2012 BladeForums Best Bowie - Here are your finalists - Vote for the winner!

[RogerP]

Greetings all,

Congrats again to all the nominees, and in particular, to this fine group of finalists. Big thanks again to Lorien for help. And a nod to our own David Crawford who sponsors the plaque that will be awarded to the winner.

For future reference, the nomination thread can be found here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...T-BOWIE-2012-Voting-Closed-Finalists-Selected!

The poll is set to stay open for two days, so get your votes in as soon as you can.

While the poll will track results in real time, as always, I invite participants who cast a vote to say which knife they voted for and why in a reply post to this thread.

Here are your 2012 BladeForums Best Bowie Finalists:

1. Jason Knight MS Bladeshow Best Bowie

2. Sam Lurquin Damascus Tsavo Bowie

3. Kyle Royer MS Shadow of the West Bowie

4. Mike Ruth Jr. JS Fire Stag Bowie

5. Gerhard Wieland Toruk Bowie

 

[kamagong]

My favorite is the Mike Ruth Jr. Fire Stag bowie. I love everything about this knife. The stag. The damascus. The subtle hamon. I even love the well-executed S-guard, which isn't usually the case. But perhaps most of all, this knife just looks like a bowie to me, done at an extremely high level of course. If a person totally ignorant about knives asked me what a bowie is, I'd show him a picture of this Ruth.

- Christian

 

[RogerP]

My top two are Sam's Tsavo and Kyle's Shadow of the West. I am a huge fan of Sam's work and own a number of his pieces. This is my fave knife of his this year and I am happy to see it here in the finals. Kudos to Norbert, whose camera work is giving us the best looks ever at Sam's work.

I went with Kyle's because I think the overall look of this piece is both compelling and unique. Crisp lines, quality finish and construction, all draped in sinister shadow. I've been collecting bowies for a long time, but haven't seen one quite like this. That doesn't happen often.

Goes without saying - I'd be thrilled to own any knife on this page. Applause all around.

 

[secretsquirrel]

I voted for the Kyle Royer, Shadow of the West Bowie but to me there is a bees dick in it and i'd be perfectly happy if any of the last three took the trophy as those are the ones i'd like most to own.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Here are my thoughts on each of these outstanding Knives. I would like to congratulate each maker on being included in this elite group of knifemakers and fine knives.

1. Jason Knight MS Bladeshow Best Bowie- A fine Bowie and I've seen/handled enough of Jason's Bowies to know it's as near perfect as one can get. You know this piece is a “Cutting Beast”. It comes up a little short in my consideration in the aesthetics area due to the stag coloring. I like a more consistent coloring like demonstrated in the Ruth piece below.

2. Sam Lurquin Damascus Tsavo Bowie - You can just look at this piece and tell the ergonomics are dead on. One of those pieces that you just want to grab hold of. Thought I love the shaping of the handle, the handle material doesn't stand out amoung my favorites (just personal preference). IMO, at this level of competition every aspect has to scream "I'm the best".

3. Kyle Royer MS Shadow of the West Bowie - Super clean and elegant and executed to the highest degree, but I don't feel it matches the complexity of construction of some others and it’s not really a style I’m drawn to. Kyle’s certainly no stranger when it come to the BF final five, perhaps this will be his year!

4. Mike Ruth Jr. JS Fire Stag Bowie - This is my favorite of the five. Every aspect from tip to butt scores high in every category I consider. The Ladder Damascus is expertly executed, the fittings and guard are perfection (love the small circle in the Damascus pattern centered on the top guard palm). If this isn't the finest Amber Stag handle I have ever seen it's very close. The embellishments are well done, but not overdone. Even though I know some don't care for it, I really like how Mike and his father show the pronounced temper line in their Damascus. Jerry Fisk also does this as well.

5. Gerhard Wieland Toruk Bowie - This very complex Bowie is SO WELL DONE. The overall profile, the handle, carving, blade, ergonomics are top notch. I really struggled between this piece and Michael’s knife. If not for my love for perfection in Damascus and Beautiful Amber Stag, it would have been my choice for #1.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Just an observation; it seemed a bit unfair that two of the knives had the benefit of aditional detail images, however considering both are currently behind in the voting, perhaps not.

 

[Tad Lynch]

For me it came down to Sam's and Jason's. I voted for Sam--I just love the aggressive profile.

Way to go Sam. See you in Atlanta.

Tad

 

[Kevin Jones]

My favorite is the Mike Ruth Jr. Fire Stag bowie. I love everything about this knife. The stag. The damascus. The subtle hamon. I even love the well-executed S-guard, which isn't usually the case. But perhaps most of all, this knife just looks like a bowie to me, done at an extremely high level of course. If a person totally ignorant about knives asked me what a bowie is, I'd show him a picture of this Ruth.
- Christian

I couldn't agree more! That image would make a great reference under the definition of "Bowie" if there was an agreed upon definition.

 

[Daft Slice 1986]

Out of these, I like the Sam Lurquin Damascus Tsavo Bowie. Congrats to all the nominees:thumbup:

 

[RogerP]

Just an observation; it seemed a bit unfair that two of the knives had the benefit of aditional detail images, however considering both are currently behind in the voting, perhaps not.

Both the Royer and Ruth knives have additional detail shots incorporated into the main image. Sam's is the only knife with a single shot. It's doing okay so far. The two you are complaining about (Knight, Weiland) each had more images in the nomination thread than have been reproduced here.

Over the years, we've run with a general rule of no more than two images for any of the finalists. I appreciate that no matter what the choice, you can't please everyone. But this is the first time I've seen the fairness called into question.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Both the Royer and Ruth knives have additional detail shots incorporated into the main image. Sam's is the only knife with a single shot. It's doing okay so far. The two you are complaining about (Knight, Weiland) each had more images in the nomination thread than have been reproduced here.

