Recommendation for Bowies

O

ontarah

Joined
Jul 16, 2012
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Hello all,

I'm new to the forums, and relatively new to knives (or at least paying attention to knife quality. I have tons of cheap ones.)

I'm currently looking for a Bowie knife that looks good, but isn't 100% showpiece which will fall apart if you look at it the wrong way. I'm not looking for something which will hold up to a lifetime of hard use. I've found that a lot of quality knives are extremely plain looking, and a lot of knives I like the look of are very poorly designed.

As an example I like the looks of this knife: http://www.cutlerycorner.net/productdetail.aspx?itemnumber=CCN-21002 but I've been told that Hen and Rooster has dropped in quality since it was acquired by Frost. Yet all the knives I look at from Buck or Case seem largely of the plain black handle variety designed for work first and foremost.

Where's a good place to find a knife that can draw the eye, is of reasonable quality, and doesn't cost hundreds of dollars?

Thanks for any tips.
 
Just a suggestion , but maybe check out the Rock Creek line of knives done by Hanwei.

Something like the Bison or Grizzly with stag or maybe Comanche models.
 
The first thing you want to ask yourself is:

How much do I want to spend?

or

Do I wanna good....or do I wanna cheap?

You want cheap? Get something in 440a. There's tons of brands that make decently built bowies that will hold up fairly under use.

You want good? Get a custom bowie. There are some lesser known makers that make good stuff at a decent price. But it'll be much more expensive than most "factory" bowies.
 
Check the Fixed Blades for Sale by Maker board here, lots of makers putting out high quality stuff at reasonable prices.
 
Cold Steel makes some nice production Bowies. The Laredo, Natchez, and Trail Master are all fine knives that should serve you quite well under pretty heavy usage. The Trail Master might be a bit contemporary for your taste, but the Laredo and Natchez have a fairly traditional look to them.
 
Buck 124.

124B.jpg
 
How about the Becker BK9? It doesn't look like a traditional bowie but it'll certainly stand up to a lifetime of hard use.
 
I got your real bowie right here... just kidding though, this is actually a trophy that my father won many years ago in the town of Bowie, TX.

photo470b.jpg



A real bowie knife that you can use is going to be relatively expensive because a real bowie is going to be a fairly big knife. Cold Steel and KaBar both make user bowies that won't be too expensive, and the Becker knives are somewhat similar. Somebody like Bark River might make a nicer grade of knife that would still be able to be used. You might be able to find the Camillus Fisk bowies for sale on the used market, those were very nice knives. Lots of custom makers could make you a bowie but good ones will probably be $300 plus, and one by one of the better makers will be closer to $1k.
 
I've seen some incredibly beautiful and extremely well built bowies in the knife makers market here, if you can afford a custom.
 
And customs can be quite a bit more affordable than you might think, so don't count yourself out until you've decided what you think your budget ought to be.
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
And customs can be quite a bit more affordable than you might think, so don't count yourself out until you've decided what you think your budget ought to be.
Click to expand...

Aye, just this week there was a really nice bowie that went for around $300, I think. I've seen them lower, too.
 
I don't know if this suggestion is too plane looking for ya and I'm not sure that it fits into the "Bowie Knife" category 100% in the strictest sense but I would buy the modern built WW2 Kabar USMC Mark 2. Those knives have been through WW2, Korean War, Vietnam and probably other military actions that I'm forgetting to mention. They went to war and were REALLY tested there so you know you're getting quality.

Also, from my understanding, the new production of the Kabar knives are built with the same quality in mind as the ones that went to World War 2. Best part is that you can pick one up on ebay for anywhere between $65 to $100 more or less.

You'd then have a knife that, although new production, has TONS of history behind it and it's a knife that you can pretty much use as your only survival tool out in the wilderness. Just whatever you do, don't buy any Bear Grylls ~ Gerber blades as they are beyond horrible, at least the folders are beyond horrible (I have one so I know) which means that the rest of the line could range from almost acceptable to "Oh My God, I just wasted $60" kind of terrible.

Here's a picture of a modern production KaBar USMC knife:
ka-bar_usmc.jpg
 
What are you going to use it for? Blades made by Frost Cutlery are not great but they are typically inexpensive.
 
Not sure you can still get one but my favorite Ontario Bagwell bowie Gambler modded . Rich
1337255765.jpg
 
The more I think about it the more unsure I am about something. Is the KaBar USMC I mentioned above a Bowie Knife by some definition, I think it is, and if it isn't a Bowie knife than what criteria is missing from it that knocks it out of the running.

I guess I'm asking when is a Bowie Knife actually a Bowie Knife?
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
This. Not only is it huge, functional, and awesome looking, it also has a cool history.
Click to expand...

Oh come on, you can't say something like that and then not share the "cool history" of that knife. I'm now extremely curious to know the history of that unusual looking knife. Please share?
 
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