Best shape for the "one knife does it all" blade????

Marion David Poff

Marion David Poff

Joined
Oct 8, 1998
Messages
5,403
Good Day,

I know this has been discussed, but please bear with me and provide your opinion.

What do you consider the best shape for a "one knife does it all" blade????

There seems to be two main camps....

The Kukri/Bolo fans.

And the Bowie fans.

I have to say I thought Bolos were all that and a bag of chips, but I may be rethinking.

One time in an e-mail, a fellow Forum member told me that the Bowie was a good compromise for various media, it would not bind up in soft vegetation, but chop very well.

What do you all think, hard users especially.

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Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com
Coeur D'Alene, ID
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

Allen Blade Custom Knives
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff/allenblade.html

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
MDP, I'm not the "hard user" you are looking for, but I am feeling free with my opinions tonight. After reading, playing with/handling the two different types of knives, I would go with a Bowie as my all around knife. I wouldn't be put off with a good Bolo either. I just think the Bowie lends itslef to do more tasks with greater ease. You can obviously get things done with a Bolo style blade. I just don't think it would be as easy.

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If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance,
baffle them with your BS.

[This message has been edited by Dirk (edited 01-16-2000).]
 
 

In my own experience a drop point "something" usually is a good all around knife.

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KSwinamer
 
Just an opinion : not mad about crossposting to multiple forums.
But, as I said : "just an opinion".
I just have a sense of attachment (loyalty ?) to this one.
But it IS a free medium. (Nearly said it was a free country until I realized how many countries were involved
smile.gif


Any way.....maybe the crossposts could be made to look individual ??? At least, worded differently ?

Oh, well ....

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BrianWE

I had no shoes and wept...until I met a man who had no feet. Cheapest pair of shoes I ever bought.
 
This is the age of specialization, so we tend to pick the knife that is designed for a specific job. But there was a time that men went out into the wilderness for months and years at a time, and couldn't justify carrying multiple knives. I'm thinking of the mountain men. They needed a tough large knife to use as a weapon, skinner, utility knife etc... I think they carried bowies. The advantage the bowie has over the Kukris and Bolos is as a weapon. As a slasher the kukris are great, but if you are confronted by a bear you need to stab and penetrate to the vital organs. Slashing a bear would make him very angry and while you may be able to kill him that way, it's likely you would die before he did. The bowie was developed in the age of single shot weapons that were slow to reload! They are capable of slashing and stabbing!It doesn't appear to me that bolos or kukuris would be any good for stabbing. I may be wrong, if so please correct me, someone. I also think the bowie is a better skinner, and a better utility (cooking etc...) knife. Certainly the kukris and bolos would be better choppers.
 
Bowie

Question: Is a bowie knife really a true bowie unless it is balanced for throwing?
 
One knife for all: Leuku (lapp knife); skinner, chopper, whittler(not the most delicate), butcherer...
Look for the shape here http://www.hut.fi/~hugo/knives/puukko.html
and size(blade) about 8 inch (the biggest one in these pics).


[This message has been edited by Tommi (edited 01-16-2000).]
 
Either a long clip point or a drop point.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
There's an old joke that the best knife for fighting a bear is a dull one -- it'll hurt less when he shoves it up your @$$!

(I believe MDP has a variation on it on his site...)

Glen
 
I am a fan of the long clip point. Especially in a big blade. Can't say if it works better than other shapes but it looks good. I suspect it gives a nicer balance (if done correctly) by bringing the centre of gravity back a bit and placing the "sweet spot" for chopping a little further from the tip. I can understand the advantages of the bolo and other front-heavy blades but I feel the advantages are not there in a wide range of uses. I have a kukri and a Benchmade Bushmaster. The BM gets used when I need a compact chopper but is sidelined when I want a "cutter".

As an aside, the concept of "one knife does it all" is abhorrent to me. Just imagine not needing another knife
wink.gif


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BrianWE

I had no shoes and wept...until I met a man who had no feet. Cheapest pair of shoes I ever bought.
 
Regarding stabbing, khukuris can handle tip penetration very well, much better than Bowies because you use a more powerful base for your swing. Basically because of the tip presentation you can do a full swing and lead with the tip. As an example, I can easily drive an AK through board that completely resists any effort of mine to punch my Battle Mistress through. As for being a weapon, they are the blades of the Gurkhas.

As for the orginal question, if I could bend my Busse Battle Mistress khukuri-style I would as there are direct benefits for heavier work which is what is often the critical part and the more fatiguing. Most slicing work and carving is made more difficult but even if filleting a trout is made harder how much of a strain is it going to be. And in any case just steak it up if it becomes too irritating.

