2021 John White MS Memorial BEST BOWIE Thread -- Vote NOW for Finalists!

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Richard338

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Good morning Bladeforums - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! It’s on, and it’s an honor to try to keep this going. I'll start by thanking this terrific forum community for keeping this event alive. Absent your participation, contribution and enthusiasm, this thread simply does not exist. And I am very pleased that we can do this in memory of a man who was a maker of great bowies, an even better friend, and an active member of this forum community.

The rules are no doubt well known to all by now, but a recap for anyone new to the event:
(We will stay as close to the format established by RogerP RogerP and Lorien Lorien as possible)

What types of knives are included?

This thread is about celebrating the quality and diversity of the genre, and the talented bladesmiths and knifemakers who have kept the bowie alive. This is NOT an attempt to conclusively define the bowie knife in either historic or contemporary terms. While I appreciate that people have strong feelings on the subject, no-one is in possession of a conclusive, exhaustive and universally-accepted definition. As with all past years, bowies, fighters, camp knives and generally any fixed blade that meets the size requirements are welcome to be included amongst the nominees. Both stock removal and forged blades are equally welcome. Daggers are excluded, as are Khukris and traditional Tantos.


Requirements are:

1) Blade length 6" and up.

2) Knife must have been made or first shown on Bladeforums in 2021.

3) Must be a custom knife.

PLEASE DO: number each knife in each post, starting with the number 1. And if you can, say a bit about WHAT you like about your nominees.

PLEASE DO NOT quote earlier posts and reproduce the images contained therein (this really messes up the voting for finalists). By all means share your thoughts, but don't replicate an image that has already been posted.

Nominate as many as you like! You needn't personally own or have made the knives you nominate.

Here are a few to get the ball rolling.

#1 Aaron Wilburn

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#2 Marc Aldrich

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#3 Samuel Cobb

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#4 Paul Distefano

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Hello everyone once again in this thread :)

After last year pause I was looking forward this event :) This year I want to nominate this rustic style dog bone, frame handle bowie. I wanted to make somehow fancy knife, but in pretty rough style and with lot of "old-time/artifact" soul. I will let to your decision if I succeeded or not :) The blade is "lightning strike" go-mai steel with O2 core. Other parts are patinated mild steel. The handle and sheath material is medieval bog oak. It is from the base of medieval bridge. I harvested this wood couple of years ago directly from excavation site in my city. All was legal of course and with permission of leader of archeologists. The wood datation is 1305 and it is pretty interesting because all the pieces I have, were worked by man to the pillions shape. It is cool to work with such a material and I think it is giving lot of soul to the knife .

I'm not able to make those beautiful picture compilations and collages as professional photographers use to make, so i have to post more pictures. I want to show all the details of the knife. I will try not to post too much :D :) Hopefully it is ok :) If you want to see some more detail pictures please visit this thread ...

WILBUR - dog bone bowie - MORE PICTURES

And here is some info about the knife ..


WILBUR
Blade - Go-mai - 1,2842 (O2) + 75ni8 Uddeholm (15n20)
Guard - patinated mild steel
Handle - ancient bog oak from the base of mediaval bridge
Average length - 39,5 cm (approx- 15,5 inches) , blade - 24,7cm (approx- 9,8 inches).
Blade width at widest point 47 mm (approx 1,9 inch ) mm , blade thickness 5,5 mm (0,216 inches).


I hope you will like it and i wish the best luck to all competitors ! :) Thanks for this thread and happy holidays to everyone ! :) bb Petr
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Since my knife has already received a mention I'll nominate some others'. It is going to be very difficult this year since many posts have lost their image links. So we can't even show all the great pieces. We always stretch the definition of Bowie knife but if any of these don't fit, or if the knife was not originally shown this year, let me know and I'll remove the nomination.

In order of date shown....

1. Burt Foster - Shown on April 18th
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2. Sam Lurquin - Shown on April 18th
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3. Peter Del Raso - Shown on May 10th
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4. Peter Del Raso - Shown on June 17th (SubHilt, far left)
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5. John Doyle - Shown on September 20th
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6. Peter Del Raso - Shown on September 30th (Does it fit?)
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7. John Doyle - Shown on October 15th
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8. R. Trentin - Shown on December 9th
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9. Russ Andrews - Shown on December 19th
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10. Peter Del Raso - Shown on December 23rd
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Thanks Richard!

1. Sam Lurquin Tsavo Subhilt

It's only the big blade that is subject to nomination, but this is something of a special piece for me as it was made as a father / daughter set, with the small knife being a high school graduation gift for my girl. Lots of visual drama with the fullered damascus blade and dynamic lines. Very, VERY quick in the hand for such a large piece.

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I'd like to throw in my best one of the year. I documented the build in Shop Talk, and finished March 2, 2021. This knife has historical material from the Texas Revolution, including nails from the house where the Mexican army met after San Jacinto, a grape shot and harness decoration from the Mexican "Sea of Mud" camp, wood from the Sam Houston "runaway scrape" oak, and a 1836 half dollar. This knife won the Knifemakers' Guild "Best Bowie" award at ICCE.
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Thanks Tim and Jason.
Folks, we are still open for nominations, please do add some favorites.
I'll close the thread to new nominations tomorrow morning (Dec 30) and shift to voting on the finalists.
 
Those of you who are on Instagram - please post a link to this thread so other knife nuts have a chance to add nominations.
 
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