Input sought on my bowie

[David Stifle]

I recently finished this bowie, but after awhile realized I wasn't happy with it. In one place, the hamon dips fairly close to the edge, so I've decided to do another heat treatment to try for a better placed hamon. With that said, it also gives me a chance to do a re-design...new guard and handle. The guard now is a fileworked wrough iron, and the handle slabs are black paper micarta. I put quite a bit of work into the handle, fileworking both the handle and brass spacers, but I'm just not sure it works for me. I'm thinking of a stainless guard and framed handle, perhaps with ironwood, ebony, or, one of my favorites for bowies, wenge wood. I sure would appreciate your thoughts. Did I get it right the first time, or should I do something new? Oh, the blade itself. I was shooting for a rough forged spine with highly polished bevels, and that is what I did. I'm not sure that works either. So, what do you guys think?

 

[tryppyr]

Seems a bit "busy" to me. File work, fullering, hamon, texturing... all in one knife. A lot of good ideas, but when you put them all in one place, each competing for attention, it becomes distracting.

 

[David Stifle]

Hummm, ok Greg. Thanks. But, the only thing I can un-do is the textering, which I've been thinking about doing.

 

[kwakn]

Since you asked for opinions, and we all know about opinions and body parts, here's mine. I will add to Tryp's comments with some specifics of what I 'see' but please know that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I like the file work on the spine the whole way down the handle but can see where the file work on the outer rim of the gaurd may conflict. I like the brute de forge but the blood groove competes with it. I like the handle contours, wood selection/color and don't see conflicts there. As a process comment, again only my opinion, change one variable at a time and start with the low hanging fruit.

Ed

 

[David Stifle]

Thanks Ed,

I appreciate your thoughts. All good solid input and I like your comment on changing one variable at a time.

 

[Patrice Lemée]

The guard is a little on the thick side for my taste but that said, I still like how everything looks together. My advice would be to leave it as is and move on to other projects. I myself sometimes have trouble letting go and calling a knife done but eventually you have to.

 

[David Stifle]

I have the same problem, and I'm torn between changing it (a lot of work), or leaving it as is and moving on. Thanks, Patrice. I appreciate your advice.

 

[RyanW]

I will add my .02 Cents... The ricasso is wider than the handle which to me looks off. i realize this is not a hidden tang.

 

[David Stifle]

I see your point. When seen in person the handle does dip down to evenly meet the ricasso. But I'll have to think on this. Thanks for your comment.

 

[gotmike]

i'm no professional builder... but i've done a bit of art before and while the craftsmanship looks top notch the visual weight of the piece looks unbalanced... a nice heavy large blade... and a small handle... you make a point of balance out of the gaurd, and while it shouldn't be balance by weight there... visually it makes the handle look smaller than it is... that being said it's hard to judge something like that from just a series of pictures... the pictures tend to draw your eye to the focal points of the part your photographing... so the little details seem like major focal points... if i were standing there holding the piece then it may be viewed completely different... but if you really don't like it i'll pm you my address and i'll dispose of it for you... lol...

overall i do like the piece... just because it's not the usual bowie knife...

 

[12345678910]

i'm no professional builder... but i've done a bit of art before and while the craftsmanship looks top notch the visual weight of the piece looks unbalanced... a nice heavy large blade... and a small handle... you make a point of balance out of the gaurd, and while it shouldn't be balance by weight there... visually it makes the handle look smaller than it is... that being said it's hard to judge something like that from just a series of pictures... the pictures tend to draw your eye to the focal points of the part your photographing... so the little details seem like major focal points... if i were standing there holding the piece then it may be viewed completely different... but if you really don't like it i'll pm you my address and i'll dispose of it for you... lol...

overall i do like the piece... just because it's not the usual bowie knife...

I see that too.

I would peel the handles and ditch the brass spacers
then work the guard down to eliminate that file work, maybe give it some radius and keep it plain, let the pretty WI pattern show through.




but all that still leaves your handle lookin small.

A frame handle gives you a chance to get the spine top inline with the handle top.


I agree, I'd skip the fuller next time too/



That's some you can fix, some you can't...

 

[David Stifle]

GotMike, you are right. The blade is 12" inches long and almost two inches wide. A very big bowie that was built more or less as a heavy chopper. At the time I made it, I liked the smaller handle. This approach has been used before for a good visual effect, i.e., the musso bowie. And, while I do still like it, if I do re-heat treat and re-design it, I would put a framed handle on it that would visually match the blade better. And, thanks for the complement.

