My personal "Bug-Out Bowie"

J

Jason Cutter

Joined
Oct 9, 2002
Messages
1,419
A bit of discussion in the general discussion area on a knife for disaster situations prompted me to post pics of this one. I made this knife for myself, to use and abuse and will be making some for sale, depending on demand. This is a knife designed to be used. Inspired by the various ABS bowie-makers, and more specifically, Bagwell and Greg Covington's combat-oriented bowies. I wanted something that could chop, pry, dig, and was bigger and heavier than my other fighters and smaller utility knives. In a pinch, SD-capable as well.

8.5inch blade (NB.- STOCK-REMOVED, NOT FORGED, just so we are clear :) ) O1 carbon tool steel, 1/4inch thick at the spine, full height flat ground, machine satin finished, hidden tang, chisel-ground unsharpened top clip, handle - tan canvas Micarta, 416SS fittings.

The HT - edge quenched, but the spine is partially air-hardened and then drawn down with a torch to a spring temper and triple tempered at 390F. Tang is unhardened.

This one has minimal distal taper for greater heft up front, balances 1/2inch in front of the guard. The hidden tang is a full 4-1/2inches and is 1/2inch wide at this thinnest. The tang is 1inch wide at the tang-blade shoulders for maximum strength.

What do you folks think ? Thanks in advance. Jason.

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That looks great! Looks like a nice Trailmaster, to me (in a good way). I think these would be popular for bowie fanatics who don't want to beat up a $5,000 knife! Good job!
 
i like it, serious piece of equipment with lots of thought for strength considerations etc... The only thing i would do, and it will take about 3 minutes, is sharpen that clip. If one of the rolls of this blade is SD, then a sharp clip is a must IMO. All you gotta do, especially on a chisel ground clip, is grind 'till the edges meet along the clip, get a burr "wicking" and strop it off.

nice work!
 
That's a beautiful knife, and that handle looks like it would melt right into your hand. You won't be underknifed in a bug out situation with that! :cool:
 
"Stock-removed !!! " :D :D :p

Yeah, it IS stock-removed. I've never been able to get more out of O1 by forging it, because the material I get happens to be top stuff. I wouldn't be stock removing a 1095 bowie, for instance. My actual custom-ordered Bowies are forged more because I "get to know" the knife better when I hammer it ! In any case, my personal philosophy is that modern steel is that good that I forge only to shape the shape of the steel and because I love it.

This knife was an exercise in minimising time - I didn't want a nice finish, just good fit, like any of my other knives. (I think fit = quality & performance, finish = presentation value, more or less). This was a knife I made, from start to finish in 10.5hours, all in one day. Including 3 tempering cycles and a completed (very very basic) sheath. The blade was done with ZERO hand work, absolutely everything done on the grinder. Sorry, used a filing jig to cut the tang shoulders, but thats it. Ie.- I wanted a knife NOW !!

Matt, I have stopped putting sharp clips on my fighter Bowies for one reason alone - the local constabulary doesn't like it and I want to avoid any potential arguments. Its already happened once. :rolleyes: If I had it my way (yeah, right ...) ALL my fighters and tacticals would have razor top edges. Also, on my personal knives is that I use drawknife type techniques in the field, holding the end of the blade in my hand, and I also pound on the blade with a piece of wood.

Not to sound too defensive, no pun intended, but I am very inspired by your Bowie work (Matt) along with Greg Covington's & Bagwell's ideas. Most of the major design decisions have been given careful consideration, but I am still under-the-thumb of other pressures not in my control.

Thank you all sincerely for the reponses. Always warmly appreciated. Jason.
 
:eek: and I'm jealous! 'Bug out' blades are my personal favorites, and yours is what I'd make if I could. Dammm, I hope my kid takes to knife making like I'm encouraging him to!
 
Great knife, Doc.......#1 hard-use Bowie.......don't git much better!!! :cool:
 
Beautiful Jason. I like this and I think that your clients will like that "stocky" feel that this knife will bring to the party.

Excellent work and great handle design!
 
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