Anyone seen a Barlow like this one?

[orvet]

I got this one in the mail today.
Has anyone ever seen a Camillus Barlow with a clevis before?
The bolsters are steel and are either Damascus or have been pitted, but in person it almost appears to be a pattern to the roughness of the bolsters. It is pretty evenly pitted to be random pitting, but I really cannot find a real pattern to it under magnification.

It appears to have a nickel silver pivot pin through the steel bolsters & I have not seen that on a Camillus factory Barlow.
My current thoughts is this was made from parts, but who ever did it did a nice job.
I never thought of adding a clevis to a Barlow before, but it is really starting to grow on me!

What do you all think?

[carrmillus]

....dale, I've never seen a Camillus barlow like that!!........could someone have modified it like that????................ ....................

[313 Mike]

Interesting find Dale... I've never seen one of those either. Has Camillus used that plastic handle material on other knives you have seen? I know I have had a couple of Imperial made Barlows with that same plastic handle. Also a few from Prov Cut Co. Any chance that Camillus blade was dropped into a knife by another company?

[Miller Bro's]

The bolsters are definitely pitted

It looks like someone put a couple new blades into an old frame.

[jerryd6818]

Nah. It's in the 1990 Camillus catalog as a #51. Part of the Dura-Tool line.

[orvet]

You are right Jerry!
After some searching I see it was listed as early as the 1988 catalog.
I see the last time the 51B Barlow is listed is in the 2003 catalog. It is not listed in the 2004 pricelist.

For something that has such a long production history it is strange that I have not seen this one before.
Incidentally, the Camillus catalog refers to what I called a clevis as a "shackle'.

I think the shackle is a great addition to a work knife like a Barlow. I wonder why they are not more common?

[garddogg56]

Looks like you got it figured out Dale but I do have one I never use because I' m not a bail guy, my bolsters are the same way

[orvet]

I like the coloring of the Delrin with the bail it just looks like a hard working knife.
I am generally not fond of bails except on TL-29s, but for some reason it looks good on this knife.
Though I do admit to using a "knife leash" (from Victorinox) when I carry my Henckels fish knife.
I have had the knife for about 30 years & I would hate to loose it overboard or in a river somewhere.