Early 80's Bowie with Natural Micarta Ergo Grip

idahoskunk

idahoskunk

Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
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Here are some pics of a very early 80's Busse Bowie with Natural Micarta. It is D-2 and looks to have started out at a little under 3/16 stock. Blade measures 7 1/2" in long with an overall length of 13". It's handle is of Whitetail Micarta with a Mallard scrimshawed on the end. Nice high polish!

Also note the early attempt at perfecting the "E" grip style used today.

Jerry, do you remember this knife and would you mind a comment or two? (when you sober up)


bowiestand.jpg

bowieleft.jpg

bowieangle.jpg

bowiescrim.jpg



After looking closer I found "Jerry 1981" scratched on the bottom of the stand and the letters "DH" stamped in the right choil area.

bowiestandbottom.jpg

bowieDH.jpg
 
Idaho, That's a gorgeous D2 & stag fighter you've got there. Congrats (and LOTS of jealousy ;) ) on acquiring that beauty.
 
i think this blade profile with a full tang and real micarta would make for a great using knife. in infi it would be a good camp / cook knife or a fighter.
 
Wow!!! That is an old blade, probably 1980-1981. Check the bottom of the stand. . . it is probably marked. The knife was called "Defiance Hill". It was named after Defiance Hill where Fort Defiance was built in 1794. Here's a bit o' history about the name:

On August 9, 1794 work was started on a Fort at Defiance Hill. The fort was completed in 8 days. When "Mad" Anthony Wayne surveyed the land he stated "I defy the English, Indians, and all the devils of hell to take it." Defiance, Ohio is right up the road from here and the Indians who lived on our property were involved in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. . . Mad Anthony Wayne routed the indians and drove the British out of the area all in one fell swoop. Chief Wauseon (Wauseon, Ohio) was too young to have fought at the time. . . but he had many stories about the battle that he passed on to following generations.

The blade is D-2 and highly polished. It has an 18% nickel silver guard. It was definitely a show piece. Sadly, that Picassoesque attempt at scrimshaw was done by me. I only tried it a few times and could quickly see the writing on the wall. I refer to that as "distance scrim". . . because you have to be a fairly good distance away, for it to look good! :) The antler handle was cut from a deer that I shot in our woods about 100 yards behind the shop. It was a nice sized 28 point buck (alright it was 8 points. . .but it seemed a lot larger at the time) ;).

When I made the knife, I didn't have an etching machine, and in fact oftened stamped the initials of the knife's name in the blade. After I had purchased an etcher, the original owner sent this blade back to me (around '84 - '86) to be etched. He requested the G.P. Busse Field Grade mark instead of the Busse in logo format. I'm not sure why. I also then etched D-2 on the same side of the blade. There were less than 5 "Defiance Hill" models ever made. I had a hard time finding deer with large enough antlers! I could have made quite a few Doe handled knives though. ;)

Nice find!!!!

Jerry

Whoops! I just posted this and when I scrolled up, I saw where you posted the initials and the "chicken scratch" on the base of the stand. . . Cool!
 
Great find Idaho! :cool: :D

That's the first Busse I've seen with a stag handle.

The blade profile is exquisite! I agree, I'd love to see it used on a new model.

About the natural micarta, I actually made a handle recently of the stuff. It looks almost exactly like wood!
 
hey jerry, thank you for the history on this knife. i find it very interesting when you tie pieces of our american history in with your knives and in with your nuclear payloads. it becomes way more interesting when there is a story or history behind it.

i may have one more piece coming from the very same collector this one came from and i will be very interested in hearing about that knife also.

thanks again and thanks guys for the comments!
 
That is an incredible find! The deep dish hollow grind looks great, the high polish D@ is unusual, most makers are not able to get that kind of shine on D2.

Very, Very nice.
 
Idaho,

That particular collector has quite a collection of my old, old, blades. It will be interesting to see what else you are able to pry out out of him. . .

I've tried to get him to post some pics but he likes to keep his collection very private. I respect that, but I am very grateful to you for posting and sharing the pics of these rare pieces.

Thanks Idaho!!!!

Jerry
 
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