bowie saw teeth on spine?

All I can say about John Fitzen is that he and his buddy "nutnfancy" are clowns.
Is youtube the best source for historical information?
 
ac1d0v3r1d3 said:
All I can say about John Fitzen is that he and his buddy "nutnfancy" are clowns.
Is youtube the best source for historical information?
Click to expand...

Well...if it's on YouTube it must be true!
jpshakehead.gif
 
Ok if you guys are the all end experts. What is the true story? What is the true bowie knife? How did he and the knife become so famous?
 
Frontiersman101 said:
I am not an expert. As far as I understand it, the knives Bowie had up to a point were not bowie knives. The bowie knife is based of a blade that James Black made that was designed by Jm Bowie. The one he had in the Alamo is what is known know as the Moor bowie. Here is the first vid for the one posted before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxKHe1S6RM&feature=related
Click to expand...

I had to read that one a few times before the full weight of that statement got to me.

By that argument...the first real Bowie knife wasnt made until the 1952 movie The Irom Mistress was made...

After Paul Wellman's 1951 book on Jim Bowie was published, Warner Brother's brought the novel to the silver screen staring Alan Ladd. John Beckman, the Art Director on the 1952 film produced a unique knife design while prop maker Arthur Rhoades actually constructed the blade used in the film. The same knife was later used by Kenneth Tobey in Disney's Davy Crockett, Sterling Hayden in The Last Command, and Richard Widmark in John Wayne's The Alamo.
Click to expand...
 
Frontiersman101 said:
Ok if you guys are the all end experts. What is the true story? What is the true bowie knife? How did he and the knife become so famous?
Click to expand...

Its most likely the Edwin Forrest knife I posted below. Beefed up kitchen/butcher knife. Probably a current Old Hickory or Sabatier is infinitely closer to Bowies original knife than that yahoo in the kilt's version. Teeth. Oy. :rolleyes:

The big clip point with the guard is sheer marketing that went back to Bowies time.

But, feel free to keep on believing YouTube and the movies!
 
Here's another one close to Bowies original, but by this time Rezin Bowie's marketing of "Bowie" knives has already begun...


http://www.antiquebowies.com/antiqueBowies/historic/perkinsShively/perkins-shively.htm

His marketing led to the big clip point with the guard. Which sold better than a beefed up kitchen knife because people didn't think a beefed up kitchen knife was sexy.

They were willing to ignore historical context and common sense to buy something that looked more "tacticool".

Thank goodness that doesn't happen any more, right!?!?
 
Ok thats better. Now I have info to work with. I hope you understand I was not trying to state what you were saying was wrong. You just can go saying other people are wrong without giving logical info to back it up. I like john Fitzen and like to hear what he has to say. So that is what I heard up to now. Me and John both have dyslexia. And I know that youtube is not the best place for info, I can not learn well from reading(nor do I like to read much) So I have to rely on hearing and actually seeing something to get info.
 
Thought I would add this. It is from Wikipedia. I have know Wikipedia to be wrong before, but they usualy have good info.

Bowie became internationally famous as a result of a feud with Norris Wright, the sheriff of Rapides Parish. Bowie had supported Wright's opponent in the race for sheriff, and Wright, a bank director, had been instrumental in turning down Bowie's loan application.[26] After a confrontation in Alexandria one afternoon, Wright fired a shot at Bowie. The uninjured Bowie was enraged and tried to kill Wright with his bare hands. Wright's friends intervened and stopped the attack, after which Bowie resolved to carry his hunting knife at all times.[27] The knife he carried had a huge blade that was 9.25 inches (23.5 cm) long and 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) wide.[28]


