The 20th century Bowie knife

If you're looking for some context as to why I specifically picked the Puma;

Its because while there may have been other, more or equally as iconic German bowies out there, and while the Puma Bowie is not a Bowie fighting knife in the conventional sense, it was probably one of the more functional and certainly one of the highest quality "Bowies" during the mid to late 20th century. Other designs may have looked more imposing, but the Pumas were very practical & well designed working knifes, with a blade quality most other manufacturers couldn't compete with (at least during the Pumaster steel days). In their day Pumas were highly desirable knives, even abroad, and among the best production hunting blades in the world.

Their glory days are long over, but during the 60s-80s these were world class knives. But yes, The Puma Bowie is certainly not a traditional fighting bowie as we imagine them today, but more of a hunting/trail/camp bowie. The Phoenix Bowie came a bit closer with its 8" blade.
 
IMHO

Bill BAGWELL is the king of the modern fighting Bowie

Founding member of the ABS
2nd man to receive a MS stamp
Soldier Of Fortune Knife Columnist

If a Bowie does not have a sharpened clip and Exhibit radical distal taper it ain’t in the running





in the spirit of Bagwell this Wheeler exemplifies all attributes above


 
brownshoe said:
The purpose of this thread: “Lets look at these vintage knives and talk about how we identify and classify them into specific periods.”

I thought we were discussing mid century German-made bowie style knives.
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He is because he seems to be in Germany.....As for the rest, there is nothing in the OP that mentions German knives specifically.....There were lots of Bowie type knives during the 20th century both large and small that weren't made in Germany.
 
I think a Puma bowie is more than appropriate here because I remember wanting one in the late 80s and early 90s, seeing one ( 6.5 blade and marked the Original bowie ) at an old cutlery store at the mall they had in a display case. I also used to get a cutlery company’s paper flyers that had a large Kissing Kranes bowie, it started my love of large fixed blades. That led to many a Blackjack purchase, finally getting an Anaconda II, a leather handled 1-7 and 1-5 and a single guarded stag version 1-7. I also had a few of the German bowies. We also have to discuss the Buck 119 as it has a place in the 20th century history, starting in WW II and it’s impact on modern production knives, which leads to the 120. I would love to see some old Marbles too. I also considered the Falkniven Odin a grail purchase.
 
JParanee said:
IMHO

Bill BAGWELL is the king of the modern fighting Bowie

Founding member of the ABS
2nd man to receive a MS stamp
Soldier Of Fortune Knife Columnist

If a Bowie does not have a sharpened clip and Exhibit radical distal taper it ain’t in the running





in the spirit of Bagwell this Wheeler exemplifies all attributes above


Click to expand...
Just Love that Bagwell, Really a Sweet Bowie knife. Probably could never afford it now a days but what a dream. Thanks for posting the lovely pic of it.
 
marchone said:
In their


Good point. In intended use, the original Black Bowie or Coffin Bowies were stabbing and slashing tools. Any bayonet up to the WWII Fairbairn Sykes will fill that use. With a clip point WWII KA-BAR and Randall knives are modern successors to the original Bowie-pattern knives.
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Long ago, I dabbled in knife making. Out on an offshore rig for weeks at a time there were sometimes long stretches with no demands on our time, but we had to be there, hard hat and all. Everyone had some little crft project on the side. Making a signet ring from a stainless steel nut was one. My job allowed me to make a knife or two. with the materials and equipment on hand.

In doing this, I made sketches of what I thought I wanted to make. I talked knives with other idled workers over coffee. And realized that a "utility" profile needed a broader sweep from the edge up to the spine out front. A "{skinner" needed more belly and maybe a bit of up-sweep. The clipped point we felt was to modify what was a utility profiled blade by dropping the point to about the center of thrust through the handle. You see this in the Pilot's Survival Knife and the Ka-Bar.

Now, I do not mean to say that B owe blades were first made as a utility profile and ground down to clip the point. I am tlking about design theory.

In
 
Faucheaux , a Louisiana maker recommended by Bill Bagwell


DQcu4Vz.jpg
 
Arathol said:
He is because he seems to be in Germany.....As for the rest, there is nothing in the OP that mentions German knives specifically.....There were lots of Bowie type knives during the 20th century both large and small that weren't made in Germany.
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When I first stated this thread I was thinking about the many 20th century bowies and how they tended to evolve over time. For example during the 50s-70s big nickel silver hand guards and pommels were in style; during the 70s we have a lot of custom knives in stainless (440C) with mirror polished blades; up through the 40s we see a lot of leather handles, the 60s we see a lot more in wood and stag; through the 70s most of the imported Solingen knives had threaded tangs and pommel nuts; during the 80s the most popular handle material was micarta or rubber, etc. The bowie knife designed seemed to evolve in the popular mind in waves of 6-10 years. From highly polished to tactically sandblasted, to painted and coated. Not to mention the saw backed and hollow handle explosion during the 80s. It’s usually relatively simple to identify which decade of the 20th century a Bowie knife may be from.

Perhaps the we can flesh out these ideas and discuss how well they hold up as indicators.

n2s
 
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