DamascusBowie
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
- Messages
- 2,143
So Ive always liked knives, since childhood, like most folks. I always had some knife or other, but the urge to get more of a knife didnt hit me till i saw this particular knife on fleabay in 2003. It was a handmade knife, or so I thought. Forged, hammered and assembled by hand and fitted with a custom sheath with embossed dragon logo.
The bidding action was fierce, and this was before i even knew about auction snipers, i had to get up around three am and shoot in my max bid as close as possible to the end without going over and being late. My efforts paid off and i began the excruciating wait to get my knife shipped from the west coast. It was in many ways the perfect knife. A damascus steel big bowie with nickel silver guard and mammoth ivory scales.
Around that time i saw a couple busses on ebay too, but I couldnt relate, I mean I liked the battle mistress I saw and thought it was the coolest name for a knife, but it was more $$ than my handcrafted masterpiece, and when i researched it a bit i found this very forum where i saw people obsessed with these non handmade knives and who worshipped a guy named Jerry. It reminded me of deadheads, and that's not a good association in my book. Deadheads with knives was my impression and i quickly moved on, as i was all about the forged in fire knifemaking process, old school, as opposed to these fancy new military style knives.
Anyhow, the maker of my grail bowie was a smith named Milo, as was etched into the base of the blade. Now, thats a knife i thought, hammered and etched by guy covered in soot, sweat and a dirty leather apron.
Some of you might know where this is headed. long story short, many years later I came to find out that "MILO" was a guy who had bought some pakistani blanks and then built and signed them into the great looking blades like the one you see here.
I still like this knife, although its not what i thought it was, it still looks nice and the unsharpened edge and swedge are still super sharp, and the damascus pattern runs nicely down the edge, so other than possible crystal alignment and tempering flaws, its still a pretty cool knife. But as i learned more I focused on actual performance and steel quality, and here i am, but this is where i started. And i still think that a damscus bowie with mammoth ivory scales is as good as it gets, and even with my busse blades I most want the bowie variants even though I currently only own one, a regulator. I foolishly passed up amazing bowie variants on the exchange, but thats my own stupidity and ragret, but i wont make those mistakes again. Anyhow, heres the damascus bowie that started it all.
The bidding action was fierce, and this was before i even knew about auction snipers, i had to get up around three am and shoot in my max bid as close as possible to the end without going over and being late. My efforts paid off and i began the excruciating wait to get my knife shipped from the west coast. It was in many ways the perfect knife. A damascus steel big bowie with nickel silver guard and mammoth ivory scales.
Around that time i saw a couple busses on ebay too, but I couldnt relate, I mean I liked the battle mistress I saw and thought it was the coolest name for a knife, but it was more $$ than my handcrafted masterpiece, and when i researched it a bit i found this very forum where i saw people obsessed with these non handmade knives and who worshipped a guy named Jerry. It reminded me of deadheads, and that's not a good association in my book. Deadheads with knives was my impression and i quickly moved on, as i was all about the forged in fire knifemaking process, old school, as opposed to these fancy new military style knives.
Anyhow, the maker of my grail bowie was a smith named Milo, as was etched into the base of the blade. Now, thats a knife i thought, hammered and etched by guy covered in soot, sweat and a dirty leather apron.
Some of you might know where this is headed. long story short, many years later I came to find out that "MILO" was a guy who had bought some pakistani blanks and then built and signed them into the great looking blades like the one you see here.
I still like this knife, although its not what i thought it was, it still looks nice and the unsharpened edge and swedge are still super sharp, and the damascus pattern runs nicely down the edge, so other than possible crystal alignment and tempering flaws, its still a pretty cool knife. But as i learned more I focused on actual performance and steel quality, and here i am, but this is where i started. And i still think that a damscus bowie with mammoth ivory scales is as good as it gets, and even with my busse blades I most want the bowie variants even though I currently only own one, a regulator. I foolishly passed up amazing bowie variants on the exchange, but thats my own stupidity and ragret, but i wont make those mistakes again. Anyhow, heres the damascus bowie that started it all.
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