Bowie's

M

Man with no name

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Jun 24, 2015
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Other than Cold Steel, who makes a quality factory bowie designed for fighting? I'm thinking Natchez and Laredo style Bowies. Nobody comes to mind.
 
Kabar/Becker, SOG, Ontario, Bark River, Busse (though not exactly production), Randall Made Knives (again, not really mass production), Buck, Spyderco, Benchmade (119)... those are just the ones that came to me quickest... I'm sure there is more.
 
Bark River Rogue: 7.125" long blade x 0.217" spine, A2 steel, full tang, guardless, coffin handles. It's one I own in Desert Ironwood with black liners. A truly substantial knife that is well-balanced. What more can you ask for? KSF currently has some on sale. My first post here, BTW.
 
Aias' suggestion of Ontario is a good one...they make a Bagwell Bowie that "looks" very traditional and is light in hand
 
Ontario hasn't made the Bagwell in years. CS Laredo is the best production Bowie I've ever owned.
 
Muela of Spain makes very fine looking traditional Bowies with beautiful stag handles...the steel is very soft, however if you're looking for a user for camp duties and utility.
 
Kabar did a limited run of these bad boys, and there are also plenty more Humphrey Gunfighter bowies still out there (pics below)... But for the money, a Becker BK7 is hard to beat as an all around fighter/ utility. Also Kabar's 1271 and SOG's Super Bowie--specifically for fighting. Kabar's EK 45 as well... fast in the hand and great cutting geometry (with a higher grind than the USMC... which is perfectly fine in its own right).


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And this sweet blade for good measure, fast, tough, and oh so smooth...
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Man with no name said:
Nice knives Aias.

Does anybody remember the Gerber Bowie with the kraton coffin shaped handle?
Click to expand...

Yup...the original Gerber Coffin handle was a serviceable blade...the Fiskars' version is pure garbage-- hardly any tang and the handle is just a little more than "glued" onto it :thumbdn:
 
Man with no name said:
Other than Cold Steel, who makes a quality factory bowie designed for fighting? I'm thinking Natchez and Laredo style Bowies. Nobody comes to mind.
Click to expand...

At present, no one else. Ontario used to make the Bagwell Hell's Belle copies, but they've been discontinued a while back. Kabar makes some "fighters" but they're not really in the same class as the Laredo or Natchez. Muela makes some nice "bowies" but they're kind of on the small side. An 8 inch blade is a small bowie. TOPS makes some big knives, but they tend to be more on the hard use/military/tactical side, without guards. Real bowies are at least 9 to 10 inch blades, with a guard and a clip point. Oh wait, I just thought of Windlass Steelcrafts, how could I forget them? Windlass makes lots of bowies. They turn over their models every few years and the quality is kind of iffy as far as fit n finish. But the carbon steel they use is okay. A bit on the thin side though. 3/16 seems to be their standard thickness. Other than those guys, there are custom made bowies.
 
In terms of blade design I do prefer the cold steel's bowies. But in terms of steel durability and heat treat I would put Kabar's 1095 CV above Cold steels O1. Not that O1 is a bad steel but I feel that cold steels heat treat does not extract the best from it. I was surprised my Natchez sharpened @15 degree per side suffered some edge micro chipping from chopping dried bamboo.
 
Man with no name said:
Other than Cold Steel, who makes a quality factory bowie designed for fighting? I'm thinking Natchez and Laredo style Bowies. Nobody comes to mind.
Click to expand...

Windlass has a pretty deep line of Bowles. I believe they also make the Cold Steel Frontier Bowie, but I'm not certain.

Here is their primitive Bowie

9757aaf9a2b3cec7482f32b34fdafcf1.png



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I have a Kabar Big Brother,Colt Bowie,Buck 120 General,Benchmade Arvensis and a Hibben Old West Toothpick.
The Arvensis is the best of the bunch but at 6.44 inches it's hardly a Bowie other than the blade shape but its an excellent blade..
I would think the Big Brother might be the best fighting knife, it's a nice blade although I have never really used it other than for a few camp chores on one trip.
I just a knife whore that loves big blades and collects them..
 
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