Estwing Drop-Forged Bowie, Best Navaja Fighter Ever Made

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They are a decent company that makes decent tools. I think many of us have hammers and hatchets made by them and they work fine. They have reasonable prices and make products in the USA. Also, they are not alone in using the forging marketing hype. Most of us just block that out.

That said, that handle looks terrible. Sure, I haven't held it, I also do not think that I want to. The blade shape doesn't look bad but that handle is another story.

Also, the edge is not forged in. Even forged tools have edges ground to final shape.

I am glad you like it. That is all that really matters.
 
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bearfacedkiller said:
They are a decent company that makes decent tools. I think many of us have hammers and hatchets made by them and they work fine. They have reasonable prices and make products in the USA. Also, they are not alone in using the forging marketing hype. Most of us just block that out.

That said, that handle looks terrible. Sure, I haven't held it, I also do not think that I want to. The blade shape doesn't look bad but that handle is another story.

Also, the edge is not forged in. Even forged tools have edges ground to final shape.

I am glad you like it. That is all that rally matters.
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All it says in the literature is that they are hand sharpened. It doesn't say anything about hand ground secondary bevels, or how thick they are BTE.
You know, stuff that we knife enthusiasts would be interested in because they actually affect the performance of the knife.

Would you pound hammers all day with the ball end of a ball pien hammer?
Not if you knew there were better hammers (for that task) out there.
 
Estwing makes some great stuff...but it's basically only their old stuff that's the good stuff. The past several years they've come out with models that look like they were designed by enthusiastic interns who have never spent more than an hour or two unsupervised in the woods. I love the fact that they're coming out with new, modern designs for the sporting and outdoors markets...but the actual designs themselves? Not so much.
 
I remember going to the Estwing website to peruse their hammer selection and see what new they had to offer a while back. I saw "knives" listed. Immediately visions of a simple but sturdy and well made clip point blade with a simple but well thought out overmolded or stacked leather handle (similar to what their hammers and hatchets feature but tweaked a bit for a knife handle) and all for a reasonable price popped into my head. With great anticipation, I clicked to view this marvel that would likely soon join my collection...

And then I saw that...

For my personal taste, there's not much more a knife design could get wrong. Really low saber grind, recurved blade not long enough to be a serious chopper.... And that.... That handle....:(

It was all very traumatic. Elation and excitement changed to shock and bitter disappointment at 4G speed. Like expecting a delicious bacon cheeseburger and biting into a dog turd... with no bacon... Seeing it again, it still makes me sad to think of what might have been.

As far as drop forged vs milled from flat stock, I'll leave that argument to those more versed in the nuances of metallurgy than I. Once you get to the point of "can't break it without intentionally trying specifically to break it... and you'd better pack a lunch and bring specialized tools if you decide to try" as many stock removal knives are these days, potential added strength ceases to matter to me any more.
 
I have nothing I can say about the potential quality of this knife because I don't like solid steel swinging and have never owned an estwing tool. I'm a hickory handled Vaughan & Bushnell guy.
All I know is what I see which to me is extremely ugly with a handle that I know would never agree with my hand.

If you like it that's cool and congratulations for finding you're perfect fixed blade, but you can get upset when nobody else likes it.
 
hexenjager said:
I remember going to the Estwing website to peruse their hammer selection and see what new they had to offer a while back. I saw "knives" listed. Immediately visions of a simple but sturdy and well made clip point blade with a simple but well thought out overmolded or stacked leather handle (similar to what their hammers and hatchets feature but tweaked a bit for a knife handle) and all for a reasonable price popped into my head. With great anticipation, I clicked to view this marvel that would likely soon join my collection...

And then I saw that...

For my personal taste, there's not much more a knife design could get wrong. Really low saber grind, recurved blade not long enough to be a serious chopper.... And that.... That handle....:(

It was all very traumatic. Elation and excitement changed to shock and bitter disappointment at 4G speed. Like expecting a delicious bacon cheeseburger and biting into a dog turd... with no bacon... Seeing it again, it still makes me sad to think of what might have been.

As far as drop forged vs milled from flat stock, I'll leave that argument to those more versed in the nuances of metallurgy than I. Once you get to the point of "can't break it without intentionally trying specifically to break it... and you'd better pack a lunch and bring specialized tools if you decide to try" as many stock removal knives are these days, potential added strength ceases to matter to me any more.
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They actually made said knives a long long time ago, not sure when but probably before the 60's
 
Hickory n steel said:
They actually made said knives a long long time ago, not sure when but probably before the 60's
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One example:

vintage-estwing-fixed-blade-knife-leather-handle-original-sheath-from-finland-7a94627652e65d280e4c1b6af92185da.jpg
 
marcinek said:
Yeah, not enough stacked leather handles out there. The Fallkniven NLs are sexy as all get out but pricey...
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I agree. I really like that series. I'd like to have an NL 1 and 5 for sure and probably a 2, but that kind of money would buy a lot of old Westerns and the like, so I haven't been able to bring myself to pull the trigger on any of them.
 
marcinek said:
Did they make that, or contract out someone to make that for them (which, I suspect, they are doing for this Bowie thing).
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It's possible they contracted out on those. I think the current one-piece jobbies are being done in house, but I do know that at one point they had EKA folders with their logo on them.

Estwing-EKA-Folding-Locking-Pocket-Knife.jpg
 
LOL...the handle doesn't look all that bad to me. It's not going to be a good whittler but I think this is more of a beater knife anyway. What's funny is everyone making fun of it and yet there's thread after thread of horribly done handles on pocket knives costing 10 times as much and not so much as a peep about it. In fact everyone seems to think they're awesome. I guess the estwing isn't pretty enough for the man jewelry crowd. :D
 
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