Caiaphas Ham Bowie knife reproduction

[Storm Crow]

I just completed this knife for a customer and it's ready for knifemaker Luke Swenson to make a sheath for it. This is a reproduction of the Caiaphas Ham knife that hangs on the wall of the Long Barracks at the Alamo, just a couple of miles or so from my shop. Ham was a friend of the Bowie brothers, and was given this knife by the knife nut of the family, Jim's brother Rezin. No one knows for certain what the knife used by Jim Bowie in the Sandbar Fight looked like, but the description given (guardless butcher knife made from an old file, overall length no more than 12 inches) seems to match fairly dead-on with the Ham Bowie, leading me to speculate that there is a slim chance that the Ham Bowie and the Sandbar Fight Bowie may well be one and the same. I don't know if anyone else holds this theory, though.

The customer wanted the knife not only for its historical interest, but because he recognized the value of its shape in processing out game.

There is a good picture of the original on page 79 of the June 2011 issue of Blade magazine, showing both a profile view and a good view of the spine, showing how it is pinched in and how the tang tapers. I had it open while working on the knife in order to get as close to the original's shape as I could. I also had a picture that the customer sent me and some basic dimensions graciously provided by one of the Alamo's upper curators.

This reproduction is forged from 5160 spring steel, filed by hand, differentially hardened in vegetable oil, and given multiple tempering cycles. The handle slabs are mesquite, with brass pins offset like the original. This was actually the first slab handle I have done! The blade shaves hair quite nicely.

Although I tried to get as close to the original as I reasonably could, I'm sure Luke will be making a much better sheath than the original.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Great work. Would you mind giving the dimensions you used for this knife? I'd like to try one myself. Also what did you handle it with? Thanks.


Darrin

 

[Shadows]

Raw/frightening Good job.

 

[Storm Crow]

Woops, missed the question!

The blade is 8 1/4" long, 1 3/4" wide, with a handle about 4 3/4" long. The handle is a bit longer than the original, but should fit the average hand better. The wood is mesquite with a red mahagony stain.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Storm Crow]

Here's the sheath that Luke Swenson made for it. Gorgeous work on his part, as is typical.

With the customer's permission, I am quoting his comments to me about the knife:

"I was absolutely stunned when Luke finally let me have the knife at Ron's house. He tried to get me to beg for it, but I didn't mention the knife until he said he had better let me see it. He also told me that if I wanted a knife with a full sized handle that he could make one. He made a very nice sheath and steel pouch for it also. It is a beautiful package.
I love the knife and showed it to everyone who would stand still at EOTW. You have certainly outdone my expectations.
One day a storm rolled in with rain and lightening and I noticed a hole in the debris hut I was staying in at EOTW. Out came the knife and I cut some hay and patched the roof. Also I was prep cook for Dave Dennis and did a lot of slicing and dicing. It functioned exceptionally."

That's exactly what one likes to hear from a customer! Thanks, Dave, and enjoy!

P.S. - The "full sized handle" crack from Luke is because the handle of the original is very short, only 4" long, and I made this one 4 3/4", still shorter than I typically do, but in pretty close proportion to the original.

 

[Wild Rose]

Very nice repro (even with the minor changes)
as to the Sand Bar knife - well Rezin described it as follows:

"The length of the blade was nine and one-quarters inches, its width one and one-half inches, single edged and not curved"

not quite the same size or shape Ham Bowie but more like the Searles style which in the end is really nothing more nor less than a typical French style butcher knife fancied up......

as for the Ham Bowie
"The knife presently on display in the Alamo Long Barracks Museum is attributed to Rezin Bowie as a presentation piece given to Cephas Ham. Ham was a companion and friend of the Bowies and a member of the party who searched for the fabled San Sabá mines in 1831. The Knife has a 8 - 1/4" blade with no guard a very crude clip point and checked wooden scales, made from an old file it still shows some of the files surface. The Alamo has almost no documentation on this blade only that the donor claimed it was given to Ham about 1834 making it another chapter in the Bowie legend."

bottom line until we get a time machine the question will be unanswered what exactly the Sandbar Fight knife actually looked like...............but in the meantime it's fun to imagine one way or the other....