The Wayland is TJB's interpretation of the Barlow design, the epitome of the American "folding knife." Created over three centuries ago in England, the Barlow quickly became Americans' preferred blade, regardless of class or creed. The Barlow's traditional patterned long bolsters, teardrop-shaped handle, and sheepsfoot blade make it an ideal EDC tool. A knife so useful that Presidents Washington and Lincoln never left home without theirs, and Mark Twain felt called to mention it in two of his iconic works. If ever a knife belonged to the people, it was the Barlow, and we are happy to release the Wayland as our interpretation.
We make knives and tools for people who live adventurously - for people like us. For those who aren’t content consuming other people’s stories, and who don’t wait around for other people to fix things. We're with you, from the pocket to the hand, and back again.
The Wayland is TJB's interpretation of the Barlow, the epitome of the American "folding knife." Created over three centuries ago in England and perfected in America, the Barlow quickly became Americans' preferred blade, regardless of class or creed. The Barlow's traditional pattern—long bolster, teardrop-shaped handle, and clip point blade—made it the ideal EDC tool. A knife so perfect that Presidents Washington and Lincoln never left home without theirs, and Mark Twain felt called to mention the tool in two of his iconic works. If ever a knife belonged to the people, it was the Barlow.
TJB's take on this classic slip-joint knife features a minimal design aesthetic and premium materials. The Wayland is based on the classic Barlow pattern: rounded end, sheepsfoot blade shape (historically this was more of a clip point), large bolsters and center-line symmetry through the scales. This sets up both a clear and challenging brief. The rules of engagement are clear, but what can we do to make interpret the Barlow in a way that is right for us? For one thing, we tried to clean up all of the hardware. We cleaned it up so much that it is, in fact, not visible at all. We also leveraged some of our favorite high-end materials like rosewood, titanium and S35VN steel. The goal is a modern look and feel, with great materials but a very clear lineage to the original Barlow concept.
The Wayland's three-inch Sheepsfoot blade is composed of CPM-S35VN stainless steel, creating a durable knife capable of avoiding accidental point-piercing mishaps—making it perfect for whittling, slicing a chunk out of an apple, or assisting on a rescue mission. The classic non-locking slip joint design produces the smooth "walk and talk" one expects from a well-built tool.
This “hold” concept gave us the chance to have some more fun with color, as that is always one of the things that is challenging in the pocket knife space: the general materials palette doesn’t allow for much exploration, but injected “holds” could really open things up.
The Wayland is available in three scale options: Rosewood, Micarta, and G10. This gives the knife some aesthetic range, from classic to blacked out. So, if your EDC style leans toward the classic or if you. are firmly rooted in the present-day, The Wayland has an options for you.
While The Wayland may be more refined than some of our other offerings, To quote Tom Sawyer, it "is a 'sure-enough' Barlow," making it a knife worthy of the title, "the Peoples' knife."
Gear Patrol
Hodinkee
Hiconsumption
The Wayland
I'm quite surprised by the overall quality of this slip joint. The fit and finish, Walk and Talk, Half Stop, and centering are all spot it. It has been a great carry for the last few weeks and it definitely has a place in my rotation.
It's a relatively larger size slipjoint with 3" blade, making it a great one-knife-option if you need or want to go with a non-locking pocketknife for whatever reason.
It has nice "walk n talk" - snappy feel with great acoustics; and it came with a pretty nice factory edge - very sharp. The titanium and micarta on my version (pictured) feels great. Overall, I love the clean modern design. No visible hardware makes the design a unique take on the classic barlow.
I think if you're interested in this knife, you should go ahead and pull the trigger I have a hard time seeing someone being disappointed with this one.
Debo señalar qué es un gran gusto recibir un producto de tan alta calidad y al mismo tiempo tan hermoso.
Muchas gracias.
Fantastic
As a modern interpretation of the iconic Barlow knife, the Wayland exceeded my expectations. It looks and feels like a premium gentleman’s knife. The knife arrived arm-hair-shaving sharp.
Despite its classy and understated design aesthetic, the Wayland is a little big for carrying around the office (or other places where people would freak out if you were to pull out a knife to open a package). It’s not an aggressive-looking knife at all, it’s just bigger than the average gentleman’s knife.
All that said, I would 100% buy this again. I love it and recommend it every chance I get.
