- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,686
A few years ago I was able to snag a blemmed 14" Chit Bowie. Function wise, it was perfect. Nice straight edge, super sharp, etc. The blade had some deep scratches on it and quite a bit of slop around the hilt/guard union. This is was no big deal to me as ALL of my knives are users
Over time, I found that while I really liked the look of the Chit Bowie, on the 14" version, the overly large guard impeded the usefulness. On an 18 or 20" version, the large guard is actually pretty proportional. Besides, you aren't going to use a 3lb "knife" to do much more than wood splitting and orc cleaving
The 14" is a different animal. It's the size of a fighter but built like a chopper yet has so much mass in the grip that even that is fairly muted. The guard would most certainly protect your hand in dust up, but the large heavy grip make it a very slow knife to wield. It's still a formidable weapon to be sure. i have used it to split 2x4s with ease, and the narrow edge and wide tip would make a devastating wound channel if you drove it home.
Those long arms of the guard, however, just always got in the way of using the bottom 2.5" of the blade if you were wanting to cut on a flat surface. So, i decided to do a quick and dirty mod to it this morning.
Here's a pic of the 14" chit as it was stock:
Turning the knife over in my hands, I decided that I wanted to keep enough front guard to barely cover my pointer finger. I thought about taking the back arm all the way off but decided against it. The knife was never designed to NOT have a guard back there. It would be way too awkward to place your thumb there for control. I decided it cut it back slightly farther than front.
Using a dremmel, I took a little more than a quarter inch off the front (maybe 5/16) and about 3/8" off the back arm.
Here's a pic:
It's tough to tell in the pic, but the front arm really is a little longer than the back. It's really comfy in hand. It gives you plenty of purchase to not feel like your hand could ever possibly slip up on the blade, yet the back guard is short enough that you can hold it in different positions. On top of that, the removed mass makes the knife a little more neutral in balance. It's much more livelier in hand
I finished up using a rough stone and a file to knock off the sharp edges of my work. I didn't want to round them out too much, but I also didn't want a rough straight edge. I was surprised how easily the finish work (which admittedly it needs more) was completed. The guard was dead soft, which makes sense.
I washed off the metal shavings and gave it a quick bluing. For fun I polished the edge back to mirror-ish.
I'm pretty happy with it so far. Took me all of about an hour using a sharpie to mark what I wanted to remove, a dremmel to do my cutting, and a little file work. Fun project, and I like the knife much better now.
....still need to get a full sized Chit Bowie with a full sized guard
Over time, I found that while I really liked the look of the Chit Bowie, on the 14" version, the overly large guard impeded the usefulness. On an 18 or 20" version, the large guard is actually pretty proportional. Besides, you aren't going to use a 3lb "knife" to do much more than wood splitting and orc cleaving
The 14" is a different animal. It's the size of a fighter but built like a chopper yet has so much mass in the grip that even that is fairly muted. The guard would most certainly protect your hand in dust up, but the large heavy grip make it a very slow knife to wield. It's still a formidable weapon to be sure. i have used it to split 2x4s with ease, and the narrow edge and wide tip would make a devastating wound channel if you drove it home.
Those long arms of the guard, however, just always got in the way of using the bottom 2.5" of the blade if you were wanting to cut on a flat surface. So, i decided to do a quick and dirty mod to it this morning.
Here's a pic of the 14" chit as it was stock:
Turning the knife over in my hands, I decided that I wanted to keep enough front guard to barely cover my pointer finger. I thought about taking the back arm all the way off but decided against it. The knife was never designed to NOT have a guard back there. It would be way too awkward to place your thumb there for control. I decided it cut it back slightly farther than front.
Using a dremmel, I took a little more than a quarter inch off the front (maybe 5/16) and about 3/8" off the back arm.
Here's a pic:
It's tough to tell in the pic, but the front arm really is a little longer than the back. It's really comfy in hand. It gives you plenty of purchase to not feel like your hand could ever possibly slip up on the blade, yet the back guard is short enough that you can hold it in different positions. On top of that, the removed mass makes the knife a little more neutral in balance. It's much more livelier in hand
I finished up using a rough stone and a file to knock off the sharp edges of my work. I didn't want to round them out too much, but I also didn't want a rough straight edge. I was surprised how easily the finish work (which admittedly it needs more) was completed. The guard was dead soft, which makes sense.
I washed off the metal shavings and gave it a quick bluing. For fun I polished the edge back to mirror-ish.
I'm pretty happy with it so far. Took me all of about an hour using a sharpie to mark what I wanted to remove, a dremmel to do my cutting, and a little file work. Fun project, and I like the knife much better now.
....still need to get a full sized Chit Bowie with a full sized guard