A Bowie knifeThe following year, on September 19, 1827, Bowie and Wright attended a duel on a sandbar outside of Natchez, Mississippi. Bowie supported duelist Samuel Levi Wells III, while Wright supported Wells's opponent, Dr. Thomas Harris Maddox. The duelists each fired two shots, and, as neither man had been injured, resolved their duel with a handshake.[29][30] Other members of the groups, who had various reasons for disliking each other, began fighting. Bowie was shot in the hip; after regaining his feet he drew a knife, described as a butcher knife, and charged his attacker. The attacker hit Bowie over the head with his empty pistol, breaking the pistol and knocking Bowie to the ground. Wright shot at and missed the prone Bowie, who returned fire and possibly hit Wright. Wright then drew his sword cane and impaled Bowie. When Wright attempted to retrieve his blade by placing his foot on Bowie's chest and tugging, Bowie pulled him down and disemboweled Wright with his large knife.[31][32] Wright died instantly, and Bowie, with Wright's sword still protruding from his chest, was shot again and stabbed by another member of the group. The doctors who had been present for the duel retrieved the bullets and patched Bowie's other wounds.[33]

Newspapers picked up the story, which became known as the Sandbar Fight, and described in detail Bowie's fighting prowess and his unusual knife. Witness accounts agreed that Bowie did not attack first, and the others had focused their attack on Bowie because "they considered him the most dangerous man among their opposition."[34] The fight cemented Bowie's reputation across the South as a superb knife-fighter.[22]

There is disagreement among scholars as to whether the knife used in this fight was the same kind of knife now known as a Bowie knife. Multiple accounts exist of who designed and built the first Bowie knife. Some claim that Bowie designed it, while others attribute the design to noted knife makers of the time.[35] However, in a letter to The Planter's Advocate, Rezin Bowie claimed to have invented the knife,[36] and many Bowie family members as well as "most authorities on the Bowie knife tend to believe it was invented by" Rezin.[37] Rezin Bowie's grandchildren, however, claimed that Rezin merely supervised his blacksmith, who was the creator of the knife.[38]

After the Sandbar Fight and subsequent battles in which Bowie successfully used his knife to defend himself, the Bowie knife became very popular. Many craftsmen and manufacturers made their own versions, and major cities of the Southwest had "Bowie knife schools", which taught "the art of cut, thrust, and parry."[39] His fame, and that of his knife, spread to England, and by the early 1830s many British manufacturers were producing Bowie knives for shipment to the United States.[40] The design of the knife continued to evolve, but today a Bowie knife generally is considered to have a blade 8.25 inches (21.0 cm) long and 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) wide, with a curved point, a "sharp false edge cut from both sides", and a cross-guard to protect the user's hands.[41]
 
Frontiersman101 said:
Ok thats better. Now I have info to work with. I hope you understand I was not trying to state what you were saying was wrong. You just can go saying other people are wrong without giving logical info to back it up. I like john Fitzen and like to hear what he has to say. So that is what I heard up to now. Me and John both have dyslexia. And I know that youtube is not the best place for info, I can not learn well from reading(nor do I like to read much) So I have to rely on hearing and actually seeing something to get info.
Click to expand...

Or you can state "facts" without giving logical info to back it up. Like Fitzen did.

Maybe he's a great guy....doesn't seem to burden himself with "history" or "facts" though.

I may have found where Fitzen took his "historical evidence" from...its from this actual footage of Bowie's famous sandbar fight...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcc60Rn8U24
 
marcinek said:
Or you can state "facts" without giving logical info to back it up. Like Fitzen did.

Maybe he's a great guy....doesn't seem to burden himself with "history" or "facts" though.

I may have found where Fitzen took his "historical evidence" from...its from this actual footage of Bowie's famous sandbar fight...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcc60Rn8U24
Click to expand...

Now that was some good stuff there ! :thumbup:
 
It seems there are experts that have different opinions on this. The true fact is this all took place in the 1800s. Even though part of the story maybe fairly concrete, there are things that arn't well documented. This leaves room for people to say what they think happend. I hear people all the time that state that (EXAMPLE) "this is what happened because we have a letter or a book that says thats what happend." Well people lied back then too. So the written history could be true, or it could not be true. Every one has an opinion.
 
Frontiersman101 said:
It seems there are experts that have different opinions on this. The true fact is this all took place in the 1800s. Even though part of the story maybe fairly concrete, there are things that arn't well documented. This leaves room for people to say what they think happend. I hear people all the time that state that (EXAMPLE) "this is what happened because we have a letter or a book that says thats what happend." Well people lied back then too. So the written history could be true, or it could not be true. Every one has an opinion.
Click to expand...

I think we can all agree on this :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top