stupid question regarding bowies?

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
835
I have noticed that most bowie knives are traditionally flat/convex ground.
Do any bowies have a hollow grind and would I be able to call it a bowie if I made one hollow ground? :(

Mike
 
You could call it a Bowie if you wanted to.I have a hollow ground Bowie. There are so many styles and the Bowie debate will never end until they invent a time machine. And then everyone will be happy.Maybe. :)
 
There was a thread a while ago about a very large contact wheel grinder (36 inches or more) that Rob Frink was considering doing. Some of the makers who were interested in it noted that a lot of historical bowies were hollow ground on (stone) wheels about that size.
 
Most bowies were made in Sheffield,England (even the "American" bowies).There ,all knives were ground on large (36" to 72") stone wheels.
 
my take would be the bowie design refers to the basic profile. thats the wonderful thing to me about a bowie,, how the maker interprets , and creates what he considers the perfect bowie.
ive seen them as hunting versions,fighting versions, wall hangers, camp knives.extremely embelished and almost mud fence plain. and every one was beautiful in its own way.
i think the style of grind then , would be a creative design aspect that would be left you the vision of the maker.
 
Some may argue that the wrong type of hollow grind can make the lower cutting edge a percentage weaker. I like them just the same.

I think I saw Bruce Evans on a thread some time ago with an idea that if you make a curved plattern to gtind on you can make it the same shape as a 36 inch wheel without the need for the 36 inch wheel. Sounded like a good idea.

If it was not you Bruce Sorry I only mentioned you because you make great Bowies and have a good site with tutorials.
 
miden , like they say there are no "stupid questions ". In fact that is an excellent question , the answer of which I never gave a second thought to. That is until dlpierson & bladsmth's answer to your question. There are still large grinding stones in use around here ( lots of "old " Finlanders here ). Stubborn , Hard Headed , Resistant to change Finlanders , (my wife :D ). And the answer the 2 guys that I just mentioned gave would make perfect sense. And , after thinking about it , after it left the anvil , I just cant see Jim Bowies "smith" finish grinding his famous Blade on a KMG platen setup with 3M Belts. I think I just contradicted my thoughts with that anvil statement . How " finished " were the Bowie's of the "old west" ? Did they go from the anvil to the stone wheel just for the "edge grind" I know some were extremly elaborate , but Joe average cowboy probably carried a rather plain Blade. I'm now very uncertain about the answer. It sure is funny how when you think of the answer to a question it brings up so many more questions rather than " one " answer. I would have to say that leatherbird hit it on the head !:confused: "EDIT" What John & Reg said too.
 
Confusion about my "edit"?Spelling error and I'm kinda' anal about Bowie posts.I post on most.Sorry 'bout the confusion. :)
 
Thanks for the replies and the education guys.
I never knew that the old bowies were ground on a 36" wheel and in Sheffield of all places. I was always under the impression that it was a purely "wild west" knife and was nervous about offending the puritans.
Leatherbird and John, what you say boils down to the fact that knifemaking is a form of art and art has no boundaries, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
You also have a good point David in that the average cowboy's knife was probably quite plain and he was more concerned under the circumstances about a versatile survival tool and "pretty" wasn't all that important even though there were some well embellished bowies around.

The radius platen is a very good idea too.
Thanks to ALL you guys for sharing your knowledge and ideas. It has really been another education. :D

Mike :thumbup:
 
Mike, Offending the "purists" you say, brings to mind one of my early posts here. I was flamed so bad I thought I was in Hell. Check out Jason Patric/Jim Bowie's knife in the movie, "The Alamo". Anywho cool of you to be nervous about offending the purists,wish I would have had half as much insight and put that much thought in my first posts/threads.Kudos to you,buddy! :thumbup: :cool:
 
Thanks for the kind words Leatherbird.
Any idea where I can get a good pic of that bowie from the movie? I saw the movie but the details......
I did a search on the www but no good pics.
Too bad you got flamed, what was your sin? :D
Mike
 
No pics of the Alamo movie Bowie,but I did buy a knockoff of it sold buy Windlass Steelcraft(s).The p.o.s. knife they sold was a fairly reasonable facsimile of the one in the movie.12 1/2" blade,18 1/4" o.a.l.,no heat treat,crappy steel and IIRC 109.95.Paid 9.95 extra for sharpening,but it arrived unsharpened.Should have been my first clue,it has the brass S-guard and parry strip on the spine,bad handle and crappy sheath.I've remembered now,it was their "Primitive Bowie".Don't buy it! My sin was not realizing that the knife world is a community and you learn and give back to that community.You will learn much here,the finest makers in the world belong or participate in BladeForums and I am not talking about just Bowie-style knives.You will be amazed and enlightened by this place,at least I was.Some other good advice is to get a camera and post pics.I'm still working on that,need to quit buying knives. :D
 
ok,,lol so now that im about done with the little 4" bowie im doing. and after this thread... i gotta build a monster bowie. i suppose it the one thing every new knife maker has to do, huh?
i wonder if anyone has ever made knives and not done a big bowie?
 
Leatherbird, sorry to hear you got shafted with that "bowie". Far too many conmen around.
Regarding posting pics, I have done that a couple of times. I included the url of one posting about a month back,if you are interested. It is a knife that I made for a friend, not a bowie but I will make one of those, a big nasty looking sucker.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365002

My other posting is of heat treatment gone horribly wrong named simply "aaaarrrggghhh" or something to that effect. It is on page 3 I think.
Anyway, good talking to you guys and thanks again for all the wisdom.

Mike :D
 
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