"Bowie" with brass strip along back spine

Culpeper

Culpeper

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Does anyone know of a source of a "Bowie" style knife employing a brass strip along the back spine? I saw an actual one like this from the 1830s at the Texas History Museum recently. This particular knife was owned by a Texan that was present at The Battle of San Jacinto. Interesting note on the Bowie display at
The Alamo. During the 1830s the Arkansas State Legislature passed a law stating that anyone killing another person with a "Bowie" or "Arkansas Toothpick" style knife would be charged with Homicide no matter the circumstances. I was also shocked to see that The Alamo gift shop was selling cheap China style "Bowie" knives. The Alamo is sacred ground by state legislation and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas should be ashamed of themselves.
 
Case had a Bowie with a brass strip on the spine at one time. I've had mine for twenty years or more, so I don't know if you could find one other than on eBay.
 
yablanowitz said:
Case had a Bowie with a brass strip on the spine at one time. I've had mine for twenty years or more, so I don't know if you could find one other than on eBay.
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This is very similar to the design of the knife I saw at the Texas History Museum.

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That's one of those questions that's shrouded in mystery. You might want to ask in the Bernard Levine forum, or a search there. Lots of supposed reasons, but it's probably just decorative. One popular theory that I don't believe for a second, is that it could be used as a blade catch to disarm your opponent. :barf:
 
Walking Man said:
One popular theory that I don't believe for a second, is that it could be used as a blade catch to disarm your opponent. :barf:
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Hahaha. Reminds me of a King of the Hill episode, where they find indian artifacts in their lawn. Bobby asks Hank what one of them is (it was a tool to make arrow shafts) and Hank surmises that it was a weapon used to stab the head of a white man.

But I'd be inclined to agree that it's decorative. Not my cup of tea, but certainly different.
 
Is it not traditionally called a parrying strip, a softer metal for which to parry your opponent's blade. I like them, I'm getting a custom replica of the Musso only in damascus and with mokume fittings which includes that. I think it has some practicalities :D
 
The idea of the brass strip on the back of the bowie knife is that an opponent's blade would dig into the soft brass and not slide off, giving you a moment to act while your opponent's blade is hung up.I never heard of any instance where that actually worked though.
 
fudo said:
The idea of the brass strip on the back of the bowie knife is that an opponent's blade would dig into the soft brass and not slide off, giving you a moment to act while your opponent's blade is hung up.I never heard of any instance where that actually worked though.
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That is true.
 
legendaryarms_1962_15553815


This looks like the one I saw at the Texas History Museum in Austin (above). Of course, it is ugly but these are what they were using in the 1830s. The ones I saw by Rezin Bowie look like large kitchen knives (below).

little_knife.jpg
 
Culpeper said:
legendaryarms_1962_15553815


This looks like the one I saw at the Texas History Museum in Austin (above). Of course, it is ugly but these are what they were using in the 1830s. The ones I saw by Rezin Bowie look like large kitchen knives (below).

little_knife.jpg
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Some think not.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Some think not.
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The one at the Museum definitely belonged to an officer in the Texas militia and this particular dude was at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. That Bowie above is a cheap near exact replica of what I saw at the Museum right down to the simple wood handle. No doubt about it. So, they were around at the time. But I also saw several different types of large knives used by Texans during that same period that did not look like this one.
 
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Cougar Allen said:
If you poke around Bernard Levine's Knife Collecting & Identification and other places where experts congregate you will soon feel less definite about that.
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I saw what I saw. The Texas History Museum would never put a forgery on permanent exhibit in a glass case just so I would get a hard-on. And I would tell the experts to go look at it and tell me different with the Museum curator present. Don't mess with Texas!:)
 
Randall made one years ago. A REALLY neat one. The back of the blade was ground out and a brass filler was WELDED along the entire area. Sort of a ONE PIECE steel and brass bowie blade.
Very rare.
Featured in Blade Magazine once.
neat.

They had to quit making them because the only guy who knew how to do it either died or retired and no one else could do the weld.
 
Culpeper said:
I saw what I saw. The Texas History Museum would never put a forgery on permanent exhibit in a glass case just so I would get a hard-on. And I would tell the experts to go look at it and tell me different with the Museum curator present. Don't mess with Texas!:)
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Highly reputable museums have been fooled many times with fakes. Texas museums are no exception. You can dig in your heels or take Cougar's suggestion. Don't make no never mind to me -- or anyone else here, I suspect.
 
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