solingen knife blades

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MAKnifenut

Joined
May 14, 2013
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Hi guys. My name is phil and i'm new to the site. Lately i've been really interested in acquiring a large full tang bowie in HC steel but i couldn't find any that fit my taste so i decided to try to make my own. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the solingen knives on crazycrow.com. I will put a link to the blade i am thinking about below. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Phil
http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/mercha...t_Code=5431-211-000&Category_Code=841-200-150
 
There´s no info on the used steel nor HT.
Solingen is the German Sheffield, a city. In the past the name has been used to make it sound as if knives have a certain quality, but the name is not protected and personaly I have my doubts when a producer lowers himself to such things.
By looking at it my thoughts are that te bevel is way to low to have decent cutting geometry and hollow ground is the last you want for a bowie.
There´s better blanks for sale
 
Hengelo_77 said:
There´s no info on the used steel nor HT.
Solingen is the German Sheffield, a city. In the past the name has been used to make it sound as if knives have a certain quality, but the name is not protected and personaly I have my doubts when a producer lowers himself to such things.
By looking at it my thoughts are that te bevel is way to low to have decent cutting geometry and hollow ground is the last you want for a bowie.
There´s better blanks for sale
Click to expand...

+1, and you should be able to find better.
 
Thanks guys, any recomendations on a good blank to make a knife with a blade 8-12 inches? My vision is something similar to the Winchester bowie but with more tang pins and a high carbon blade. Or if you know any good custom makers who don't break the bank that would be great. Thanks again
Phil
 
There are a number of makers that can make that type of knife. There are a few that would make a blade for you. If you could post a picture of a drawing of what you have in mind, that would be helpful. What do you have in mind as far as the use for your bowie? I ask about the use because the hollow ground blade is fine for most purposes.
 
i was thinking of a knife like the winchester bowie (ill link it below). My idea is this would be a one tool option for camping and bushcraft. I am also joining the army after college and would like a last ditch knife seeing as they only issue combat knives to certain units. I also love the look of the natchez bowie and the laredo bowie by cold steel but i dont trust the wire tangs. I have the winchester as a beater cause it was only $20 and i like the feel of it. It just cant keep an edge at all and the handle cracked.
http://www.amazon.com/Winchester-22...?ie=UTF8&qid=1368632571&sr=8-7&keywords=bowie
 
My son carried a 4 1/4" fixed blade that I made him, last year in 'Ghan and was very happy with it- remember you may be rucking a hundred pounds, you may not want a huge knife on top of that...just sayin.
 
"My son carried a 4 1/4" fixed blade that I made him, last year in 'Ghan and was very happy with it- remember you may be rucking a hundred pounds, you may not want a huge knife on top of that...just sayin." +1 on this

In that case a convex grind on the bevels will provide greater strength. Also, a smaller bowie with a smaller guard might be in order. The original bowie was made as a fighting knife. And is not the best option for bushcraft. As far as steel goes, there are a slew of more exotic (more expensive) steels out there that will offer performance gains over the simpler high carbon steels. IMO, today a bowie is not the best knife to take into combat. Check around and find out what type of knives the combat vets are carrying and use that as part of your selection criteria. If you decide that you want to make your own knife or assemble your knife using a premade blade read the stickies at the top of the forum.
 
MAKnifenut said:
i was thinking of a knife like the winchester bowie (ill link it below). My idea is this would be a one tool option for camping and bushcraft. I am also joining the army after college and would like a last ditch knife seeing as they only issue combat knives to certain units. I also love the look of the natchez bowie and the laredo bowie by cold steel but i dont trust the wire tangs. I have the winchester as a beater cause it was only $20 and i like the feel of it. It just cant keep an edge at all and the handle cracked.
http://www.amazon.com/Winchester-22...?ie=UTF8&qid=1368632571&sr=8-7&keywords=bowie
Click to expand...

A stick tang is plenty strong. The vast majority of swords are stick tangs. Think about what swords had to do while also having a much longer and heavier blade than a knife. Also consider the strength of a Randall combat knife, or even a Kabar. The Cold Steel Bowies would be ideal for your needs.
 
The problem with them is that they arnt stick tangs. They are partial tangs with a steel wire conecting the tang to the butcap
 
With all due respect to the others if you have had no direct experience with these blades are only offering an opinion based on lack of info. Anyway I have handled up many of these same blades (sold at various vendors) over the last 40+ years they are quite nice blades - no not up to a GOOD custom blade (just cause it's custom don't mean it's good) but the feedback I have gotten from users has been very good. They also offer these blades in smaller sizes - the seven and eight inchers make a good using size 10" is a bit on the bog size. Know I don't know what steel is used but I put several blades to the test before ever using one and they passed and hold an edge very well.

This is one of the 7 inchers I handled up several years ago for a real working cowhand/hunting guide - he still carries it as his EDC and it's seen a LOT of usage in ways most folks will never use a knife:
fulton-002.jpg
the blade was aged as the gent liked the look, but he is the real McCoy when it comes to using a knife
 
Last edited:
Wild Rose said:
With all due respect to the others if you have had no direct experience with these blades are only offering an opinion based on lack of info. Anyway I have handled up many of these same blades (sold at various vendors) over the last 40+ years they are quite nice blades - no not up to a GOOD custom blade (just cause it's custom don't mean it's good) but the feedback I have gotten from users has been very good. They also offer these blades in smaller sizes - the seven and eight inchers make a good using size 10" is a bit on the bog size. Know I don't know what steel is used but I put several blades to the test before ever using one and they passed and hold an edge very well.

This is one of the 7 inchers I handled up several years ago for a real working cowhand/hunting guide - he still carries it as his EDC and it's seen a LOT of usage in ways most folks will never use a knife:
fulton-002.jpg
the blade was aged as the gent liked the look, but he is the real McCoy when it comes to using a knife
Click to expand...

Dude that looks amazing. Thanks for your input
 
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