BIG Texas Bowie Reproduction...(Pics)

Bruce
He sent you a picture of a sheath to fit it
the picture I reproduced from it from had no sheath with it,
go here to see the original and my reproduction
Pete wanted the guard thicker than the original though.
he will change things from time to time as you
can see from the others your making sheaths for.

My Reproduction of a George Wostenholm,
Indian Stag, Double Edged Bowie
http://www.kynd.com/~graydg/knife154.html

Also,, Bruce I have a formula you can use to get the right
sizes even if you only have just one measurement
to go by this helps because some of the bowies
are at an angle when the picture was taken, this
will through them off from a blown up copy.
 mail me if you'd like to have it..can help with these..
 
dan, that is one fine bowie, by the way, you last update at the bottom of the page is dated march 28th 4002, which is two thousand years from now. :D
 
Thanks Dan,Now I know why the double plung lines..Alex Daniels has given me his formula for getting the size of the knife from just one measurement,But if you would like to email me yours that would be great,never get enough info on this stuff if you know what i mean..
Bruce
 
Thanks Laurence or do they call you Larry?
the Java on the pages are old some browsers read it that way.
  Will do Bruce..
  back to the future>>>>>>>>>>>>:)
 
Bruce, I have a quickie way to get measurments from a picture. If I have a measurement say length, I scan the picture in the computer. Pull up Adobe photoshop and cut the pictire at the edges that I have the measurement from. For instance if it is length overall, I cut the exact tip and rear of the picture. I don't worry about the rest. I paste the picture in a new file and change the image size th the exact length. Print it and you should have an faithful reproduction of the origional. (barring distortion). You can even cut the picture out and scribe around it for profiling.
 
That will work in some cases Peter
but these old bowie rite-ups will sometimes
only have the blade length and that's it,
and the picture will have the blade towards you.
this will give you a big misconception of sizes.
I do use copier % increments but it's only good
in it's place..
 just my opinion..:confused:
 
Well, it may be just your opinion but it is correct. That's why I said barring distortion. It is the best system I've been able to come up with though. I used to sith there with a scale trying to figure all the angles but I've had better results with the scanner. As you pointed out though, it works best with a full side view. I'd be interested in how the rest of you do it. There has to be a more accurate way, I just haven't found it.
 
Over at Bernard Levine's forum, he said that all the photo's in the antique Bowie knife book and others, have been purposely distorted/altered, to throw off fakers.
I can see some of the reasoning, but I feel conned. I would rather deal with the fakes/fakers, and get accurate photo's.
It's like altering history. It just ain't right.:mad:
 
You could go to your local art/office supply store and buy a 'proportion wheel'
In the old BC (Before Computer) days we'd use it to size photos.
If you know one measurement, ie: blade length in the photo (3") and off the spec sheet (7"), you set the wheel so the 3 and the 7 line up. Then any other measure from the photo will be in proportion on the wheel :D And the % will be in a little window, so you can use your copier to blow up the photo accurately. It is a pain to work with fractions, so if the sizes are small, I'll go to a metric ruler, then use inches after it is blown or drawn up.

This won't work well for foreshortened photos, just shots from the side. I think that is where the 'altered' photos in the books are from. Not that I know for sure, it just seems logical to me.

Having said that...
That is one scarey lookin knife!
It reminds me of a big angry boar, ready to charge :eek:
Great job!
 
Ebbtide, no, they were deliberately altered. Go over to the BRL forum and do a search on "the gambler", the first postings by him in the BRL forum, is the thread that, that info was posted, by BRL.
 
