Mikkel Willumsen designs tend to look like they were drawn with a thick marker, and the Barbosa is no exception: a broad 2.98-inch drop point on a stubby 4.07-inch handle, with green G10 and a liner lock, for $42.
The measurements: 7.05 inches overall, 2.98-inch N690 blade at 58-60 HRC with a satin finish, 4.07 inches closed, 3.07 ounces. N690 is the Bohler cobalt-alloyed stainless, closely related to VG-10, and at 58-60 HRC it behaves the way you would expect — takes a fine edge quickly, holds it adequately, resists rust well. The liner lock is the plain version, not a frame lock, which keeps weight and cost down and is entirely appropriate at this price.
Three ounces with a three-inch blade is the whole pitch. The Barbosa is heavier than the Splinter V3457N1 at 2.84 ounces and heavier than an aluminium-handled Original, but it is lighter than the Microlith's carbon fiber variant by nothing at all — both land near 2.7 to 3.1 ounces, which tells you how narrow this band has become. What separates them is handle shape: the Barbosa is wider and rounder, the Microlith is flat and thin.
Compared with the Begleiter V4458A1 at $41.30, you are trading half an inch of blade and a thumb-stud VG-10 package for a shorter, wider, Willumsen-shaped knife. Anyone who has used a wide-handled folder with gloves will tell you the Barbosa is easier to index without looking. Anyone who carries in a suit pocket will tell you the opposite.
Verdict: a fair-priced, well-proportioned three-ounce liner lock for people who want a knife that feels like a tool in the hand rather than a sliver in the pocket. Neither steel nor lock is a talking point, and at $42 they do not need to be. Buy the green version if you want the colour to do the work, and put the money you saved toward a diamond rod, because 58-60 HRC N690 responds far better to a light touch-up than to a reprofile.
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