Been amongst the bench projects during the last chapter. Completed for the customer now.

Just wanted you to see it . 3 7/16" blade and 7 5/8" overall open. This is what I'd call an Old School - Farmer's Knife. It's a "Jack Knife". "Slip Joint" traditional "Barlow" type of mechanism. Hope some of those words connect.

BTW - this isnt a new project. This has been in the "clean up" list from the project whirlwind of the Summer/Fall months.

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 03:31AM by barnespneumatic.

That's Natural Dyed and Polished Bone scales. High Carbon Tool Steel Blade/Spring and Brass Frame.

Gary,

I know there is a very lucky pocket waiting for that beauty.

Larry

Hi Gary,

This one turned out to be a great folding knife. Nice color on the bone scales. A question for my education: Why sometimes you engrave your last name in the blade and others you engrave the other logo, the one that looks like a shield?

Thanks,
julio

It had been my intention to create a Prototype of the sort of product everyone frequently asks for. Simple. Less Costly. Less highly finished. Something they would not be afraid to use.

So ......

I made this knife. It was to have a simplier brushed finish. Was to have WOOD handle scales. No bolsters. Wasn't going to do the machining inside. Not finish everything highly. Something a craftsman could use on his workbench.

So; on 8-8-14 ..... I had it ready to go together. I'd marked the blade with the BARNES stamp to make a bit of distinguish between this "workman/farmer" knife and the others.

I come down next day - knife doesn't work. Locked up. What???? I take it apart. The sides curl outward like bananas!!! The WOOD has warped into Taco Shells, pulled the brass liners with it. The wood was extremely well seasoned. But - its wood. Hateful stuff.

So; the knife needed bolsters for stability. Make bolsters. Accurately Silver Solder them onto the liners. Red roll the holes perfectly. Now - decide if I'd want to refit the back 2/3 of the wood scales - since the holes all lined up. But the curl wasn't going to allow that. Also; by now - with it all apart again and bolsters on it - I had another purpose for it.

I cut and mounted the bone scales everyone was loving. Of course, now the interior needed the milling I'd forced myself to skip. And ... now the blade and parts needed to be more highly finished to balance the effort in the bolsters and bone.

And so; after retrofitting each and every part - and spending three times the effort it would have been to make it my natural way at first ... it is a wonderful properly made knife. The BARNES is no problem. From 1976-1996 ... All Barnes knives were marked that way.



The morale of the story: Never make what the popular vote asks for! Make what you know works best. That is how ALL of the finest early 20th Century Automobile builders went broke. Cord Vs. the Ford (Model T). .

Gary

Hello Julio
The shield one is a letter B ( Barnes) with a sword thru it ! It's an awful neat logo too! I think one of my knifes has logo and Barnes name On it .

Beautiful knife Gary! It shows both your craftmanship and esthetic in completing the rescue. It always takes more skill to get a project back on track, even more to see a completely new masterpiece in some twisted wood and metal.

Kent