Iron Mistress. For the Bowie collector and user.

jimbowie said:
HAS ANYONE HEAR EVER HEARD OF A Voorhis IRON MISTRESS bowie??? if so how are they???
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JB I've heard of them but have no experience with any of his knives. He sure does nice looking work though and commands some prices too rich for my blood. His Iron Mistress rendition isn't as accurate as the ones we just got from Imperial Weapons.

Voorhis Bowie's

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Edit:
I also *Do Not* like Bowies that are hollow ground. The originals weren't and I don't think they should be today. Flat ground, Saber ground or Convex was the old methods of choice. A hollow ground edge just doesn't have the strength for use in a chopper or large size Bowie IMO. :( :grumpy:
 
Hey YVSA i think it might mention it on imperialweapons but have you ever read that article real knife v.s. reel knife in the 1991 guns & ammo annual??
 
jimbowie said:
Hey YVSA i think it might mention it on imperialweapons but have you ever read that article real knife v.s. reel knife in the 1991 guns & ammo annual??
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JB I've not read that particular article but I have read a little about the differences between the two when doing a search on Google. There wasn't a lot of info that I found there though.
 
The wood in the hilt scales of my Iron Mistress Bowie has shrunk and the rivets on one side are sticking out. Also, the wood is cracking around the rivets on that side. I called Clyde Hollis at Imperial and got his wife. She is a most gracious woman who said to pack it up ans send it back. They would reimburse me for the shipping and send me a new one immediately. I cannot ask for more than that from a dealer. Bravo!
 
Hugh it's really good to know that Imperial has the same degree of customer service that HI has. The rivets on one side of my Iron Mistress are also sticking out a little but no evidence of cracking.
As long as it doesn't crack I'll just chalk it up to natural materials and what natural material sometimes does.
 
Yvsa, I wonder if rubbing linseed oil into the wood would allow it to swell back up to be even with the rivets. My suspicion is that the shrinkage is from drying out.
 
FullerH said:
Yvsa, I wonder if rubbing linseed oil into the wood would allow it to swell back up to be even with the rivets. My suspicion is that the shrinkage is from drying out.
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Hugh some of the guys here use mineral oil for that purpose and have had varying degrees of success, definitely worth a try.
Mixing the mineral oil with a bit of mineral spirits may help it to penetrate better.
And you're exactly right, the shrinkage is from the wood drying out.
We've all had, or perhaps I should say several of us have had, the same problem with some of the wood handles on the khukuris as well as the horn.
Any natural material not fully cured or seasoned will shrink to some degree.

The linseed oil being a drying oil doesn't work as well IMO. YMMV.
 
Mine are still flush with the wood. I'm keeping an eye on them, but so far everything looks OK...
 
I received my replacement Iron Mistress Bowie from Imperial on Tuesday as they had to wait for a new bunch to come in from the Philippones. It was shipped to my home by UPS, signature required. It was delivered to my neighbor and the top of the box had been torn almost completely off. The hilt on the knife was all dented and dinged. My neighbor, one of the most honest and "square-shooting" people you could ever wish to meet swears that the box arrived that way. I called Imperial and they are going to have UPS pick it up. I am in the process of trying to arrange that right now. Meanwhile, they are sending me another.

As an aside, the hilt on the one that they sent had this blonde wood stripe down it. Clyde, the owner of Imperial, told me that the wood in the hilts of his weapons is "tiger wood" and that it has variegated colors to it. He says that it is a very much demanded exotic hardwood. I pointed out that, for reproduction bowies, I am not so certain that this is a good choice as bowies are something of an American icon and those who collect them have very definite ideas of how they should appear and tiger striped wood hilts is not included in those ideas, at least not in mine. He went though his inventory and found me one that did not have any striping to it.
 
Yvsa said:
I also *Do Not* like Bowies that are hollow ground. The originals weren't and I don't think they should be today. Flat ground, Saber ground or Convex was the old methods of choice. A hollow ground edge just doesn't have the strength for use in a chopper or large size Bowie IMO. :( :grumpy:
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I must agree with you that I greatly prefer flat or convex grinds on bowies over hollow grinds. I feel they are more suited to the task.
However, I have seen lots of origionals that were hollow ground. They were ground on huge wheels though, so the hollow was very shallow; practically a flat grind. Though again, these were mostly of the later era made in Sheffield. The early American ones may (likely) have been different.
 
I picked up my replacement Iron Mistress last night and it is perfect in every way. After the one that UPS destroyed, Imperial shipped me another and had UPS pick up the damaged one.

They are very good people with whom to deal, in my experience.
 
Great knife Yvsa. Being from Texas, i have a fondness for bowies and like both the Iron Mistress and the Musso. My favorite though is the model made by Sword and Stone for the recent "Alamo" movie with Billy Bob Thornton. Go to http://www.swordandstone.com/credits.html and click on "Alamo". Of course this is a movie prop that, as far as I know, is unobtainable. Enjoy your Iron Mistress!:thumbup:
 
Essentially, the prop knife for the movie, "The Alamo," is the Musso Bowie, but full-sized. Atlanta Cutlery makes a version of this knife, but I bought one and was not very taken with it. If you order one from them, pay the extra $15 to have them sharpen it as it has a rebated edge for re-enacting or whatever. And the sheath looks like something from K-Mart.
 
When you increase the length of a blade by almost 3" you no longer have the same knife even though other features may be similar. Relative proportions are changed resulting in, to my eye, quite a different appearance. Both knives under discussion are, of course, replicas of the actual Musso bowie owned by a historian in California. Have a look at Yvsa's replica at http://www.imperialweapons.com/knives/Ip-201.html. A very fine blade indeed, but hardly the same as "The Alamo" movie prop bowie referred to earlier. Just for fun, check out the original Musso bowie at http://alamosentry.proboards24.com/...Links&action=display&thread=1081869477&page=1 as well.
 
Actually FullerH, we may have the same, or at least similar Musso replicas. I got mine at http://www.legendaryarms.com/primbowknif.html. They call it a "primative bowie", but, it at least resembles a Musso if you squint your eyes enough. Turns out it was made by Windlass Steelcraft, which is not mentioned in the ad. The blade thickness doesn't really make it up to 3/16"; probably about 1/32" short. The knife is unsharpened and the sheath sounds just like yours. I'm told the blade is unsharpened because it is made in india where it is illegal to sell or export sharpened blades. That, according to this explanation, is why Indian Khukuris are unsharpened.

This replica is visually satisfying because it gives you an idea of the size, shape and proportions of an actual primative bowie. But it is too light to have even motivated me to sharpen it. Basically, I bought it in lieu of spending a couple hundred bucks to get something closer to the real thing. If it were still available and I hadn't already spent too much money on khukuris, I would opt for the Imperial Musso replica. Too many "ifs".:)
 
Have you called Clyde Hollis at Imperial and asked if he has any of the Musso replicas left? Her has an800 number, so it shouldn't cost you anything. It would be worth a try.
 
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