The way I have looked at reproducing a knife from the old days is like this...They were forged and thus probably not all exactly the same size to begin with and hand ground thus another possibility for a error and thus a little shorter blade..Then when it was bought and used it may have allot of steel taken off from repeated sharpenings or a broken tip that was fixed or any number of things like that.Then when these pictures are taken and the Blades distorted a little,they could be exactly the same as when the knife was new and not no when it is old an used.So I just try and get the proportions correct and work it up as close as possiable with the measurements given.This way I cannot be accuesed of making a reproduction that someone tried to rip someone else off with...I figure that there were enough slite differences in the old knives that a little now could be the same as then..I may be wrong but that is my theory..
Bruce
 
Bruce, I don't want you to think that I was casting doubt on your methods, or your intentions. I like this knife a lot.
Merely pointing out what I found out about the photos. Actually, I was quite shocked to discover that they were all deliberately altered. :eek:
 
Lots of good reading in BL's forum. I got sidetracked with all of the interesting stuff there ;)
It's a shame that the publishers feel that it is necessary to 'alter history' And it is also sad that the profiteers would be producing fakes. But I guess that is what makes the world go 'round :(

Personally, I prefer the repro of a style, not a particular knife. This way the bladesmith gets to put some of his own art into the piece. An artistic interpetation, if you will.

This thread has taken an interesting twist, I love it when I learn something new :D
 
MJH...I hadn't even thought that;)

Alex Daniels has been trying to drive into my head for two years now that The best that can be done is get real close anyway,this is due to the fact that all the knives the old cutlers produced are not still around for us to look at and thus who knows if they didn't do some a little different anyway.He also told me a long time ago that the measurements in the Bowie Knife Book were not correct to keep people from making rippoffs,I feel if a man is good enough to reproduce one of these old Bowies that close he should be prouder of his work and want to put his name on it.And if he is that good the high prices will come to him anyway...But some people think they will make more money by making counterfits and that is just the way it is I guess...

If you really want to reproduce a old Bowie you would be better off to go to were you can handle some of these and get the true measurments yourself,but that can be expensive and time consuming plus there are allot of these in collections that most of us won't ever get to see in real life...I hope this doesn't keep new makers or old from trying these old styles as they are allot of fun,look great,and you can learn allot from each of the older masters when making one of these.That is why I Love them so much.They have that classic elegance of a time I will never know but can be a small part of now..

I look at the old knives in a way most now probably don't.I feel these were born in a time that a knife could mean the difference between life and death from any number of reasons,They were put to the test and have stood the test of time.And in this modern day when we have been having all the troubles we have and could possibly have to revert back to depending on a knife as a tool and weaponn to survive,I would rather go with what has worked for so many years and saved any number of lives.Plus they don't all have that ferosious look when seen by someone when it is being carried but instead causes a interest from others,but when the chips are down and the knife is called upon it will be there and ready for whatever action it may be called upon to take..
There is a reason the bowie knives have survived all these years and it isn't just that they looked good..
I hope all this long windedness of mine makes sense.:)
Bruce
 
The old time bowies was to be
 broad enough to paddle with,
 sharp enough to shave with,
 heavy enough to chop wood for the camp fire,
and to protect you if your black powder got
wet and your rifle miss fired. and god for give
if you wounded a bear with that one shot chance.

very interesting
 Most the one's
 I make for Pete is with thinner steel per his request
guards maybe thicker , and other things done, he's
the boss..
 I have my name on them and on the literature made
as a reproduction.
 I do pride myself in getting as close as possible
other wise if let to do so.

 In doing these one does find that the measurements are off
 some time ago I did one the with the spec's of the knife,
the handle was about 1" short
 so along with what Bruce offered we do our best..
this is the formula I use.
 My son Scott a math major, came up with it for me..
pretty standard use.

                AL/B x W of B/P
    Wa =        L of B/P

AL/B is known length of blade
 times the width of the blade in the picture
 devised by length of blade in the picture.
 leaving you with the actual width of the blade

 I take the mid point of the blade for the
(picture)P measurement then I'll do the same
for the handle if the size isn't listed.
 this should raise a question?
 I'll do a tutorial soon on it if it's wanted.
 There are many ways to come up with
something close to right.
this is the way I do it.

 this is just one way and with adjustments
 because of fore or aft shots of the pictures.
 
That is about the same way to figure out the dimensions that Alex gave me to go by..
Just as long as it is as close as possiable and the customer likes it..And that is the bottom line to it,the customer that is paying out the money,If they are not happy nobody is happy..
Bruce:D
 
Dan thanx for the description, I'll be quoting that in the future.
Kudos to the math major, just that little bit reminds me of why I went to art school ;)
Wally :D
 
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