Fighting Bowies

here is the pics i promised.

made by Robert Newton. walnut handle. 17 1/2" oal with 11 3/4" blade from point to handle. comes with S-7 quillions that are removable. very fast in hand.

yes i know my pics are crappy:foot:

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Crossada... That IS BEAUTIFUL:eek: Those pics are really nice. If you have more, please post em. If not, take some more and post em:D I havnt had much luck at all finding good pics of the Crossada online. The in-hand pic is geat, really gives a good idea of dimension. MORE PICS;)

How bout some more specs.. Weight, Blade width at guard..widest, Blade width about an inch from tip.

Handling.. Hows the overall feel, Where does it balance... I know talking bout the Crossada is this prob your favorite subject, so, do tell:D:D

Yours was made by Newton.. when was it made? I knew Dozier did a run, and I heard they were currently being done by Krein, tho, not sure. Any idea who's making them. Would be awesome if someone could do a quality production version.

Awesome weapon man, Thanks for sharing.
 
I don't have much to add, but find it hard to resist a thread about bowies. I do like 'em, after all. :)

Probably the thoughts urging me to post are those about durability. Not pointing fingers here or nuthin', but if it can't be fully trusted for casual use, I can't trust it for the hardest use. I've just typed and deleted a bunch of thoughts on why, but suffice to say I can only believe an adversarial encounter involving knives has the potential to be much more strenuous on a knife than chopping some wood or brush around camp.

I've also developed some opinions on dynamic balance, and maybe one of these days if I ever get to a major show, I can see how well my thoughts match up with others on the subject.
 
thanks vikingblade, i will try and take some more pics this weekend.

this is the rare 3/16" crossada that was done as a short run. Laci Szabo says the 3/16" version is much, much faster than the 1/4" regular version and recommends it over the heavier model. Keating on the other hand likes the weighty piece saying it has the power to fight heavier weapons such as bats or swords, makes sense.

more specs:

crossguard across is 3 1/8"
across quillions is 3 1/4"
spanish notch width is 1 5/8"
inch from tip across is 7/8"
handle length is 5 3/4" with a good 4 3/4" gripping area. can use two hands dos manos.

i would guess the weight at 20 ounces or so. it balances at the quillions.

i agree with what you are saying Possum. fighting knives such as this are built to parry other steel weapons and might be hitting at odd angles taking massive shock. chopping wood is a controlled medium and would not be considered abuse imo. using this knife for utility uses though is not what it was designed for obviously, it is for dueling other men in combat.

for utility uses i prefer the fehrman hoodhunter. i will try and take a pic of it too. here is a link on what i'm talking about

http://www.fehrmanknives.com/10_hh.htm
 
Thanks Crossada, excellent info. Yes, please post more pics of your baby if you get the time;) Any idea who is making them now?

Do you happen to own an Ontario Hell's Belle or Fortress
 
currently they are not being made. Robert Newton was the last maker to make them but he is pursuing other career fields now. Tom Krein made them before Newton. Like i said Keating is close to getting a production version of this thing out but it takes time. i don't want to spill the beans on who the company is but i would be very happy with one of their knives.

i never bought a HB because i always heard how weak at the tip they were as well.

here is the Keating crossada page with lots of info

http://www.jamesakeating.com/MjkL.html
 
Made by Camillus, The Jerry Fisk OVB bowie. So delicately fast in the hand, seems so light in weight. Exquisite. You can find them under two hundred dollars.
riata
 
While not a Bowie, this one made by LR Harner would be my choice for a fighting knife.
Would buy this one if I didn't have a more massive one on order.


Sag.

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Crossada.. thanks again. A production Crossada would be fukin great. Cant wait to hear more. Whenever the beans can be safely spilt, please do so:D

Riata.. The OVB does look really nice. Heard point may be lil high for a fighter, but, it is beautiful. Id love to handle one.

