Colonial Barlow

[OLDE CUTLER]

Sundog dropped off this Colonial Barlow to have me work on. He said to rehandle it, and since it was a shell handle model, I did a conversion on it. He didnt really say what he wanted the finished product to look like, and I have been wanting to try the threaded bolster technique that Jeff showed us a few weeks ago, so I went at it as an experimental model. Thanks for the "school housin'" Jeff.

Shell handle conversions are quite easy, the steel center divider on this one was the template for cutting the 3 new brass liners, then lay the steel one on top and drill thru the holes. Make the new bolsters and solder them on. Deer stag is the handle material.

For some reason this Colonial was quite highly magnetized. It could lift the drill bit shown. This was the first time I have seen this. I wondered if other knife mechanics see this very often?

Finished

[Doc B]

OC, that looks great!!! I know it made the knife feel a lot more "solid", in hand!

[Jeffinn]

Man, that turned out great OC!
Glad to see that my threaded bolster technique was of some value.
I like the bolsters on your knife a lot. Are those bolster a bit longer than the stock ones?
Your artistry and craftsmanship turned that into a really nice knife!
Jeff

[Dinadan]

Wow, Olde Cutler, that is a mighty nice rebuild!

[doglegg]

OC, that turned out fabulous. Very well executed.

[1967redrider]

Great job and that's good to know about the blade magnetism.

[tongueriver]

You are a talented guy, Jim; love to see your work!

[herbva]

Terrific work! I would never have imagined that a humble shell Colonial could be turned into a magnificent piece like that.

[royal0014]

Quite the transformation. Good lookin' knife

[Steve Warden]

WOW!!
Beautiful!!

[Reverand]

I love it! I know the owner will be amazed!
Great work on those bolsters, and good choice on handle material. It all works together to give that knife a very elegant, classy look.

[OLDE CUTLER]

OC, that looks great!!! I know it made the knife feel a lot more "solid", in hand!

It has a very solid feel, the brass liners and center divider are .032", the bolsters are 1/8" nickle silver, as is the stag, so all those things add weight. The bolsters are the same length as the fake sheet metal ones on the shell handles. Back in the day when we had tape players in cars and homes (8 track and cassette) I had a tape head demagnetizer to take out the residual magnetism. But that is long gone as is the bulk eraser used on VCR tapes. I would prefer to demagnitize the blades as it picks up metal bits that you dont want.I wonder how a knife would get magnetized in the first place? Intentionally, or by accident? We used to magnetize screwdrivers to hold onto screws that went into hard to reach areas. One would take the screw driver and stroke it a few times across a big magnet, and it would hold onto the screw. I noticed it when I took the steel pins out of the knife and when I laid them near the blade they jumped sideways in attraction. Sundog has not seen the knife yet, I was going to drop it off at his workplace on Friday, but we had a big winter storm here and I did not get out at all.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Man, that turned out great OC!
Glad to see that my threaded bolster technique was of some value.
I like the bolsters on your knife a lot. Are those bolster a bit longer than the stock ones?
Your artistry and craftsmanship turned that into a really nice knife!
Jeff

Jeff, I was wanting to ask how deep do you think the grooves were in the bolsters that you showed in the tutorial? I think the depth I ended up with on this one was .010-.015" deep. I could have went a lot more, with the bolsters being 1/8" thick, but as an ornamental feature and I didn't think going deeper was necessary.

[Jeffinn]

Man, that turned out great OC!
Glad to see that my threaded bolster technique was of some value.
I like the bolsters on your knife a lot. Are those bolster a bit longer than the stock ones?
Your artistry and craftsmanship turned that into a really nice knife!
Jeff

Jeff, I was wanting to ask how deep do you think the grooves were in the bolsters that you showed in the tutorial? I think the depth I ended up with on this one was .010-.015" deep. I could have went a lot more, with the bolsters being 1/8" thick, but as an ornamental feature and I didn't think going deeper was necessary.

The groove depth can be any depth you want it to be. I just do it by eye, when it looks right I stop. That’s the fun part of doing custom work, you can decide what it should be.
The ones you did look fine to me!
Jeff

[Meridian_Mike]

Great job OC! She is a real beauty!

[Sundog Knives]

Having received this very knife back from Olde Cutler the other day I could hardly believe it was the same knife I had first given him. Deer stag handles are great and grooved bolsters a nice original touch. Thanks again Jim.

[doglegg]

Sundog, you may have to change your name to Lucky Dog. What a wonderful knife to receive! I know you are proud of it. Congrats!