I came across this forum by accident, and read some of the comments about two cutlers in Sheffield, Mr James and Mr Lowe, referring to their Bowie knives. I knew both these gentleman, and Ivy. Our small company used to make a variety of trade knives and James and Lowe were scale tang cutlers (amongst other things) who made up work for us. As well as making Bowie knives they were kept busy on lots of other jobs, in those days folks in the trade did not have titles as such, so I reckon they were just cutlers.
I spent far too long (according to my father) in their shop chatting and looking at Bowie knives. I remember once meeting a gentleman in their shop who was a visitor from America, I'm not sure if he was a buyer or what but they certainly told me their knives sold well in the states. I had some nice ivory pieces my Grandmother gave me, so I asked them to make me a knife. The blade was hand forged by George Watts the hand forger (virtually next door) it was ground by a Roland Swinden (I think that was the name??) I then watched as Fred James made the knife up. The blade will be around 10" and is stamped 'James and Lowe' Around 2 or 3 years later I still had some ivory left, and thought I would have another one made to match whilst the old craftsmen were still alive. Sadly Mr Lowe had indeed passed away (or retired) so the second knife is just stamped 'James' and is quite a bit bigger.
The last I remember Ivy was working alone in the workshop, but I think maybe she only kept going part time for another year at the most. George watts was an amazing character as well, he used to do work for us and I often would stand in front of his open window whilst he bashed his hammer onto solid lumps of steel, his other hand pumping the bellows. I would think the first knife was made around 1973. I will give them a clean and take some photos, they rarely see the light of day, nice though they are, I would not describe them as user friendly for walking about with.
Zelmon
ps....I know that original Bowie knives would have wooden handles, I wanted ivory as my Grandmother gave me the pieces specially
I spent far too long (according to my father) in their shop chatting and looking at Bowie knives. I remember once meeting a gentleman in their shop who was a visitor from America, I'm not sure if he was a buyer or what but they certainly told me their knives sold well in the states. I had some nice ivory pieces my Grandmother gave me, so I asked them to make me a knife. The blade was hand forged by George Watts the hand forger (virtually next door) it was ground by a Roland Swinden (I think that was the name??) I then watched as Fred James made the knife up. The blade will be around 10" and is stamped 'James and Lowe' Around 2 or 3 years later I still had some ivory left, and thought I would have another one made to match whilst the old craftsmen were still alive. Sadly Mr Lowe had indeed passed away (or retired) so the second knife is just stamped 'James' and is quite a bit bigger.
The last I remember Ivy was working alone in the workshop, but I think maybe she only kept going part time for another year at the most. George watts was an amazing character as well, he used to do work for us and I often would stand in front of his open window whilst he bashed his hammer onto solid lumps of steel, his other hand pumping the bellows. I would think the first knife was made around 1973. I will give them a clean and take some photos, they rarely see the light of day, nice though they are, I would not describe them as user friendly for walking about with.
Zelmon
ps....I know that original Bowie knives would have wooden handles, I wanted ivory as my Grandmother gave me the pieces specially
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