Quote Originally Posted by karlej View Post
Nice work. Too bad about the forging flaw/cold shut. Hard to see under 200 years of patina. Fairly common in the old Sheffields. Most that I see tend to run up along the spine. Small ones sometimes show up in the tang. Your choice of finish helps mask the flaw.
Maybe one of his earlier blades before he had his trade mark.
Thanks, Karl, I appreciate it! The forging flaw doesn't bother me, I figure it's been ok for a couple hundred years that way so to me it's just part of this particular blade, is what it is. I would like to understand better how it happens because I know little of the forging process. I've seem them in the tang before too, and this one extends into the tang as well. Did Isaac Barber use a trade mark at one point? I'll have to search around for some examples.