Urban EDC Supply Baby Barlow Review
The idea of a fashion knife, like the notion of a fashion watch, is a bit odd. These are tools and so contemplating them as items of fashion is strange. “Fashion watch” is often seen as a putdown, implying that the look and style of a watch comes before its materials, fit, and function. Fortunately for knife knuts fashion knives tend to be pretty darn good. This is large part because knives are so good right now, but also, I hope, because the folks making knives realize you can’t make a good knife without some consideration of blade steel, lock up, and the light.
If you read shill sites (its okay to admit it, we all do) you are probably quite familiar with a number of appearance-first blades. In my mind no brand better typifies the “fashion knife” aesthetic more than The James Brand. In particular, its Chapter knife is something of an icebreaker—a knife that focuses on appearance first from a totally unknown company. And while the first Chapter knife was meh, the second is pretty darn outstanding. Other “fashion knives” are items from Quiet Carry (which also seems to be pivoting towards superior knives with stuff like the Drift), WESN, and StatGear.
Here is the product page. This is an exclusive for Urban EDC Supply. There are a handful of variants, though tracking down how many is challenging. There are the base versions with M390 steel and a different inlay (titanium, black G10, and green G10). There are the upscale versions with Damasteel instead of M390. Urban EDC also sold a few prototypes. And finally I have seen a black G10 handled version, though I cannot find a sales page for it. The base models are $239. The upscale Damasteel versions were around $300, I think. The black handled version, so far as I can tell, had no official page but the resale page on Urban EDC Supply listed it at $500. Here is a video review of the Baby Barlow by Metal Complex (who is a YouTuber you should add to your stable of reviewers). There are no written reviews. Here is my review sample:
Twitter Review Summary: A unique addition to any carry rotation.
Design: 2
As an idea, there are very few knives as pure as the Baby Barlow. Not only did Justin commit to tastefully mondernizing a classic traditional knife pattern, he did so while trying to create a virtually symmetric design when closed. The overall impression is one of striking beauty. This is a knife that can be appreciated by anyone—from an Uncle Randy who is cautiously buying “one of ‘em flipping’ knives” but is comforted by the Barlowiness of it (and yes there are still classic Barlow features to this knife, more on that below), to a tech fan looking for an aesthetically pleasing knife to go along with his AirPod Pros in their custom case and a pair of Yeezy Boost 350 V2s. This is a design masterstroke and proof that Lundquist, despite only having a small handful of production collabs made, is a very good knife designer. If I could give a design a 3, I would, this is that good.
The performance ratios are only meh. The blade:weight is .83. The blade:handle is actually pretty bad, in the “Delica territory” of .68. These sort of poor performance ratios aren’t all that unusual in these “design first” knives. See also the James Brand Chapter knife.
Fit and Finish: 1
This is pretty clearly a well-made knife. Everything is solid, the blade centering is great, and the finish is consistent on both the handle and the blade. But it is equally clear that this knife is a step down from what the very best manufacturers can produce. For example, my experience with inlays from Reate is that they are fingernail flush. As you can see, the inlay here is not even close to that tightly fit. Chris Reeve and Reate make things significantly nicer than this. Instead of being in that tier, the Baby Barlow is in the tier below that—the Benchmade, Spyderco, and ZT tier. Its not bad by any means, but it is clearly a step down from what you could get from the best production houses in the world, hence the 1 point deduction.
Grip: 2
Carry: 2
Its hard to fault a knife for carry when it is so rounded and small. If the knife had no blade at all, its clean, interesting appearance and its textures would make it a great pocket tchotchke. Instead, it carries magnificently AND its a knife. Its ideal for a coin pocket (or per Tyler from Best Damn EDC “utility pocket”).
Steel: 2
Steels of the M390 composition family are great. They are hard, tough, and corrosion resistant. No more is needed nor can be said. I have spoken.
Blade Shape: 2
This is my most favorite part of the homage to the original Barlow design. With a big belly, a strong clip point, and a negative angle straight section, the Baby Barlow’s blade, like all Barlow blades is super amazing. Here is a side by side shot featuring the Baby Barlow and the Canal Street Cutlery Boy’s Knife (the Boy’s Knife pattern is a traditional knife that shrinks down the Barlow form making it the original “Baby Barlow”):
Obviously the Baby Barlow is not as extreme any aspect—the clip or the negative angle on the straight section fo the blade, but its all there and the knife is better for it.
Grind: 1
The main grind is fabulous. It tapers a thin blade stock to a wafer keen edge. But the cutting bevel, yikes, it is a bit of a mess. The belly is a bit uneven. The area near the ricasso looks like it was sharpened by someone with vertigo or an inner ear infection. Fortunately these are mostly aesthetic flaws as the knife still cuts nicely. In the end, I think it is the thin stock that makes up for the unevenness of the edge, but still, for a knife of this cost in this day and age, wavey edges aren’t great.
Deployment: 2
We have progressed down the front flipper path that there are now variants. This is what some folks call a “top flipper.” It works a lot like the deployment on the Darriel Kaston Kadima, with a nice, grippy but not offensive texture on the gearing or jimping.
I perfer the thumb snap deployment over the index finger light switch deployment, but like with all good front flippers, both work well. This is an insanely addictive action, BTW.
Retention Method: 2
Slowly but surely the industry is, as a whole, moving from sculpted titanium clips that are basically hooks to something with some actual spring tension. The Baby Barlow’s clip is much better than earlier iterations of these kinds of clips (though, of course, I’d prefer a wire clip or a stamped clip…).
This doesn’t touch on the fact that the clip in this knife is just beautiful, complementing the overall super clean design. Gosh, this is a gorgeous knife.
Blade Safety/Lock: 2
Despite being buried in the handle, this lock is excellent with a cut out on the other side of the knife, a bit of texture, and great engagement and disengagement. Like with the sculpted clip, I strongly prefer the simplicity of a great liner lock over a framelock.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: Very High
Oh man, with a knife this fun to handle a great deployment basically makes this a fidget spinner that actually does something.
Fett Factor: Very High
The Baby Barlow comes in looking a bit battered and it will only collect more battle scars going forward, which is a good thing for those that appreciate the Mandalorian aesthetic.
Value: Moderate
The steel and build are certainly worth the money, but the build quality leaves a bit desired for the money.
Overall Score: 18 out of 20
This is a gorgeous knife and one that I enjoy carrying and using, I just can’t help but thinking that this design produced by Reate or WE would have been a better overall knife—an absolute market-breaking knife. As it is, it is a very functional knife with an elegant design and that is worth quite a lot. I also think it grooves right into the modern traditional space in the market quite well. Its probably not the best such knife, but it is close (see below). There you get not quite as clever a design but an equally funcitonal knife with truly superior fit and finish. More on this below. The Baby Barlow is a great knife, but just short of the best stuff available.
Competition
The Pena X Series knives, the Trapper and Zulu Spear (review coming) seem to be the high watermark of the “modern traditional” segment. Those knives are better than this knife because of their superior finish. They are not as avante garde or as interesting a design, but they are noticeable nicer. I also think the Lionsteel Roundhead (and Bestman) is a nice comparison, though there, the design mistakes are such head slappers that I strong prefer this knife to those screwhead showcases. The Benchmade Proper is another knife fighting it out in this space and while the Proper is a better made knife, the Baby Barlow’s design originality puts it ahead of the Proper for me, but only by a smidge. One knife I haven’t handled that seems like a competitor you might want to check out is the James Brand County.
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