That being said, there are some interesting pseudo-khukuris out there that look like a khukuri-bowie hybrid. Rob S. and Ken Onion have posted pictures of such blades. You don't get quite the power of a khukuri, but then again you don't narrow the scope of work as much. How far you would want to go would obviously depend on what your main tasks were.

As for mountain men using specific blades, such reasoning is very dangerous and prone to flaws. People are often very biased in their tools and will use traditional versions even if directly inferior to others. As an example around here fishermen used worn down chef's knives for filleting. They are pretty lously for doing this and never something I would recommend but the fact remains that just two generations ago the entire population of our town was in this trade and those were the blades of choice.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 01-17-2000).]
 
Great topic MDP!
smile.gif
But...

How do we define Bowie? I have seen many blade shapes called a "Bowie". The blade shape I tend to recognize as a Bowie is the clip point. There is tremendous variation in those, some have a staight clip while others are upswept. Further when I think of a traditional Bowie I think of a large blade, in excess of 7 inches. I have seen knives which were called "Bowie" with blades of 3 inches. What about the guard? Does a Bowie require a guard? If so, double or single?

I know these are a lot of questions but I find the topic hard to answer without some clarification. If we say "Kabar", everyone gets essentially the same mental picture: A knife with a 7" blade, stacked leather handle, double guard and a solid pommel. The term "Bowie" is not that easy to define. Essentially, a kabar is a bowie unless a more specific definition is offered for the discussion.

If a Kabar is a Bowie then how would it stack up against a Kukri. Not an eqitable comparison. Where the Kabar would excell at most tasks, equalling or bettering the Kukri, the Kukri would obviously be the better chopper.

I guess what I am asking is when we are going to discuss topics using generic terms such as kukri and bowie can we set some parameters? It is easy to compare secific knives you don't have all the variables which are associated with the generic.

BTW put me down for a straight clip point bowie with a blade of 9-10 inches, a single guard and a scale tang with butt swell for strength and grip when chopping.
wink.gif


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Travis Autry
My knives are just like rabbits---they keep multiplying!!
 
Hello I am a knifemaker and this is what I built for me
bst.JPG


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TbarK Custom Knives
I am Opposed to Millionair's but it would be Dangerous to Offer Me The Job,Mark Twain
http://vip.hpnc.com/~tbark
 
Marion, My "one knife does it all" would be a straight back blade that is slightly bent at the front of the handle. It would have a ground in finger groove, tapered tang, slab scales with a slight swell at the butt, a blade 1 3/4" wide and 6" or 7" long. The maximum thickness would be 5/32" at the front of the handle. I guess I ought to make one and see if I really like it or just think it would do it all.

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Ray Kirk
www.tah-usa.net/raker
 
brian, I like the long clip as well.

TAutry, I am thinking of a Allen Blade Combat Patrol Bowie or like that. I prefer it with a single guard. 10"-12" of blade.

tbark, I like that knife.

Cliff, I guess I am going to have to get a Kukri in my hand to understand it.

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Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com
Coeur D'Alene, ID
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

Allen Blade Custom Knives including MEUK Talonite Knives
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff/allenblade.html

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
Both bowie and kukri are designed as fighting knives. But if "one knife must do all" - the fight is not the most common use of the knife. In outdoors or hunting by far much common might be:
* cooking;
* whittling;
* skinning and guting;
Of course it's possible to bone the fish or gut the rabbit with bowie or kukri but I think it's fairly uncomfortable. Take into consideration also knife weight and dimensions completing your equipment.
And come on with bear fighting, I think the normal man has zero chances to survey a close combat with large bear even having sword in his hands! On the other hand, Superman doesn't need knife at all - he would just box bear down with free hands :-))
If you would meet a bear in woods - simply let him alone and you never will have to fight him.
As the most versatile camp-outdoors-hunting knife I would tip medium sized (something about 5 inches) fixed blade with drop point (or not too pronounced clip point) shape and flat or so-called "utility" grind (like BM Nimravus). By the way, Nimravus would be one of my first choices. Another good choices seem SOG Northwest Ranger or CRKT Partner.
Please note - it's just my opinion.


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Sergiusz Mitin
gunwriter
Lodz, Poland
 
Hello everybody,
IMHO "best knife" is the one you have with you when you happen to need one.
So probably not too big/heavy, as Grizzlies are not that plentyfull around. Unless you go look for them.
I have not found anything more usefull than a "medium sized" SAK, yet.
Well I do live near the site where they are made....
Good luck
smile.gif
smile.gif


D. Utzinger

[This message has been edited by ZUT&ZUT (edited 01-19-2000).]

[This message has been edited by ZUT&ZUT (edited 01-19-2000).]
 
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