Southland Bowie

Love it, Lin! Not the norm..very easy to look at :thumbup:
 
Holy monkey on a stick Lin! That is a sweet knife! Love everything about it but especially the short ricasso and closeness of the blade to guard as Stuart said, and the contrast between the forged and finished surfaces. Home run!

Roger, can I put in my vote for 2014 Bowie now? ;)
 
In case you might want to see a little more about the development of this knife, I have a few more pictures. Here is my drawing of the guard/ricasso area. This is the image I had in my head and had to get it on paper before it faded away. I tried to not let time or inconvenience cause me to make changes in my plan. One small change that I made was this. The drawing was made with the possibility of carving the stag or ivory near the ferrule/spacer. The knife just begged for stag and that piece has good bark and I just wanted to preserve it. So I did not create that extra bead the drawing shows.

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You can toggle back and forth from the drawing to the blade and see how close the forging had to be to make it work. I forged one blade and it was 1/2 inch short and the choil was not exactly right for the drawing so I forged another. I'll use that other blade though it being very nice by itself.

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This was my last piece of DHIII 1 1/4 round W2 steel I had to use. Don, if you want to make an old guy happy, send more.

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Although I don't specifically push the hamon, I did clay the blade to differentially harden it and it clearly shows the hamon. It was even and very consistent all the way on both sides.

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One shot of the guard being finished and in the holding jig.

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Thanks
 
Thanks Lin, progress pics are priceless for aspiring knifemakers like me.
Can I ask the purpose of the recess cut in the back face of the guard? To make it easier to file to the tang shape?
 
Patrice, That is to allow only the outside rim to make contact with the fittings behind the guard making it less likely for it to rock or have gaps. It's much easier to flatten with that pocket cut in it. Thanks
 
I enjoyed watching this unravel on Facebook. Beautiful knife. Lin you've got this superb gift of making everything flow together; it's a knife, not just a handle and a blade they both just go together.
 
Thanks for the explanation Lin, very much appreciated. I'll give that a try that’s for sure. :thumbup:
 
n the purest spirit of Bowie
I prefer the one presented in the competition
but this is only my personal idea and very modest truth
 
Thank you La Hire. I understand.

I'm currently planning a variation of this knife (Southland) with a "D" guard.
 
Absolutely wonderful, thank you for sharing with us
Francis (La Hire) I'll lend you mine if you are wise ...
 
I'm still in the drawing stage. But you'll be seeing it before too long. I have to work out the details of construction and forging of parts.

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