Over the years, we've run with a general rule of no more than two images for any of the finalists. I appreciate that no matter what the choice, you can't please everyone. But this is the first time I've seen the fairness called into question.

Not complaining Roger but I'm not surprised you state it as such. As I stated in my post, just an observation and a good one at that IMO. We are as much judging knife photos here as knives, so more and more detailed photos would stand to reason be an advantage. Kind of like an image Coop took of a knife would offer an advantage over an image I took of the same knife. Anyway, I'm not going to spoil this thread with a back and forward with you.

 

[SBranson]

Tough call this year. I went with Mike Ruth Jr. JS Fire Stag Bowie for much the same reason as so well put by Christian in post#2.

Jason's and Sam's were pretty close but ultimately they are very similar looking knives so it seemed too much of a whim to chose. Fantastic lines, each of them though. I probably would give the nod to Sam though as the slightly longer upper tine of the guard, the strongly facetted handle and the more aggressive blade (particularly the peaked spine) combine for a more visceral response by me.

Kyle's is compelling but a little not to my taste for me to vote for it. As this is subjective exercise... well

Gerhard's is fascinating to me but mostly from the guard to the butt.

Brilliant work all and good luck!!!

Thanks to Roger and Lorien for their work and Mr.Crawford for his donation.

And a really big thanks to those who nominated my knife. I was awfully chuffed at the reception my knives received this year...

 

[JParanee]

Okay this is very hard

Ill start with the first

Who is Jason Knight

This knife is a great knife made by I believe one of the top performance Smiths in the world.

It belongs to a friend and it is beautiful but ....... It is not my favorite Jason Knight piece that I have seen.

So it did not get my vote. Sorry Brother your still my main man

Second knife by Sam the Man.

This knife has had my attention since I first saw it. I believe that this is SAMs year and this knife got my vote.

Third

Kylie's is as great as they come and this knife is certainly fantastic and I love the long dark blade but I'm not a big Sheffield clip fan

4 th

This knife is awesome and it nearly got my vote and I'm still going back and forth when I first saw it up in the nominations thread I knew it would be here in the finals. It is the perfect Bowie in every way and like I said I'm still not sure I voted correctly

5 th

Great piece....but for me more of a fantasy piece and although I love the flow Sam and Mike brought it hard this year

Congrats to all they are all winners and Happy New Year

 

[Marcel54]

None of these 5 were in my top 5 but two of them made my top 10, being Ruth and Royer. Chosing between these two was't easy but in the end I went for Mike Ruth. The raison for this is his damascus, I'm a sucker for the stuff and this is a great piece of steel including the subtle hamon.

Marcel

 

[Gary Mulkey]

I wasn't drawn to the blade shape of Jason or Sam's and am not a big fan of the brute de forge finish of Gerhart's. That leaves Mike & Kyle. Both have beautiful styling as well as a fit & finish to die for. Something about the ladder pattern on Mike's blade just felt a little lacking. I can't put it into words well but it just didn't talk to me where the dark & ominous look of Kyle's spoke volumns and got my vote.

WELL DONE TO ALL OF THE FINALISTS. The best competition to date and a big thanks to Roger & Lorien for supplying us with so much enjoyment.

Gary

 

[Bors]

Kyle Royer MS Shadow of the West Bowie, This knife has beautiful proportioning one look and it's quite clear this is a high performance bowie knife.

All these knives show a very high degree of the knife makers art congrats to all :thumbup:

 

[Grapevine]

I chose Kyle's. It came down to Kyle's or Gerhard's. Like Stuart, I realized that what I liked about Gerhard's is everything from the guard going back. The blade part didn't really appeal to me. Kyle's seemed more of a cohesive piece. The one thing I really like about it is that beyond the shape of the knife and expertise in construction, it has a theme behind it that I thought was extra compared to the others. The others have their flow and expert construction, but don't seem that unique to me in that their blades, guards, handles, could have been interchanged with myriad blade/guard/handle from others in the nomination thread without really changing the knife much. Kyle's though, the elements seem to belong to each other...a black, sleek, silent killer.

 

[D lisch]

They are all very nice it is so hard to pick all these knives are winners in my eyes I would like to thank all of the good folks that voted for my knives it was a true thrill to have so many knives in the mix. what a great year it was for knives on the whole but when we look back on it I think it will pale in comparison to 2013. happy new year friends be safe. Good luck to the finalists

 

[billf]

Incredible knives all....

As Stuart astutely pointed out, Jason's and Sam's are "brothers from another mother" - big, brawny blades that I'd love to hold in my hand

As always, Kyle's knife is beautifully executed - the overall "dark" look is very sinister, but ultimately I think the monochromatic style limits the impact a little for me

Gerhard's knife is a beautiful example of his unique style and I agree with Joe that is more of a fantasy piece

Mike's knife, to me, just has it all - classic shape, killer Damascus, elegant fittings and an amazing stag handle. Everything just blends together perfectly and says...

Bowie!

Great thread/idea as always - thanks Roger and Lorien

 

[RogerP]

Really enjoying everyone's comments on what knife they like best and on the rest of the contestants as well.

Joe - I agree - when I saw Mike's knife nominated, I was confident it would get through. He nailed it. While I generally prefer not to have a visible hardening line on damascus, I don't mind it here. It's about the only knife I was sure of, though. I felt this damascus Tsavo by Sam would be a strong contender, but there were several compelling Lurquin knives nominated - which can lead to splitting the vote, so to speak. I've seen it before where a maker has three pieces in spots 6 through 10.