The Iron Mistress bowie knife

everyone has a right to their opinion but I don't see how you don't like them.

when I saw the Iron Mistress movie, and I remember the first time I watched it, when it was the part when james black was forging the blade and he quenched it and then it showed him hammering it and then all you saw was the fire in the background for about 3 seconds and then the finished knife comes across the screen and sticks in the wall or something and then bowies hand comes slowly and yanks it out and says " I never thought such a knife could be" and then black says "it can never be again, I fused into it a fragment of a star, for better or worse that knife of yours has a bit of heaven in it.......or a bit of hell...) and then it shows the knife in bowies hands and I thought and still think that is the most beautiful knife ever created.
 
Of course that whole scene was complete fiction. It is highly doubtful that Black ever made a knife that looked anything like the Iron Mistress. The knives that some have accredited to him are all of a much different style. From what I have read about him it is also highly unlikely that he ever used metal from a meteorite in the making of his blade steel.

As far as the knife itself goes, I don't think it is the ugliest knife I have ever seen, but I sure don't find it attractive either.
 
yes keith it is completely fictional, and definitely not true about the meteorite but I still think it was cool.
 
jimbowie said:
everyone has a right to their opinion but I don't see how you don't like them.

when I saw the Iron Mistress movie, and I remember the first time I watched it, when it was the part when james black was forging the blade and he quenched it and then it showed him hammering it and then all you saw was the fire in the background for about 3 seconds and then the finished knife comes across the screen and sticks in the wall or something and then bowies hand comes slowly and yanks it out and says " I never thought such a knife could be" and then black says "it can never be again, I fused into it a fragment of a star, for better or worse that knife of yours has a bit of heaven in it.......or a bit of hell...) and then it shows the knife in bowies hands and I thought and still think that is the most beautiful knife ever created.
Click to expand...
Jimbowie hit the nail on the head with this post. It is THE BEST description ever of my reaction when I saw that scene at the "drive-out" when I was a kid. That knife went on to star in "The Adventures of Jim Bowie" on Friday night TV and it came to symbolize Bowie Kinves for an entire generation. Yes, of course it is fiction and pure Hollywood nonsense, but it is the knife that turned me on to knife history and collecting as a hobby and, although I now know that there are better designs and more historical designs out there, it is still one of my emotional favorites. That is why I was one of the very first to order one from Clyde Hollis over at Imperial.
 
FullerH said:
Jimbowie hit the nail on the head with this post. It is THE BEST description ever of my reaction when I saw that scene at the "drive-out" when I was a kid. That knife went on to star in "The Adventures of Jim Bowie" on Friday night TV and it came to symbolize Bowie Kinves for an entire generation. Yes, of course it is fiction and pure Hollywood nonsense, but it is the knife that turned me on to knife history and collecting as a hobby and, although I now know that there are better designs and more historical designs out there, it is still one of my emotional favorites. That is why I was one of the very first to order one from Clyde Hollis over at Imperial.
Click to expand...

Thanks FullerH, but are we the only ones who feel this way about the iron mistress bowie on this big forum???....COULDNT BE! but then again some people I suppose don't really care about what some actors as jim bowie used as the bowie knife, they want to know about the one the real jim bowie had, and even though I am interested in jim bowie's original knife as well, as far as the iron mistress, I don't care how accurate it is, I like it for what it is.
Here is a picture of alan ladd with the iron mistress.....in the iron mistress
alan_ladd_9.jpg
 
If you want a kick, look up "iron mistress" on Google, but don't click on all the sitres if your netnanny is watching. :)
 
other than the part when the knife is made, my favorite part of the movie is the 10 foot circle-wrist-wrapped-together-duel with alan ladd-bowie and anthony caruso-bloddy jack sturdavent. bowie obviously used the iron mistress and bloody jack used a arkansas toothpick that looked deadly. I also liked the sandbar duel in the movie. I think they did a dam fine job on that entire movie, even if its not historically correct-(well some parts are). I've seen pictures here on blade forums of peoples cooper iron mistress knives and they look really accurate and nice but when I look it up on yahoo or google or anything all I find is this and I wanna know howcome this one is different-And not as accurate.
cooper1.gif
 
Directly after the Sandbar duel, newspapers started to run rather embellished articles, which included “The” knife. Shortly after that, the mercantile/general stores were inundated with people wanting a knife “Like” Bowies. They did not want a copy, duplicate or clone they just wanted a knife “Like” his. Nobody new what that was exactly but they had a good idea “Big and mean looking” just like Bowie.
Now when Bo Randall first saw The Iron Mistress he new he was going to be getting requests for “The” knife. He set about researching the knife, which included correspondence with Allan Ladd. Bo did not want to duplicate the knife he just wanted to make a knife “Like” it. When I ordered the Randall I did not want a clone of the movie knife I just wanted a knife “Like” it. In my mind this is what a Bowie knife looks like. Do I like the Edwin Forrest and Searless Bowies yes, and I think these are probably very close in design to the sandbar knife, however when someone says Bowie knife the Iron Mistress is what I see in my mind. Ok so call me romantic and Hollywood zed what can I say.
 
