Bowie Tang?

M

Man with no name

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I was wondering if any of the custom Bowies featured here have cable tangs? Or has any customer requested one to be included in a knife they want built? The reason I ask is because Cold Steel uses cable tangs in their Natchez and Laredo Bowies which are designed specifically as fighting knives. Cold Steel uses cable tangs to help dampen vibrations tranfered through the handle and aid in balance of the knife. Any thoughts regarding this?
 
Balance the knife? You want weight in the handle of a large blade, not less. As for "dampening vibrations" sound more like an afterthought once they made it, rather then the goal.

Sure it works but it is not anything I would brag about. Give me one piece of steel from tip to butt.
 
Most Bowie knives I have seen typically have a stick or hidden tang. I have never seen or heard of a cable tang except on the knives you mention. Sounds like they are trying make up a excuse for low build quality to me. Can't see how a limp noodle piece of cable would be better than a solid piece of steel.
 
It is a short cut and easier I believe when dealing with mass produced knives

No decent custom Bowie maker would go that route ...... at least not for me
 
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That photo of the Natchez with the cracked handle has been around for awhile. If you look closely you will notice that the cable tang is still intact. The reason for the damage is the owner of the knife was pounding on the end of the handle while driving the knife into a log. As if it was a giant nail, hence the crack. I dont think there are too many knives that could withstand such abuse.
 
Trying to use a dedicated fighting bowie as a survival knife is inviting disaster, in my opinion. The Natchez wasn't made to be a 'Rambo' knife, but as a fighter, for soft targets and green bone. You can take an arm off without too much trouble, but it's not a heavy duty chopper. And done properly, the cable tang allows for the handle to be tightened up if it should ever loosen through use.
 
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I'm on team bad idea/lazy manufacturing
 
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Seems like another gimmick from Cold Steel. I would trust the opinion and experience all the master bladesmiths (stamp or no stamp) who have been making great Bowies for years rather than Cold Steel's marketing. Joe P has used some of the very best so I'd trust him as well ;)

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The cable tang would make fitting the buttcap easier. Some guys used a pinned clevis setup that is shorter than that cable on those knives. Others use a tang that is maybe 80-85% of the length of the handle and then have a stud attached to the cap that is epoxied in place from the back end. I have used a clevis setup once or twice, but typically just thread the tang and work it until the cap fits. It is easier to do if you use a nut that tightens from the outside than when you braze the nut to the underside of the buttcap, but it doesn't look as clean.
 
"Cold Steel uses cable tangs to help dampen vibrations tranfered through the handle and aid in balance of the knife. Any thoughts regarding this?"

The above statement is savvy marketing for a bad idea IMHO. If the cable is there to dampen vibrations, the knife will fail from abuse during bushcraft duties. Similarly, their statement about balance is totally wrong - you want more steel in the handle to balance a big blade, not some flimsy cable.
 
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im a cold steel fan and really like their stuff especially the old stuff

I have a Natchez and a Laredo

STeve Garsson and I were just talking about how these bowies might be the best prouduction bowies out there

Don't get me wrong it's not that they are that good it's that the prouduction Bowie market is that bad :)

In general though they got things pretty right with them except for the cable steel tang

It's a short cut to get easy fitup ..... it's that simple

As for the comment that a dedicated Fighting Bowie can't do camp work. This is simple not true

Yes a camp chopper works better for that type of chore but a custom fighting Bowie will get through in spades

I packed a Bagwell for years all over the north country and it never came across a chore it couldn't get done with out any issue

Does anyone remember when Will York tested a Jason knight Founders Bowie against all kind of big choppers and the Knight I believe glowed

It's not fair to compare a 2 k custom Bowie to a production piece but to answer the OP

The only advantage a cable tang Bowie would have in reality is that it's simpler to put together and therefore cheaper in a prouduction piece
 
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Dwight McLemore, who wrote not one but two books on Bowies and how to fight with them, preferred a Natchez to a custom knife he had built to his own specifications. And while the Natchez and Laredo may not be $2K custom knives, they will perform well as fighting knives, their intended purpose.
Thanks to everybody who has posted.
 
Man with no name said:
Dwight McLemore, who wrote not one but two books on Bowies and how to fight with them, preferred a Natchez to a custom knife he had built to his own specifications. And while the Natchez and Laredo may not be $2K custom knives, they will perform well as fighting knives, their intended purpose.
Thanks to everybody who has posted.
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There is no accounting for tastes
 
Guys like Michael Schumacher and Valentino Rossi were supposedly very good at giving the engineers feedback on car/bike setups,cyclinder firing order, etc, but i don't know if I would've trusted either of them to cast and machine the engine block ;)
 
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