SZCO Barlow Folding Pocket Knife 3.5" – 2 Stainless Steel Blades with Wood Handle | Classic EDC Barlow Knife for Men & Women | Small Folding Knife for Everyday Carry

I've collected knives for around 40 years and owned Barlows from the most expensive German made ones to the junkiest Pakistani things of the 1980's. That said, this knife is very good quality indeed for a knife of this price. The handles, bolsters, and pins are nicely fitted, the backsprings are strong, wood is tight-grained and heavy. It would make a very good first pocketknife for a boy, functional and sturdy yet inexpensive enough that when it is inevitably lost it isn't a huge loss. The knife is fairly sharp out of the box but I can get it better. The steel appears to be 420 or 440C, decent steel that will take a good edge. I give it 5 stars at this price.

I originally bought two of these. I was so impressed with their quality that I later ordered a third one. The blades are super sharp and keep their edge. The wood is beautiful and the whole Barlow looks and performs as a high quality knife. At this price, it's a real bargain. Don't hesitate, buy it with confidence. Super nice daily companion!

Solid good quality knife. Very well built great feel and nice constructed blades. Beautiful wood finish handle.

Quality is a little better than a 9$ knife if you get it cheaper I would recommend

Knife looks great, is decently sharp. My only issue is the small blade. The spring doesn't hold it fully open, almost like the spring doesnt even touch the blade when open, so it is never firmly open. The large blade works fine. I had them replace the one knife, the small blade moved almost 1/8" with no spring resistance. The replacement had about 1/16" of movement. Only 1 of 4 seems to be correct.

Note: Not a Vine Voice related review. Keeping in mind that this knife is not the only Chinese version of the Barlow knife out there, it has a few features that make it work well for many purposes. The working parts are all stainless steel, including the bolsters, liners, blades, blade pivot pin and springs. The handle pins are brass and the handle scales are tapered wood (wider at the end than near the bolster). When I carve, my hands tend to get sweaty and plain unpolished wood is less slick than plastic or laminated wood. The handle has a brass lined lanyard hole. When closed, the ends of the blades are sunk below the bolsters (if you carve for any length of time this is a plus, since many makers leave the ends of the closed blade well above the handle to dig into your hand and cause blisters). The stainless liners are thicker than most of the other Chinese versions of this pattern. The blade pivot pin is stainless steel of a larger diameter than most versions of this design. Both of these details make for a sturdy knife. The blades come fairly sharp but will need to be honed for carving. The longer blade is good for roughing out a piece, while the small blade works well for details. The springs on my particular knife were good and the blades had no play. I would have the longer blade made a bit thicker, for greater comfort in resting the thumb on the spine, but for under ten bucks it makes a good knock around carver. The one I received has reddish brown wood, my friend ordered one and it has blonde wood handle scales. Update 2017: I have used this knife for three years now, and it still functions very well, just as it did when new. I have given several as gifts, and all have been great users. The model number for this knife is 210601. I have seen one of the Pakistan made knock offs, and they should indeed be avoided, as other reviewers have pointed out. Update 8/1/19: After four and a half years of daily work, one of the backsprings snapped on my little EDC Barlow. I am impressed that it made it so long, getting used nearly every day in some way. Update 2/10/21 Second knife has made it for a year and a half of daily use, so far without issues. Update 9/6/22 Second knife now on its third year, discovered the blades hold up to box cutting the recycling longer than I would have thought. It works better than most thicker bladed knives for this, which was a pleasant surprise. Update 12/7/22 Purchased a few for stocking stuffers again this year, I notice that profile the small blade has been modified to be a bit wider and is more of a Wharncliffe shape than a pen blade, the top curving down to a straight edge. Both are improvements for carving details.

The first one I received had a chip in the cutting edge of the large blade, a piece of steel missing. That of course was unacceptable, even at this low price. I ordered a replacement, and to my relief no such defect existed with the large blade. However soon I discovered that the small blade when extended was very loose. At that I gave up. You might luck out and get a good one. Or spend more money and hope for more quality control. It's a gamble as for many of us going to the UPS store to return items is a big inconvenience, while we still don't have what we want, a solid functional product.

As a work tool, this knife fits the bill perfectly. For under $8, it functions and operates flawlessly. The blades came not all that scary sharp, but sharp enough for a work knife. A few passes over sandpaper sharpened the pen blade to cut the paper neatly. The blades do not come with half-stops, but open easily and closes with a snap. The brass pins needed to be ground down a fraction of milimeter, for they were catching my skin off the fingers. Other than this, I did not find any faults. Closed length: 3 3/8 inches; Clip point blade: 2 1/4 inches; pen blade: 1/5/8 inches.