not2sharp
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 1999
- Messages
- 20,462
The US 1909 bolo is an old favorite of mine. The larger cousin of the 1910 Bolo used during the First and Second World Wars, is considered one of the best and certainly one of the most expensive machetes issued to the US military. Although, nearly 75,000 of them were produced through 1917 (Springfield Amory 17500, Plumb 58,000), good examples are starting to become rare and even well used examples are getting expensive. So a month or so back I sent Bill an original 1909 and asked him to reproduce it with one significant change. I wanted to replace the original single sided edge grind with a more conventional edge.
Often when these old veterans turn up on the market you can see that someone has struggled to get a more conventional edge on it. So accepting that as "user input," and getting the right edge on it to begin with, seemed like a good idea. The hard part, which I left up to Bill, was making the change while keeping the weight, balance, and profile as close to the original as possible. Anyone who has handled the 1909 knows how sweat these knives feel, and that was the key aspect I wanted to keep.
The result as you can see from the photo below is very close. If it were not for the different grip materials it would be hard to tell the knives apart simply by feel. Bill has reproduced the weight and balance perfectly, and you can judge how he did on the profile for yourselves. He even reproduced the hole in the crossguard that was originally there to help seat the knife in its leather sheath.
Yet another great Bill Siegle knife for the collection. This one sports a 14 inch blade in 1/4" 5160, a very visible temper line, and a kydex sheath that any GI lucky enough to have used the original would have appreciated.
n2s
(Picture) Plumb version of the model 1909 dated 1917 sent to Bill, and Bill's version of the 1909.
Often when these old veterans turn up on the market you can see that someone has struggled to get a more conventional edge on it. So accepting that as "user input," and getting the right edge on it to begin with, seemed like a good idea. The hard part, which I left up to Bill, was making the change while keeping the weight, balance, and profile as close to the original as possible. Anyone who has handled the 1909 knows how sweat these knives feel, and that was the key aspect I wanted to keep.
The result as you can see from the photo below is very close. If it were not for the different grip materials it would be hard to tell the knives apart simply by feel. Bill has reproduced the weight and balance perfectly, and you can judge how he did on the profile for yourselves. He even reproduced the hole in the crossguard that was originally there to help seat the knife in its leather sheath.
Yet another great Bill Siegle knife for the collection. This one sports a 14 inch blade in 1/4" 5160, a very visible temper line, and a kydex sheath that any GI lucky enough to have used the original would have appreciated.
n2s
(Picture) Plumb version of the model 1909 dated 1917 sent to Bill, and Bill's version of the 1909.