The balance point of a Bagwell Bowie

I got mine assembled today, pending some final polishing.
The balance is right at that same point shown by osprey888 in post #8.
Next up...a pair of Paul Long sheaths!
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JParanee said:
Very nice
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Thanks Joe, I was poring over some of your photos posted about 10 years ago to try to understand the Bagwell design. No one ever posts straight overhead shots, so I recruited my daughter to sketch the birds. There was no way I was going to do it well.
 
Somehow I lost touch of this thread until tonight! Richard338 Richard338 – that is a gorgeous pair of Bagwell-like bird’s head bowies there! Beautiful work…and, as always, Paul’s masterpieces! When I have a bit of time I will post a couple of more Bagwell pics that directly relate…if anyone is still hanging onto this thread. Cheers!
 
Following up on Richard338 Richard338 's posts with the beautiful bird's head bowies of his creation I thought I would post a pairing of similar Bagwell bowies, this time with 11.0-inch damascus blades. As you will see when you compare the two maker's knives, the detail work on the bird's heads by Richard338 Richard338 [love those bezeled eyes!] are actually more precise than Bill Bagwell's in terms of execution of an actual bird's head--a matter of style and finishing work. These two Bagwell bowies represent two different time periods of Bill's work. The top bowie in the first photo below is one he made in the early 80's when he used his "MS" stamp. This one has a handle done in ebony, simply done, with eyes made of brass pins. The second one is a later bowie with handle made of African blackwood. He gave up the use of ebony in the mid to late 80's (I need to go back and review my conversation notes) because of its propensity to crack [like ivory] if it was not properly cared for. The blackwood does not exhibit those characteristics and he felt made for a better handle material. This one has inset eyes using a pair of diamonds. You will also see the difference in blade thickness. The older ebony bowie has a blade about 1/3-inch thick at the reicasso. The following photos will provide detail of various aspects of these two bowies which you will see are both similar and quite different.


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osprey888 said:
Following up on Richard338 Richard338 's posts with the beautiful bird's head bowies of his creation I thought I would post a pairing of similar Bagwell bowies, this time with 11.0-inch damascus blades. As you will see when you compare the two maker's knives, the detail work on the bird's heads by Richard338 Richard338 [love those bezeled eyes!] are actually more precise than Bill Bagwell's in terms of execution of an actual bird's head--a matter of style and finishing work. These two Bagwell bowies represent two different time periods of Bill's work. The top bowie in the first photo below is one he made in the early 80's when he used his "MS" stamp. This one has a handle done in ebony, simply done, with eyes made of brass pins. The second one is a later bowie with handle made of African blackwood. He gave up the use of ebony in the mid to late 80's (I need to go back and review my conversation notes) because of its propensity to crack [like ivory] if it was not properly cared for. The blackwood does not exhibit those characteristics and he felt made for a better handle material. This one has inset eyes using a pair of diamonds. You will also see the difference in blade thickness. The older ebony bowie has a blade about 1/3-inch thick at the reicasso. The following photos will provide detail of various aspects of these two bowies which you will see are both similar and quite different.


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Wicked cool pieces!!!👍
 
osprey888 said:
Following up on Richard338 Richard338 's posts with the beautiful bird's head bowies of his creation I thought I would post a pairing of similar Bagwell bowies, this time with 11.0-inch damascus blades. As you will see when you compare the two maker's knives, the detail work on the bird's heads by Richard338 Richard338 [love those bezeled eyes!] are actually more precise than Bill Bagwell's in terms of execution of an actual bird's head--a matter of style and finishing work. These two Bagwell bowies represent two different time periods of Bill's work. The top bowie in the first photo below is one he made in the early 80's when he used his "MS" stamp. This one has a handle done in ebony, simply done, with eyes made of brass pins. The second one is a later bowie with handle made of African blackwood. He gave up the use of ebony in the mid to late 80's (I need to go back and review my conversation notes) because of its propensity to crack [like ivory] if it was not properly cared for. The blackwood does not exhibit those characteristics and he felt made for a better handle material. This one has inset eyes using a pair of diamonds. You will also see the difference in blade thickness. The older ebony bowie has a blade about 1/3-inch thick at the reicasso. The following photos will provide detail of various aspects of these two bowies which you will see are both similar and quite different.


View attachment 2601047View attachment 2601048View attachment 2601049View attachment 2601050View attachment 2601053View attachment 2601054
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Awesome, thanks for posting those.
It was fun making a tribute to Bill. Of course let's not forget the the creative inspiration for the fantastic bird's head design was entirely Bill's. I love seeing any of his pieces that I haven't seen before and I'm sure he'll continue to inspire us for many years to come.
 
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