Numbers, I didn't see your post before I replied to GotMike. Thanks for your comments as well. I'm getting some really good feedback and I appreciate it.

 

[SunsetFisherman]

For the amount of work involved you can make another, and always have the old one to look at and see the things you should or shouldn't repeat.

 

[David Stifle]

true, but everytime I looked at it I wouldn't be satisfied. it's a hard choice, and I'm going back and forth.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

David,
I sat back and let the others post their comments. I will say that I agree with all of them.

The knife is good in all the concept areas. The problem is that there are too many concepts going on. It needs to be simplified, or it creates visual overload.

Take off the handle and change the guard to something that matches the rustic look of the blade. A simple WI oval would be good....no filework.
Bring the ricasso up a bit to make it have more width contrast to the blade, and more width match to the handle.
Replace the handle with a simple shape with a slightly dropped butt. I would omit the brass liners. You might even consider grinding the tang down into a stick tang.

The knife is really nice, it just needs some continuity.

 

[David Stifle]

Thanks Stacy, I'll be working on the knife this weekend. I appreciate your comments as well as all the other folks. This was a good eye opener, and I'm glad I asked for input. I'll post pics of the new and improved version soon.

 

[Erin Burke]

David,
The other folks have all given you a lot to think about in the design elements of this knife... and I agree with most of them, but... I think that Patrice best voiced my opinion.

My advice would be to leave it as is and move on to other projects. I myself sometimes have trouble letting go and calling a knife done but eventually you have to.

The only part of your knife that would make me consider "re-doing" it would be the HT. If you feel that the hamon comes too close to the edge in a way that will be detrimental to it's performance as a knife, then re-HT and re-build. Otherwise, put it in the box of lessons learned... start from a clean slate.

As a side note... this actually looks like a cool, well-made knife from here. Yeah, there are a few design elements that could be tweaked, modified or deleted... but I know there are folks on this forum who would be pleased-as-punch if their best knife looked as good as this one does.

Best wishes whatever you decide to do. Looking forward to seeing what you turn out next. :thumbup:

Erin

 

[daizee]

true, but everytime I looked at it I wouldn't be satisfied. it's a hard choice, and I'm going back and forth.

I've made about 40 knives and I can find a flaw in every single one, but they get steadily smaller (on average!). It's one of the things keeps me moving forward - can I do it better next time. Obviously this is the realm of personal psychology, but if I insisted on complete satisfaction with every knife at this early stage of my development I'd never finish a single one. Furthermore, the goal post of satisfaction moves as my eye, experience, and skills evolve. Learning requires repetition. I'm not a big fan of revisionist history, personally, and am happy to be able to look at my first knife and my fortieth knife and see a dozen areas of dramatic development in concept, understanding, execution, and style. While you may be able to adjust some parameters of this blade, you can't adjust them all. Unless you don't plan to make another knife, I'd say move on to the next bowie and use this impressive beast for reference.

 

[Varga Knives]

I've made about 40 knives and I can find a flaw in every single one, but they get steadily smaller (on average!). It's one of the things keeps me moving forward - can I do it better next time. Obviously this is the realm of personal psychology, but if I insisted on complete satisfaction with every knife at this early stage of my development I'd never finish a single one. Furthermore, the goal post of satisfaction move as my eye, experience, and skills evolve. Learning requires repetition. I'm not a big fan of revisionist history, personally, and am happy to be able to look at my first knife and my fortieth knife and see a dozen areas of dramatic development in concept, understanding, execution, and style. While you may be able to adjust some parameters of this blade, you can't adjust them all. Unless you don't plan to make another knife, I'd say move on to the next bowie and use this impressive beast for reference.

Very well said and a philosophy I'm going to take to heart as I move forward.

 

[David Stifle]

I'm bringing this post back to show you guys how the knife finally ended up. I took the handle off, re-ground the blade to a full flat, re-clayed it and did a new heat treatment. The hamon this time was higher and when brought to a 2000 grit came through nice and clear. I then did a new guard from 416 stainless and gave it a new handle of leather spacers and polished bone with a pommel of 416 SS. It's now a true fighter, much lighter, and well balanced at the plung line. Hope you guys like it. As always, I appreciate your input.