Timber Rattler Outlaw Bowie

T

theAntihero

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Messages
747
I bought one of these and really like the general configuration but not the mystery "surgical steel" its made of. Anyone make something similiar thats made of a good steel?

A17-TR65.image
 
Leatherface said:
low grade stainless...prolly 420j or so
Click to expand...

It could be though it seemed to hold up better for chopping than the Meyerco machete/axe in,i believe, 420j2 that i have.

Dont get me wrong its a decent knife, especially so for the money, but i like to know what sort of steel im dealing with.
 
Looks like a Gil Hibben design, He is a great custom maker, but also does more ... eccentric designs as well.
 
Ontario Spec Plus Marine Raider Bowie

1095 carbon steel - certainly a "good" steel

knife.jpg
 
theAntihero said:
It could be though it seemed to hold up better for chopping than the Meyerco machete/axe in,i believe, 420j2 that i have.

Dont get me wrong its a decent knife, especially so for the money, but i like to know what sort of steel im dealing with.
Click to expand...
I can understand being curious about the steel, but I have to ask, if the knife performs well and does what you want it to do as a knife, why would it matter what steel it's made of? Sometimes "lesser" steels can perform quite well, especially if they have a good heat treatment. Personally, I judge a knife by how it performs, not by what it's made of.
 
killgar said:
I can understand being curious about the steel, but I have to ask, if the knife performs well and does what you want it to do as a knife, why would it matter what steel it's made of? Sometimes "lesser" steels can perform quite well, especially if they have a good heat treatment. Personally, I judge a knife by how it performs, not by what it's made of.
Click to expand...

It doesnt besides intellectual curiosity. So far it seems to hold up fine but ive only used it a time or 2, if the steel really isnt too well suited for say chopping i dont really want to push it beyond its limits and break it. I have plenty of chopping knives in 5160 and 1075 that i could use for these tasks.

Basically i dont want to use a ball peen hammer for sledgehammer work when i have plenty of sledgehammers on hand. Im not a knife snob by any means, my EDC is a Schrade Cliphanger made of some sort of shiny metal that holds an edge and hasnt burst into flames, both very good features to have in a knife and has been good enough for me for 12 years.
 
theAntihero said:
if the steel really isnt too well suited for say chopping i dont really want to push it beyond its limits and break it.
Click to expand...

Assuming it is 420 or J2 (or some Chinese equivalent), I think it should be pretty tough, being full tang and roughly .25" thick. It looks to have a hollow primary bevel, which means you could theoretically bend that part of the knife more easily hitting a knot or torquing the blade than you could were it flat ground, but I would be surprised if the blade literally broke (as in snapped in half). I agree with killgar. I'd use it and not worry too much about it. If something does happen to it, a replacement can be had for $20 + shipping. :thumbup:

I don't know offhand of anyone offering anything truly similar with a better steel, but if you're looking for a similarly sized bowie (length and thickness) you could check out Hanwei's Outrider. It's nearly the same dimensions but made of 440C. Of course, it's 10x the asking price.

edit: I see it's made in Pakistan. I guess that might make the steel even more mysterious.
 
Last edited:
I think many people would be surprised as to how tough some of these large "fantasy" blades are.I have a pair of large "440 stainless" ninja tantos given to me as a gift years ago by my brother(he's not a knife guy). Needless to say I have really abused and beat on these things to test them out and they have yet to break. These are probably only 4mm thick so something 5-6mm blade stock forget about breaking it if it is full tang. I suppose it could also be that I just got lucky with mine.
 
I had one of those UC "Black Ronin" wakizashi-like things years ago. I beat it up pretty well with some heavy chopping into a large piece of laminated 2x4 beam and flexing the blade maybe 40* out of line multiple times, etc. It never broke, never even took a set, though I imagine it would have had I bent it far enough or enough times. Made of 420J2 at a soft temper (no idea what but quite soft), so I expected it to be pretty tough and wasn't disappointed. Edge holding was pretty mediocre, as would be expected. Point is, you're right, these low carbon soft stainless steels can be very tough, even if they don't have many other positive attributes. ;)
 
My apologies for resurrecting a 2 month old thread.

In any case, the knife is impressive enough for a friend to ask me to order one for him. I'll not recount here what he said about it.

I like mine.

Folderguy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top