jdm61
itinerant metal pounder
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2005
- Messages
- 47,357
I bought this knofe and two other Ontario Bagwell's on Ebay. I actually bought them as pattersn for some things i want to make eventually but I thought I might throw out a review. Anything about the Hell's Belle pretty much applies to the other two. Nice balance for a long Bowie, much of this iI suspect coming from the narrow blade and the LONG handle, sharp as all get out. It does cut viciously forwards and backwards just like Bill Bagwell says it should. Now for the cons. Not the greatest workmanship. I wonder if they copied one of Bagwell's knives that he made on one of his lazier days. I have a real Bagwell that has one or two fit and finish issues. My main issues are blade steel choice, grind and edge geometry. Not sure why they chose 440A. The knife does not have the distal taper that my Bagwell does nor does it have a convex edge. As such, when you get to the sharpened clip, the edge bevel is pretty severe both on the clip and the cutting edge. Almost like a mini sabre grind if that makes any sense. This all causes me to wonder how long it will hold that super sharp edge. The lack of adequate distal taper makes me want to find out if a bowie of similar dimensions that had more taper could possibly get by with a slightly shorter handle. The handle issue does not apply so much with the smaller knives.