All About Pocket Knives

Please look at item number 119293 in AAPK Store and give opinions please.
It's a stag Russell Barlow.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/ca ... cket-knife

I wonder about that knife myself, hopefully someone knowledgeable will stop by and give it a yay or nay.

This may be helpful:

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... 4&start=15

The knife in question. Personally, I don't like the pin placement or number of pins for an original Russell.

1967redrider wrote: ↑Tue Sep 30, 2025 2:04 am The knife in question. Personally, I don't like the pin placement or number of pins for an original Russell.

It appears the pins are spun also.
None of my old Russells have spun pins though the newer remakes do.
I don't recall seeing an old Russell with stag either.
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. Just an enthusiast and collector.

A top down shot of the stag (thickness) would also tell a lot.

Very good points by redrider and edge. Pin placement is really weird, stag and spun pins very unusual. The arrow stamp in the bolster looks exaggerated to me as well.

Just read John Russel and the barlow by Bruce Voyles in latest issue of Knife Magazine. He states real Russels have centrally placed rivets in end opposite of pivot rivet end. Germans and others are placed off center. That seems like the big tip off.

I have personally never seen a stag Russell barlow - either the originals or the German repros. A stag single blade was later made (1990's) by Colonial as an authorized repro.

Regarding other things about the OP knife, the clip blade has an odd swedge, and the stamps do not loo correct for the original older "straight line" Russell stamps.

I've been meaning to comment on this for a day or two and keep putting it off. Using this thread for reference. Go to page 5 and you can see the entire series that Dewey Ferguson calls. "Unauthorized reproductions" This was a one time series. These have the odd pin placement, and I think the knife in the OP was originally from this series and has been rehandled.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... 4&start=15

On page 4 about halfway down is a Russell German River with stag handles. The pin placement is way different. There is another a little lower on that page. Also, another in a box on page 2.


This is the Colonial version of stag.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/ca ... memorative

This is the only original (I think) stag handled Russell Barlow I have ever seen and it's a Daddy Barlow


https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/rar ... fe.458681/

Hope this helps. I think the knife in the OP is just a reworked German unauthorized reproduction. Not old or original at all.