Partial tang in a Bowie?

justjed said:
I would also carry a tomahawk for serious chopping.
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A man after my own heart. :D I LOVE Tomahawks (for fun and utility, much better than my hatchets-maybe not my Gransfors Bruks Mini hatchet). :cool:
 
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I figured out what bothers me about the knife in the OP. Maybe I’m completely wrong. But it seems to me a stick tang wether partial or full length should have a handle that encircles the tang. The two half scales is how a handle on a full width tang is constructed.

So IMHO the op knife is the wrong style handle for that style tang.
 
Don't get me wrong, I actually like the mortised partial-tang handles, if done right. My favorite knife in my collection, a sterile Peter Bauchop Witch, is of this construction. I'd have no qualms about using it, or the Respect, in a survival role, with a hand-ax or tomahawk for the heavier chores. As a weapon of last resort, I'd much prefer the Respect over the Witch, just for the extra blade length, but I wouldn't think twice about using either.
 
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K katanas , Nope, at 56, and after 20 years of QC in my industry, I'm officially either a Geezer, or a Curmudgeon, depending on what day of the week it is and which attitude is most appropriate for the situation...
 
justjed said:
When people think/thought of Jim Bowie, they don't think of him the same way they do Daniel Boone, or even Davey Crockett. The latter were proper outdoorsmen, and known survivalists of the time. Bowie was a fighter, and by all accounts, a mean, tough, SOB. People looking for a 'Bowie" knife were fascinated by the fighting aspects of the various and sundry 'Bowie' designs. They weren't looking for a camp knife. In MY opinion, had the Respect been available in 1830, they'd have sold them by the trainloads.
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When I see Bowie and his history, actually very little was fighting. Bowie carried a knife like so many other outdoorsmen and frontiersmen, because it served many duties. The knife that made Bowie famous was not a stick tang it was full tang. The clip point stick tang knives that came later were designed to look cool and sell well. Lets face it, the original Bowie was not attractive. But it was infinitely more useful than what came later and what some term finest bowies made today. If you want a fighter get a stick tang if you want a hard working camp knife patterned after the original bowie then get a full tang blade.

By the way the op's knife above looks like it has square transition from ricasso to tang. If it does, it is a terrible design.

Here is the original Bowie made by Jesse Clift

bowie009.JPG


Here is another version of it made by Rezin Bowie for james and later given to Edwin Forrest

Forrest-xWilliamson02.jpg
 
Oh yeah, and I agree with you on pretty much everything. Including the part where the "Bowie" knife that started the craze was just a large butcher knife. But in the 1820-30s, they didn't have social media, and no one really knew what a 'Bowie' knife actually looked like. Any number of similarly designed large fighting/utility knives were sold in droves, and not just in this country. The more classic fighting style knives were always more popular than the do-it-all camp style Bowies. And I actually prefer the Searles style myself.

Edited: Ok, I really prefer the Samuel Bell style, but the Searles, in my opinion, is actually closer to the original Sandbar Duel knife.
 
Wonder who knows more about designing a knife. The dude that did this knife or the folks on Facebook.

Asking for a friend.
 
justjed said:
Oh yeah, and I agree with you on pretty much everything. Including the part where the "Bowie" knife that started the craze was just a large butcher knife. But in the 1820-30s, they didn't have social media, and no one really knew what a 'Bowie' knife actually looked like. Any number of similarly designed large fighting/utility knives were sold in droves, and not just in this country. The more classic fighting style knives were always more popular than the do-it-all camp style Bowies. And I actually prefer the Searles style myself.

Edited: Ok, I really prefer the Samuel Bell style, but the Searles, in my opinion, is actually closer to the original Sandbar Duel knife.
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Searless would be closer because either the clift or forrest bowie is more likely than not the actual knife from the sandbar duel.
 
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