i admit i know little about knives but i know my tastes and im like some here, when i hear the word bowie i think of the iron mistress and some of what are clled bowies are just over grown butcher knives or large skinning knives . heck most folks call any big knife a bowie now.
i admit tho that bors changed my mind about tv and real . that pic that he posted a few posts back of the bowie made in 1840 is just about perfect as far as i can see.that is a beautiful knife and id have been proud to carry it then or now.
david
 
Hey fullerH, I know you have a Gen 2 Iron mistress bowie and i'm pretty sure it was you in another thread who had a problem with the rivets sticking out and the wood around them was cracking and you sent it back and they sent you a new one and everything, but do you know that like collar thing underneath the guard?? the wood inside those like slots in the collar thing is like chipping. (my rivets are also sticking out) it doesnt look to serious but just wondering. I do not want to send it back or get it exchanged or anything, just wondering.
 
Jim, I am sorry that I had not seen this sooner, but I didn't. I have labored to keep the wood on my Iron Mistress Bowie from drying out. I have kept it oiled and oiled and oiled, so I have had no further problems with cracks or chipping.
 
Bors said:
...however when someone says Bowie knife the Iron Mistress is what I see in my mind. Ok so call me romantic and Hollywood zed what can I say.
Click to expand...

Bors hit the nail on the head for me, but I'll go one step further, for most of my life if someone said Knife in my mind's eye I see the Iron Mistress Bowie. But I was already on BFC before I saw Iron Mistress movie. I do remember the Jim Bowie TV show, but the image of the knife is from the Disney movie Davy Crockett. I know they're all the same knife, the same one the prop dept made for Iron Mistress. I was speachless when I handled my first Randall #12 Smithsonian Bowie, and then the Gil Hibben version.

When something gets etched in your mind when you're five, it's likely to stay with you. I'm sorry to say that although I have bowies, I don't have one that looks like the Iron Mistress.
 
psycho78, I've seen that same article before, I thought it was in Blade magazine.

What book did you find it in?
 
Phil I got that book when I was a little kid. It's the 1988 Gun Digest Book of Knives 3rd Edition. Has some good stuff in it. Here are the contents:

Chap. 1 - The Bowie Mystery - Shows the Musso knife and other knives thought to be Jim Bowie's

2. The Feel For Steel - Explains different types of steel for knives

3. Getting A Handle on it - Explains different types of natural and man made handle materials

4. Decorating Knives - A look at art knives of the day. Jim Sorenberger, HJ Schneider and Buster Warenski knives featured

5. Sheaths and Pouches

6. Collecting Knives

7. Folding Knives

8. Special Use Knives - Hunting, camping, fishing, multitools etc.

9. Made for Mayhem - Military and combat knives from around the world, Bayonets etc.

10. Survival knives

11. From Bowie To Rambo....To Infinity - Movie knives. Jimmy Lile's Rambo knives, Jack Crain's Predator knives, the Iron Mistress, The "Cobra" knife, Jody Samson and the Conan sword etc.

12. Sharpening and Sharpeners

13. Cleaning and Refurbishing - Section where some guy makes horrendously ugly repairs and modifications to knives.

14. Do It Yourself - Basically how to put together a cheap, small wooden handled swiss army type kit knife.

15. Knife Producers and Importers - Tells all about the top knife manufacturers of the day, and shows pictures of the knives and factories.
 
I have a copy of the same book, except that I got it when my son was a high schooler.
 
That book is the reason i became so interested in knives, Jim Bowie, and everything having to do with knives. I've read the book about a million times, and looked at the pictures a million more. A great influence to me as a knifemaker and general knife knut. Glad to let you guys see the pics.
 
Thanks for that post. There is a very similar article in something else, but I cant remember what it was. i'll get back to that tommorow. I wanted to see if all the Iron Mistress knives over at Imperial Weapons were sold out and....THEY WERE! All gone. just want to say again how much of a great knife it is. I mean really. To tell you the truth, I have really used this knife, and its been through a lot, and it is most definitely NOT only a show piece. Definitely a working blade. Also. I must tell you, back in my teenager days, I had a Western W49 Bowie, and having always been a big fan of The iron Mistress, what else could I do but learn to throw it. So while my friends were out playing basketball, I was in the backyard chucking a bowie at the tree :D. I have thrown the iron Mistress a few times, and it has convinced me even more that this knife is SOLID. Definitely not the smartest thing to do, but (have I mentioned???) I have 2 Gen 2 Iron Mistress's ? lol. But yeah anyways. like I say - this knife is definitely a worker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top