Condor Bowie Knives. Opinions And Information?

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ShinyLoveMachine

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Jul 3, 2014
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So I'm thinking of buying a Bowie knife by Condor. Most of the reviews actually seem decent for the knives that are offered by them for the price. There are two knives in particular that are catching my eye. The first knife, is called The Dundee Bowie. It's offered for between 50-60 dollars and can be seen here.
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The reviews on this knife are solid for the price, and the sheath is leather. My biggest complaint about this knife is the black coating that the knife has. I prefer a knife without a black coating, but the big advantage I see to this knife is the fact that it's 11 inches.

In total though, the bowie knife from Condor that I like even more is the 10-inch Undertaker Bowie. This knife does not have the black coating but it's unfortunately one inch smaller. Again of course it comes with a leather sheath. Both of the knives are Full Tang and seem to be good for the money. The Undertaker Bowie knife, costs about 75-85 dollars. It can be seen below.

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Since both of them are made with 1075 carbon steel, and both of them are full tang, does anyone know why the undertaker costs substantially more? What do people here think of these Bowie knives? Does anybody else here have any other Bowie knives that they recommend even for a potentially higher price? I'm looking for a Bowie knife that is at least 10 inches but preferably more, but doesn't have a black coating, that is full tang, and is decent quality.
 
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I had the dundee, it was a great knife for the price. The coating is easy to strip off if you would want to.
 
You need to remove the amazon links from the op.

As far as your question goes, check out the von tempsky bowie. It's a bit more expensive but it seems to be pretty highly regarded by everyone that has handled one.
 
Always easy to strip a knife but then you deal with rust issues.

And I would skip those condor knives and jump heads first into Busse knives. Not even a tank can hurt it and it is 100% covered by warranty for life. Want to re-pave your driveway with your Busse knife? Covered. Want to shoot your Busse knife with a gun to try and split the bullets but blew up the handle instead? Covered. Want to use it to jack a trailer onto your truck and snap blade in the tip? Covered.
 
The Condor bowie linked the Knifecenter above is 420HC, so rust is not an issue if you strip the coating.

Rich
 
Generally, I would have said that Condors have a great reputation as high-value-for-the-money beater blades but personally you're out of beater territory at $60-$85 dollars. I'm surprised to see Condors selling for that price.
 
One of my big regrets is not buying all the Condor stuff when it was unbelievably cheap. When they first came out I couldn't believe the low prices, and so I got scared off. By the time I had handled anything and realized Condors were rock solid it was too late.
 
i have many condors.....good products for the money.

i have the undertaker, is a good solid knife. fit and finish is nornal condor...not great but not bad. thier 1075 is done pretty well. good quality leather sheath. solid in all ways.

price is a tad high for what it is, but still a great using knife.
 
CondorTK seems to be trying to push themselves into the more mid range market. I for one support it, they have some great designs and I would gladly pay more for the nicer production knives in better materials.

That said, I think the only bowie they have that I like is the "Operator" bowie
 
TheDandyLion said:
CondorTK seems to be trying to push themselves into the more mid range market. I for one support it, they have some great designs and I would gladly pay more for the nicer production knives in better materials.

That said, I think the only bowie they have that I like is the "Operator" bowie
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i have the operator bowie too. decent knife, but pricey. same condor normal fit and finish, nothing great but not bad. sheath i dont really care for and wish it had the clip sharpened, but i can do that myself and im really just nitpicking.
 
Excellent information guys and I'm sorry about posting the Amazon links. I want a practical knife for chopping, but I also just think that the Undertaker Bowie looks really cool. Someone asked what I need the extra inch for and to be honest it's not necessary. It sounds like the consensus here is that the Undertaker Bowie is generally a good knife.

Then again as was stated above, for the price range of the Undertaker Bowie which is 60 to $80 you're sort of getting out of the beater price range. Besides Busse knives which I agree are excellent, can anyone recommend any higher-end Bowie knives that are similar to The Undertaker?
 
I'd go with the Undertaker as that is the one you want. Always time for a higher end chopper later.

I do understand the attraction of the bowie design as that was the style that appealed to me when I basically started out looking at big knives. The Moonshiner does work pretty well as a chopper by the way (but more similar to the BK-9), but certainly the Undertaker has the more classic bowie clip design.
 
At their present price point, I hope they no longer come with edges which require a half hour or more with file, stone, and hone to get sharp. :rolleyes: I have at least four of their knives/goloks and ALL were a pain to get sharp. :thumbsdown: I suggest, if you get one. you go with Baryonx (FortyTwoBlades here on the forum) and his special grade; I would not buy another condor any other way. :thumbsup:
 
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katanas said:
At their present price point, I hope they no longer come with edges which require a half hour or more with file, stone, and hone to get sharp. :rolleyes: I have at least four of their knives/goloks and ALL were a pain to get sharp. :thumbsdown: I suggest, if you get one. you go with Baryonx (FortyTwoBlades here on the forum) and his special grade; I would not buy another condor any other way. :thumbsup:
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yep that hasnt changed. plus they coat it with a thick clear laquer that takes more time to sharpen away to get to the steel
 
1st off, the Undertaker handle looks a little straight and smooth for chopping. One of the hazards of the "slip on guard".
I like the overall look, but as a worker... meh.

The op asked for better for a little more.
How about the now out of production Browing Crowell Barker Competition knife?
They go for about a c-note...
Mine arrived plenty sharp, shiny and with a decent sheath.

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There's one as part of a package deal on the "individual production fb" for sale forum now.

Hope a link is allowed.
http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/...ker-competition-135-shipped-for-both.1516979/

No connection with the seller, just looking to help the OP out.
 
jbmonkey said:
yep that hasnt changed. plus they coat it with a thick clear laquer that takes more time to sharpen away to get to the steel
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The clear lacquer on the blades is actually remarkably thin and it's put on there to keep them from rusting in transit from Central America and sitting in customs and storage prior to sale. Comes off super easily and protects more uniformly than oil would, with less mess.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The clear lacquer on the blades is actually remarkably thin and it's put on there to keep them from rusting in transit from Central America and sitting in customs and storage prior to sale. Comes off super easily and protects more uniformly than oil would, with less mess.
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yeah i guess. i went straight to the stones on the undertaker as it comes condor kinda sharp not real sharp. i mean kinda sharp even once the lacquer is removed.

so takes more than a few strokes to get it off and clogged my stones so i bad to clean those. which adds time. the laquer also varies per knife. some comes much thicker some much thinner. my undertaker came thicker. which you know since youre a selling stocking dealer who sells a lot of them i would assume. heck think ive bought a couple off of ya...when i bougbt the undertaker you didnt have it, but if ya did i would pay you for your fine tune the edge service. since ya do a great job for a couple of bucks and well worth the few bucks vs. my own time.
 
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