Received this yesterday in the mail. Tested it a bit today in the back yard and sharpened it a wee bit. I must say I've been wanting one of these for a good while but they are scarce and expensive to boot. Now as you all know we all here like sharp things and this was not to sharp so I tried to remedy that early this a.m. It is very hard to sharpen cause of the thick edge and may have to send it to someone to thin out a bit. Also not the best chopper for me by any stretch, due to the straight handle with no real curve to it for gripping. It is very blade heavy too. Balance is about 1-1.5" in front of the guard. It would be nice have a choil too for choking up on the blade for a bit more control when using it, tasks and will entertain adding one some how. After a wee bit of the chopping thing I cleaned it up and already it had some honest stains on it. Multi floral rose bush stains carbon steel blades easily.
Came into the house and treated the blade with apple cider vinegar and cleaned it off with Windex and then some very fine polishing compound and WD40. The vinegar brought out a superb temper line that is just stellar. A testament to the skill of the knife maker and showing it has a nice deferentially tempered blade. Under false light last night(room lighting for light bulbs but false light sounds better to me when I am holding the knife) looking at the stag I thought there was an elongated crack or run in it. In the sun light it is not a crack as I thought but a nice run in the stag. You know character mark. I am absolutely gonna look into bluing the blade also, maybe weight for some more patina to build up from use. To me this is a straight forward traditional bowie that might have been carried in the 1800's or maybe early 1900's or the mountains of some far off place. You may pick one that suits your minds eye.
Its the weirdest thing, it ain't the best bowie for me but frankly I like it. The sheath is well made too and has a low wide belt loop on the back for attaching to your belt when using a shoulder harness. Might have one of those made too, who knows. Ok thats it. Any suggestions for modifications let me know, keepem sharp
PS, always a PS, the maker is CL Mateo. He makes the knives for LaClairs traditional archery site, least ways the ones that handmade.
Came into the house and treated the blade with apple cider vinegar and cleaned it off with Windex and then some very fine polishing compound and WD40. The vinegar brought out a superb temper line that is just stellar. A testament to the skill of the knife maker and showing it has a nice deferentially tempered blade. Under false light last night(room lighting for light bulbs but false light sounds better to me when I am holding the knife) looking at the stag I thought there was an elongated crack or run in it. In the sun light it is not a crack as I thought but a nice run in the stag. You know character mark. I am absolutely gonna look into bluing the blade also, maybe weight for some more patina to build up from use. To me this is a straight forward traditional bowie that might have been carried in the 1800's or maybe early 1900's or the mountains of some far off place. You may pick one that suits your minds eye.
Its the weirdest thing, it ain't the best bowie for me but frankly I like it. The sheath is well made too and has a low wide belt loop on the back for attaching to your belt when using a shoulder harness. Might have one of those made too, who knows. Ok thats it. Any suggestions for modifications let me know, keepem sharp
PS, always a PS, the maker is CL Mateo. He makes the knives for LaClairs traditional archery site, least ways the ones that handmade.
