distinguishing characteristic---it has a tough high bolster, comprising a good portion of the handle. The blade is usually of high carbon steel, easily sharpened, and the handle of bone or some durable material. It was not generally highly polished or finished but was a "last-forever" little knife of utilitarian design...and ideal for kids.
(In knife makers' parlance, the material comprising the "handle"---is called "scales." It may be composed of any one of several dozen materials, such as bone, stag, delrin, abalone, jogged bone, micarta, plastic, and even ivory.)
The origin of the Barlow knife is a bit difficult to pin down. Various Barlows from various generations have laid claim to it, in
A number of US companies now make the Barlow-style knife: Case, Bear and Son, Boker, Roberson, Rough Rider, and others.
The knife is a perfect size for carrying and for most utility jobs; it fits handily in your jeans pocket, either front, or hip. It has a nice "heft" just to feel it there with its slight tear-drop shape. It will not weigh down a lady's purse.
Old time guides in Alaska, grizzled farmers, handymen, fixers, and others of that ilk will laugh at you, if you pull out an eight inch Bowie to do your butchering, whittling, or repair---just give a "real man" a SHARP Barlow, and he can do the job!
George Washington is said to have carried a Barlow.
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BY MIL
1/17/13
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