Ebbtide
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 7,954
Having grown up on cowboy movies and TV shows, I guess it is natural that my preferred knife is the bowie.
I treat myself to a bowie a year and this year I went back to Bruce for a second knife.
Bruce and I have been exchanging e-mails since the first knife. I had done his logo and web banner and some other graphic goodies, so we were in touch alot. At the same time I was fooling around in photoshop designing blades (thanx PhilL
) for fun and sent some ideas to Bruce.
Some how I never put it together that one of my designs would actually be made. Heck, I was playin' around while shopping for my next bowie!
I've always liked the Bell bowies for their blades, but not their 'chair leg' handles...My original idea had this blade with a Price dagger style handle and a small oval guard. Bruce thought it was pretty cool and offered to make it for me when I was ready. Right there and then I decided that he was going to make this year's knife, from my design.
But!
All of the designs that I had done, were not 'just right'
If I'm gunna design it, I should be able to get it right, right?
I seached thru the old mags noting my favs & realized that it was the coffin handle that I liked in many of the pics. We were talking about old fashioned handle materials, and Bruce mentioned that ebony and ivory was an antique classic combo ( All this time I thought it was just a song).
That was the clincher, classic shape, classic materials!
After many attempts, I sent this rendering to him, and we were set to go. Note, I say rendering, because what I did was an idea. Not a blueprint. I wanted him to have a lot of input in the project because he is an artist in his own right. The proportions, details were left to him (Ah, the joys of an Art Director..."Here. Make me one of these!").
The only thing that I felt strongly about was that the spine should line up with the 'top' of the handle in one smooth line. Oh, and it should have a choil.
In the beginning we were shooting for a 'snowman' guard...but when it came time to do it Bruce realized it would've been too tall, so he did the oval guard that I had put on the first design. I think it turned out well. I especially like the fact that it is centered on the blade and not the handle.
Well here it is
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/files/art_sculptureebbtidesknifeandd
rawing.gif
I haven't been able to put this bad girl down
She balances right on the finger side of the guard. As with my other Evan's bowie it is not a chopper, it is a slicer & dicer :evil, wicked smiley: It just wants to move! The 10 incher seems to want to float around out there, this one seems to want to zip along in straighter lines...
The F&F is great, Mr. Evans is such a stand up guy he even fessed up about his "happy accident" that I thought was a cool personal touch! I would have never noticed either.
The specs:
Blade: Forged & differentially tempered 5160 @ 8 1/4" X 1 1/4" X 3/16"
Handle: Framed 5160 with ebony and ivory slabs @ 4 3/4" Stainless Steel pins
Overall length:13"
It goes without saying that she (ALL of Bruce's knives are girls) arrived plenty sharp. I usually take a shallow slash at a horizontally held sheet of printer paper, starting from a foot or so away.
When done right I end up with a long narrow triangle of paper and about 1/2" thick on the end. It passed that test fine As I use her more, I'll report more...
The false edge is ground on the face(?) side only, another throwback to the good ol'days.
He also made a Bagwell style leather sheath that is pretty sturdy. I think he really wanted to do a nickle/silver throat & tip sheath but it is supposed to be a user
It was way too cool to have my design made from scratch. I think you've spoiled me, Bruce.
Mr Evans, Bruce, Beknives is a heck of a guy to do business with, talk knives with and he make a kick a$$ bowie too!
And the biggest recommendation is the fact that I went back for a second knife.
I treat myself to a bowie a year and this year I went back to Bruce for a second knife.
Bruce and I have been exchanging e-mails since the first knife. I had done his logo and web banner and some other graphic goodies, so we were in touch alot. At the same time I was fooling around in photoshop designing blades (thanx PhilL
) for fun and sent some ideas to Bruce.Some how I never put it together that one of my designs would actually be made. Heck, I was playin' around while shopping for my next bowie!
I've always liked the Bell bowies for their blades, but not their 'chair leg' handles...My original idea had this blade with a Price dagger style handle and a small oval guard. Bruce thought it was pretty cool and offered to make it for me when I was ready. Right there and then I decided that he was going to make this year's knife, from my design.
But!
All of the designs that I had done, were not 'just right'
If I'm gunna design it, I should be able to get it right, right?
I seached thru the old mags noting my favs & realized that it was the coffin handle that I liked in many of the pics. We were talking about old fashioned handle materials, and Bruce mentioned that ebony and ivory was an antique classic combo ( All this time I thought it was just a song).
That was the clincher, classic shape, classic materials!
After many attempts, I sent this rendering to him, and we were set to go. Note, I say rendering, because what I did was an idea. Not a blueprint. I wanted him to have a lot of input in the project because he is an artist in his own right. The proportions, details were left to him (Ah, the joys of an Art Director..."Here. Make me one of these!").
The only thing that I felt strongly about was that the spine should line up with the 'top' of the handle in one smooth line. Oh, and it should have a choil.
In the beginning we were shooting for a 'snowman' guard...but when it came time to do it Bruce realized it would've been too tall, so he did the oval guard that I had put on the first design. I think it turned out well. I especially like the fact that it is centered on the blade and not the handle.
Well here it is
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/files/art_sculptureebbtidesknifeandd
rawing.gif
I haven't been able to put this bad girl down
She balances right on the finger side of the guard. As with my other Evan's bowie it is not a chopper, it is a slicer & dicer :evil, wicked smiley: It just wants to move! The 10 incher seems to want to float around out there, this one seems to want to zip along in straighter lines...
The F&F is great, Mr. Evans is such a stand up guy he even fessed up about his "happy accident" that I thought was a cool personal touch! I would have never noticed either.
The specs:
Blade: Forged & differentially tempered 5160 @ 8 1/4" X 1 1/4" X 3/16"
Handle: Framed 5160 with ebony and ivory slabs @ 4 3/4" Stainless Steel pins
Overall length:13"
It goes without saying that she (ALL of Bruce's knives are girls) arrived plenty sharp. I usually take a shallow slash at a horizontally held sheet of printer paper, starting from a foot or so away.
When done right I end up with a long narrow triangle of paper and about 1/2" thick on the end. It passed that test fine
As I use her more, I'll report more...The false edge is ground on the face(?) side only, another throwback to the good ol'days.
He also made a Bagwell style leather sheath that is pretty sturdy. I think he really wanted to do a nickle/silver throat & tip sheath but it is supposed to be a user
It was way too cool to have my design made from scratch. I think you've spoiled me, Bruce.
Mr Evans, Bruce, Beknives is a heck of a guy to do business with, talk knives with and he make a kick a$$ bowie too!
And the biggest recommendation is the fact that I went back for a second knife.
