Joker Bowie

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Dav1

Joined
Mar 2, 2022
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I love these as very traditional looking, I've no problem with the steel used (1.4116 iirc) similiar to 420hc? As for a traditional larger blade it's absolutely fine ime.

Does anyone have any experience with a Joker Bowie, FnF, steel etc...?
 
I have a Joker Nomad in N695 steel with a convex edge. It is deceptively sharp. So far it has been a great knife. Really good build quality. However 420hc would make me think twice before buying. There are better steels.
 
4116 is a kitchen knife steel. I don't have a problem with it, but it gets generally looked down upon on BF.
If it works in the kitchen, why won't it work elsewhere?
 
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got this one and another like it, different scales. good knives for what I paid for them while back. steels okay..not as good as Bucks 420hc, but works fine and easy to get sharp again. f&f is decent for the price point. good enough.
 
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I have a Finn Hawk in 4116 that I find to be exceptionally "chippy." Basic de-barking and whittling left the edge with a number of small chips with the rest still being reasonably sharp, so they made it too brittle in the heat treat or it's just not tough enough for that grind. It was Cold Steel pre GSM, so you'd think that a knife good for "hours of hard use" would have done better, but it wasn't worth the money to send it back and it's not worth the time to fix such a brittle edge. It's hard to compare budget beaters with higher end knives, but I'm not sure how much better you can make 4116 versus just using a slightly better grade of steel--even AUS8 treated me better.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
I have a Finn Hawk in 4116 that I find to be exceptionally "chippy." Basic de-barking and whittling left the edge with a number of small chips with the rest still being reasonably sharp, so they made it too brittle in the heat treat or it's just not tough enough for that grind. It was Cold Steel pre GSM, so you'd think that a knife good for "hours of hard use" would have done better, but it wasn't worth the money to send it back and it's not worth the time to fix such a brittle edge. It's hard to compare budget beaters with higher end knives, but I'm not sure how much better you can make 4116 versus just using a slightly better grade of steel--even AUS8 treated me better.
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Definitely chippy enough to get tossed into the drawer for communal use after mine got chipped. I absolutely love the handle ergonomics though. I just wish they made a version with a tougher blade steel.
 
Not to distract too much from the discussion, but I own a bunch of knives from Cold Steel made of 4116, never had an issue. I don't own the Finn Hawk, though.

 
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Thankyou guys I love the aesthetics of these Joker bowies so may just get one and test it out. I've a few German kitchen knives in the steel and they are very durable and a few cheap kitchen knives in 5cr15mov (very similar to 1.4116) and again very durable, easy to sharpen etc...

I like Larrins work but the 1.4116 is certainly an "outlier" both in composition and similarity to other steels of a similar or same composition.

I like tough and easy to sharpen steels so will probably give one a try.
 
From the pic I'd say the build quality is low, the guard isn't fit well. Maybe a rehandle and fix the guard.
 
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HexY3co said:
From the pic I'd say the build quality is low, the guard isn't fit well. Maybe a rehandle and fix the guard.
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they're all like this. radiused on both sides to remove stress points where the guard fits. I have another in horn...

they aren't perfect and I don't know the price points nowadays on them but when I got mine they were quite cheap for made in Spain.....

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Odd thing is in Virgina Bowie knives are illegal. Go figure. 😝😝😝 old ladies didn’t like ugly men showing up to church with big knives tucked away in their belts.

Sorry about the whole steel thing…. But if you are going to get a Bowie. It should be at least 3 to 4 inches wide and 6 to 7 inches long.

There is a a lot mystic about the origins of the Bowie knife.

I always imagined just as you should be able to chop down a small tree with a Bowie. You should be able to slap someone in the face with one also.
 
ChrisLee said:
Odd thing is in Virgina Bowie knives are illegal. Go figure. 😝😝😝 old ladies didn’t like ugly men showing up to church with big knives tucked away in their belts.

Sorry about the whole steel thing…. But if you are going to get a Bowie. It should be at least 3 to 4 inches wide and 6 to 7 inches long.

There is a a lot mystic about the origins of the Bowie knife.

I always imagined just as you should be able to chop down a small tree with a Bowie. You should be able to slap someone in the face with one also.
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Love.that slap in face line......Now that's something I'd like to see happen in person on some knuckle head in need of an attitude adjustment😜!
 
Dav1 said:
I love these as very traditional looking, I've no problem with the steel used (1.4116 iirc) similiar to 420hc? As for a traditional larger blade it's absolutely fine ime.

Does anyone have any experience with a Joker Bowie, FnF, steel etc...?
Click to expand...

dogstar said:
4116 is a kitchen knife steel. I don't have a problem with it, but it gets generally looked down upon on BF.
If it works in the kitchen, why won't it work elsewhere?
Click to expand...

1.4116 (aka X50CrMoV15) is definitely a kitchen cutlery steel, prioritizing corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening over edge retention. Wusthof, Zwilling/Henckels, and Victorinox all use it. It's generally run a bit softer than it needs to be to survive amateur kitchen use. If it can make a decent 8-10" chef's knife, I don't see why it couldn't be used on a Bowie of a similar or shorter length (and probably double the stock thickness). But, for the $150-175 Joker sells the 1.4116 Bowies at, I don't think it's particularly good value. The Buck 120 is around $100 in 420HC (or $200ish if you want S35VN), and there are a bunch of TOPS knives that are similar in price to the Joker. The Down Under Knives Walkabout in 440C that C ChrisLee mentioned is only about $10 more than the Joker and looks nicely made.


DUKWAnd.jpg
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
1.4116 (aka X50CrMoV15) is definitely a kitchen cutlery steel, prioritizing corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening over edge retention. Wusthof, Zwilling/Henckels, and Victorinox all use it. It's generally run a bit softer than it needs to be to survive amateur kitchen use. If it can make a decent 8-10" chef's knife, I don't see why it couldn't be used on a Bowie of a similar or shorter length (and probably double the stock thickness). But, for the $150-175 Joker sells the 1.4116 Bowies at, I don't think it's particularly good value. The Buck 120 is around $100 in 420HC (or $200ish if you want S35VN), and there are a bunch of TOPS knives that are similar in price to the Joker. The Down Under Knives Walkabout in 440C that C ChrisLee mentioned is only about $10 more than the Joker and looks nicely made.


DUKWAnd.jpg
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Now that's a knoife!
 
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