Take-Apart Bowie

L

lemongrenadier

Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
58
This Bowie is for the Bladesmithforums KITH. It is also the best knife I have made so far. I really learned a lot from making this one.
10" blade, 15.5" OA

FCijUzT.jpg

The scabbard was lacquered with forge scale
GVcCH6r.jpg


rcPxqQb.jpg

Most of the fittings have been hammer textured.
GWUDF7Y.jpg
 
Nice work! :thumbup:
If it were mine, I would lose about an inch off either end of the guard. It throws the otherwise nice proportions off.
 
Thanks for the input! Personally, I think that the proportions are right, especially the feel in-hand, at least for this knife. Something about the blade tapering back at the base makes the jutting guard look right to me.
 
BenR.T. said:
Nice work! :thumbup:
If it were mine, I would lose about an inch off either end of the guard. It throws the otherwise nice proportions off.
Click to expand...

I agree with this completely. Looking at the pics, my eye keeps jumping immediately to the large guard. It really disrupts the flow for me.

Other than that, it's pretty neat. Nice work.
 
lemongrenadier said:
Thanks for the input! Personally, I think that the proportions are right, especially the feel in-hand, at least for this knife. Something about the blade tapering back at the base makes the jutting guard look right to me.
Click to expand...

Well, I'll be another one to say that the guard is too wide...it can be said less nicely, with mockery and jest if that drives home the point harder.

The macrame sageo/static cord/keychain holder does nothing for the overall look, imo in addition. The habaki element is cool, but a bit short and the hamon is WAY too far up with the boshi, and undefined.

Ben Tendick tends to be very polite in his feedback, fwiw. Maybe something to be considered.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Of course I considered Tendick's input, if I came across rude, I didn't mean to. While I do agree that a smaller guard would improve the overall flow, this wasn't meant to be a regularly-proportioned Bowie in the first place. This is something that was wacky and whimsical. An experiment with a ton of firsts. The smiths at bladesmithsforum said that it has a pirate vibe to it :p . Besides, I kinda like how goofy it looks, with a 101% chance-of-parrying guard and a barongish-Bowie-style blade. It brings a grin to my face every time I take it out. Imo as for habaki, as long as it creates enough friction on the inside of the scabbard to keep the blade in, it has fulfilled its purpose. Now when talking about traditional ninhonto, I think that there should be certain proportions, but when making something non-traditional, it can be left to the maker's style choice. And the hamon was intentional..... in hindsight. I did an auto-hamon, heating up a good portion of the tip. I was hoping that the hamon would go around the edge, but I would have needed clay or a larger cross-section for that. I'm okay with the hamon being like this because there is a good length of the back edge that has been hardened. The back edge is close to being sharp. If the winner who gets this wants a sharpened edge, they can do it if they desire. I pretty sure that there are some knife laws out there that don't allow people to carry double-edged blades. This was my first time using ferric, I wasn't too sure how to really bring it out. I brought out a hamon on another knife that looks better, so at least I'm making some progress. I've been blacksmithing as a hobby for 1 and a half years, so I would still consider myself a newbie.
 
The habaki is also there to keep the blade from contacting the scabbard inducing rust and whatnot. The habaki is the "key" to the construction.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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