Sagittarius.. that is one mean chopper. That thing would take a head off:eek:


I've been drooling over all the pics of authentic Bagwell masterpieces around here. He sure makes a beautifully deadly bowie.
 
vikingblade,
Here are a couple of pictures of my Helles Bell by Ontario. I have satin finished the blade and the guard plus I removed the studs and plate from the handle and using the shoeshine method of sanding. I sanded the handle down to get rid of the harsh corners of the coffin handle and made the blade much more comfortable to use , YMMV. Then I reinstaled all of the studs and the plate using a little superglue to insure they did not fall out later.
I really need to send it off to Mike Sastre for a Southern Comfort rig. I just hate parting with it for any amount of time.:o
 
ArchAngel... Looks awesome. The handle smoothing and satin finish job you did, makes it look like a custom piece. How does the handle smoothing change handling? Thanks for posting. I have read in past threads, about your mod work to the Belle, I was gonna actually pm you and ask for pics. You read my mind;) Do you have more pics of her..maybe high rez:D I would love to see em. You can post em, or email to me.. that shot of the whole knife on the bamboo mat, would make a great desktop background in high resolution.

CplPunishment.. The Cherokee Rose is a monster:eek: Price? Weight?
 
vikingblade,
Thanks for the compliment. I do like the way it turned out. As far as handling goes. It moves more smoothly and comfortably in the hand now. There are no sharp edges to dig into your hand while snapping the blade into a cut. I feel, for me at least that it handles more rapidly with less effort after the smoothing out.
BTW I took some high res pictures of it for you. Send me your e-mail address and I will send them out.
 
Although I'm not totally dismayed by the lack of a full tang on the Natchez I must admit I do find it a little disappointing. I just pulled my Ontario Helles Belle out and realized I don't know what kind of tang it has, it's hidden in the handle; does anybody out there know?

Like many of you I've chopped lots of wood with knives and I've sparred full on with blunted steel weapons, as for the stresses of combat versus chopping wood I'd have to say that if you're talking about stopping baseball bats or crowbars you'd probably be correct. That sort of stuff should probably destroy most of what we think of as "fighting" knives. If you're talking about knife on knife combat I don't think it's anywhere close to the same. The damage I've seen to a knife used for wood chopping wasn't to the handle but to the blade itself.

Holy Crow Crossada! What great posts you have! I can't remember if I said this before or not but the Crossada I had was just massive and it was one that Mr. Keating had signed. My problem is that I have such small hands that it was just too big in every way for me. I would love to hold one of the Double K Crossada's but from the way you describe it it still sounds like it's too much for me.

I just pulled out my HB because like ArchAngel I also modified the handle. First I took off all the brass. Then I rounded off all the sharp edges and corners. Next, right at the angle of the coffin point on the bottom rear of the handle I cut two finger grooves to fit my third and little fingers, one groove on each side of the point of the angle. Finally, since I hate the feel of that fakewood I wrapped the handle with Wilson H2Overgrip from the guard into the first finger groove. This has greatly improved the grip for me. My teacher has considerably larger hands and it has spoiled the grip for him.

I'd have to agree that the point looks really vulnerable, but the edge doesn't feel thick to me and it's hair shaving sharp. The blade is flat ground out of, what my tape says, is 1/4" stock. It is definitely much more of a poker than a chopper although I wouldn't want to get hit with a good committed slash or snap cut from it.
 
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here is a pic of my fehrman hoodhunter 10 and busse mr. mofo. these are more suited to the woods than a true fighting bowie like the crossada. they generate good power from speed instead of weight esp. the fehrman.

it does not have a sharpened clip but since Ron Hood designed it as a wilderness survival knife and fighter second it probably would get in the way for utility chores like batoning.
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for training purposes and building strength i like the iron minds wrist reinforcer. it will make the heaviest blade feel light when you do some defensive/offensive flow drills with this. i picked it up from Laci at szaboinc.com. you can add as much weight as you can handle.

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Hi Crossada,

Where can one buy this Fehrman hoodhunter 10? Cannot find any info in internet. Or are there any alternatives to a knife of that kind of shape and size?
 
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