All About Pocket Knives

I’ve got several knives that belonged to my grandfathers and my Dad gave me some of his as well.
This Boker 493 (or do you literally call it Boker Tree?) Barlow stands out to me. I know this is the German built and that they’re sold around the world, but I’m wondering if it was bought here or maybe in Germany after the war when Grandpa was still in the army. After WWII they moved around a lot.

Otherwise, this is a great knife! The weight of it is very satisfying and it snaps in better than any knife I’ve owned. It was pretty rough to begin with, is this carbon steel? It polished up well, I wish I had a “before” picture. The smaller blade was broken at the tip, so I reground it into something useful. This guy sharpens up well! You can still see where some corrosion was on all metal surfaces.

The one in front. The other two I bought since I liked this one so much. Never had Boker before.

Nice knife and you’re lucky to have a family heirloom like that. You’ve asked a bunch of questions! First, you can find the answer to your age of the knife question here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=39799&p=656480&hilit=Boker#p656480. As for where it was made, all the Bökers I’ve seen were stamped either Germany (Solingen) or U.S.A. “Tree Brand” is a Böker trademark and as far vas I know applies to all of their knives regardless where made.

We have some Böker experts that are members here, and can probably provide more info.

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

I am not one of the Boker experts but I am fairly sure you have a USA made Boker circa 1980's.
kj

Could very well be, I may have misunderstood the significance of the "tree" part. I don't see anything on the blades about Solingen like those other two. Just the 493. It doesn't matter much, I'm certainly not selling regardless, just want to get an idea of when/where he got it.

edit:
A little more looking around. Seems the brass is a factor and the 2 pins as opposed to 3. I see others saying 70's-80's due to the center being steel rather than brass. I think that must be right about US. Hardly a bad thing!

You sure that's a German made? Most of the 492/493 I have seen have the USA stamp. They are hard to date. These were built pretty much all through the 50s-60s, and up until when Boker USA ceased in the early 80s. I have seen similar Boker barlows with the Solingen stamp but they were from the early 90s and did not have the sawcut delrin like yours.

No Solingen, no USA. The only stamp is the 493.
Even if it doesn't say USA, I assume if it was actually from Germany it would say so?