Fighting Bowie or...Zombie Killer

[NickWheeler]

Hi folks,




Here is another one I finished recently. I'm sure at a glance it looks like a lot of my fighters, but there's actually a little less belly in the blade, mostly because the tip is dropped much lower than what I normally do. When you combine that with the 0.340" thick blade (at the ricasso) it gives you a bowie with tremendous chopping power. (you know, like for when you need to smash in a zombie's head ) LOL

The blade has miles of distal taper in it though, so while it's beefy, it's not heavy. At least IMHO.


-Forged W2 with as forged flats
-Differentially hardened with time/temp and polished to show transitions
-416 ss guard with copper and black G10 spacers
-Stabilized Red Gum Eucalyptus handle with dome ss pin

OAL- ~15"
BL- just a hair under 9-3/4"
BW- 1-15/16" at widest point

Thanks for looking

[video=youtube;UUsq0d2ZODo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUsq0d2ZODo[/video]

 

[Mossyhorn]

That's a bad looking Bowie knife Nick. That'll do a whole lot more than slay Zombies.

 

[remy b]

Cool knife ! As usual, should I say...

I am much keener on these as-forged flats than on fully rectified ones.

As for the hamon, was it an interrupted quench in water ?

Cheers,

Rémy

 

[slickpete]

Super nice clean lines, the southern style low tip long clip is so nicely executed. someone will get really happy.

 

[peterinct]

Looks KILLER Nick. The dropped clip is very apparent and a .34 thick blade is some SERIOUS thickness.

That hamon looks incredible, and interesting tooling on the sheath.

Peter

 

[Redsnake1997]

Another Stunner Nick!!! Love this style man...

 

[Buffalohump]

Gosh darn it, that is sweet ever-loving Bowie knife perfection right there... to my eyes anyway.

Afterthought: the sheath is really cool too.

 

[JParanee]

A departure from the norm for you Nick and I really like it

I bet it achieves point like a fine Rapier and cleaves like ........ Well a cleaver

 

[RogerP]

Holy crap, izzatyoursheath?

Knife rocks too. Never picked up a Wheeler knife that felt overly heavy or poorly balanced.

Roger

 

[John White]

That is SOME hamon there, Nick, on another great Bowie.

(Second Roger's question on that sheath)

John

 

[NickWheeler]

Thanks guys

The way this knife came to fruition is an odd "round-about" type of story... :foot: but in the end, I'm glad it did because it opened up a lot of ideas about point placement on certain knives.

This blade was quenched point down into about 8 gallons of Park 50 that was mechanically agitated. I didn't have to interrupt the quench, because of the cross sectional thickness.... there's a lot of steel there! Since I know some guys don't like decimals (I don't really either ) the blade is over 5/16" thick at the guard. Taper starts just ahead of the guard.

Roger and John, yep... I'm guilty for the leather on this one. :foot:

Oh, I snapped this pic to show the point drop on this one compared to some recent patterns.

***edited OP to add dimensions***

Thanks guys

 

[John Frankl]

Sweet, as usual.

I hope this means I am somewhere higher in the lineup now

 

[ron_m80]

I like it!.

 

[JParanee]

Like I said I love to see a knife designed more around performance than aesthetics

I wish more makers would learn the advantages of radical distel taper

Knives that are the same from guard to clip are truly missing out

Great stuff

 

[Mike Quesenberry]

You don't even have to chop the zombies, just show em' the hamon, the shock and awe will kill em', lol. Beautiful work my friend.

 

[RyanW]

haha, Really, Really like this one Nick. Thanks for showing the difference with the patterns, It looks like it would really add to the power in a swing just by changing that angle!

 

[Calhoon]

I love the brute de forge texture. My favorite treatment and very subtle too... single small pin... sweet! Gorgeous wood, great sculpted handle
tremendous blade profile with extreme distal tapering. Fantastic leather work. What a package... Holy Moly

 

[billf]

The zombies better start running right now

I agree that the shape clearly enhances the "chop-ability" and I think the forged flats reinforce that.

The really cool "hamon" is a very elegant demonstration of the fact that clay is not required to produce differential structures in a blade with:

the right steel

the right profile and

the right thermal treatments

Very Cool, Nick :thumbup:

Bill

 

[Burl Source]

Another great looking knife Nick!

 

[Allen Newberry]

Cool knife! Plus, I like that you do videos of your knives. A lot for details would be hard to show otherwise.