Knight Founders Bowie revisited

Will York

Will York

Joined
Jan 21, 2000
Messages
8,888
Received my copy of Jason Knight’s Founders Bowie today, and it’s wonderful.

At the ricasso, the W2 blade measures a massive .350” thick by my caliper. At the start of the swedge grinds, the thickness drops to .32”, and from there to the ice-pick point the taper is the most extreme thing I’ve ever seen. The visual impact of the taper quickly faded from my attention once I took up the knife and felt its heft and balance. Even though the balance point is two inches out from the guard face, the weight of the piece seems to settle solidly in my hand right behind the guard.

It’s a powerful feeling of controlled heft. I find the feeling hard to describe--as if I could just as swiftly and gracefully stab a gherkin from a jar or chop through a fence post with casual strokes. It’s the kind of feeling I don’t want to go away, which means the necessity of putting the knife down to go on with one’s life is a mild irritation. (Actually...not so mild. :D)

Coop has already given us some beautiful glamour shots, so here are a couple of snapshots of mine just to show dimensions from a neutral point-of-view, a little sunlight igniting the tiger maple, and a spine shot to give an impression of the taper. Sorry for the quality, but I didn't want to put this off.

This is a man’s knife. :thumbup:

attachment.php


attachment.php


attachment.php


Oh--just a note of explanation on the single guard, as the rest of these all had double hilts as advertised. I came up $50 short of meeting JP's price, so he docked me one quillon. :cool:
 
Will York said:
It’s the kind of feeling I don’t want to go away, which means the necessity of putting the knife down to go on with one’s life is a mild irritation. (Actually...not so mild. :D)
Click to expand...

haha! I know EXACTLY what yer talkin about!
 
Great choice to go with the single guard. In any knife I intend on using, I find the double guard is in the way. In a true fighting knife, it has it's place, but otherwise no.
 
Will coming from you these comments mean the world to me. The half guard looks great and words can not say how pleased I am that you are so pleased


thanks my friend
 
Back atcha, senor. I so appreciate you making it possible for me to get one of these--a rare, rare combination of all the things I appreciate in a big knife, rendered at the highest level. Thanks my friend.

Will
 
Fantastic piece and score, Will ! :thumbup:
Great write up.
What # did you get ?

Doug
 
Will York said:
Oh--just a note of explanation on the single guard, as the rest of these all had double hilts as advertised. I came up $50 short of meeting JP's price, so he docked me one quillon. :cool:
Click to expand...

Will, the next time Joey pulls this on you just let me know. I'll either front you the $ or make him give you a discount!:D

Paul
 
Knowing a little about your background Will, I regard your opinions VERY highly. I would be interested to hear your thoughts after you use the knife for a while. Not having held one of Jason Knight's knives, I only know the feeling from opinions expressed, and they are impressive to say the least.

Peter
 
Thanks Lorien, BFT and Kevin for your kind words.

Paul, thanks for backing me up. In this case, I felt JP was being fairly tolerant and was glad he didn’t tell me to go to the end of the line or worse yet, “No knife for you.” :D

Peter, whatever I may have done to deserve your accolades, I’m humbled—thank you.

The knives I’ve handled by Jason have all been comfortable, but the balance, heft and geometry of this one set it apart. My first thought in buying the knife was for an investment and something to admire, as I’m no knife fighter. But the more I read Joe’s description the more I began thinking that the combination of a fine working point together with controlled, balanced heft should offer advantages in a large camp knife as well as in a fighter. The only problem was the top guard extension, as BFT mentions above—just too cumbersome for use in so many cutting chores where you need to have an index finger or thumb out on the spine for control. I almost waited too late to call Jason and ask if he would consider making a single guard for mine, but he graciously accommodated me. I’m delighted he did—can’t wait to try it out.

The two things I notice right off the bat with this knife in hand are 1) the tapered, narrowed point carries so little weight, with so much of the weight back near my hand, that the point is amazingly precise and controllable—especially for such a long blade; and 2) unlike most fighters, this knife has all the heft in the world for light chopping chores. The chopping “sweet spot” backs away a couple of inches from the belly, but that massive thickness in the rear part of the blade, as Joe predicts, should hit like a freight train. Also, although I wouldn’t pound hard on this swedge with a baton, the platform offered by the thick spine behind the swedge should be very effective for batonning.
 
Will York said:
Peter, whatever I may have done to deserve your accolades, I’m humbled—thank you.
Click to expand...

No need to be humble Will. All you did was to describe some of your hunting and tasks that you use knives in the field for. While I have spent a LOT of time through the years in the woods, shooting guns, light camping and cooking on a wood campfire, i've never processed game. Your requirements in a knife are far more demanding than mine.

That is why I consider your opinions to be accurate and based on a lot of experience.

That Knight of yours is a beauty.

Regards,
Peter
 
Congrats Will - I like the single guard look and yours is now a unique piece in a very limited set. Enjoyed your post.

Roger
 
Good for you, Will.

I understand. I'll bet if you had to choose only ONE knife to do it all, this one would be a top contender.

Nice profile shots. I love the energy bolt going through the handle on the r verse side... ;)

Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
I love the energy bolt going through the handle on the r verse side... ;)

Coop
Click to expand...

Thanks Coop--yeah, the wood is something special. I had no idea maple could be dyed black and retain its chatoyancy like that, but if anything the shimmer seems to be enhanced by the contrast--like gold dust suspended in black glass, but warm in hand. And Jason's sculpted contouring locks comfortably into the hand in all positions. :thumbup:
 
Will

Thats what this knife was supposed to be something unlike anything else

A Blade that could do it all and not just get by I mean out perform larger blades in the power department and out perform smaller fighters in the speed department. Truly a quest for a blade that a man would never feel out matched with in any arena.

Thank you Will for doing this you have proven our point and Jason and I are both smileing

Thanks Buddy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top