Tramontina Brasil Bowie

Stringplucker

Stringplucker

Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Messages
152
I picked up a knife set last summer for the sum total of $5. Typical story of running into a guy needing some cash, yada, yada. Anyway, I've never seen this brand outside of a single post on this board, and one post on Ebay. Anyways, the large Bowie is the reason I bought it, marked Tramontina Carbon-Steel-Brasil. It's a hefty blade with plenty of thickness. Seems to be decently made, with the exception of the handle, which is plastic.

The smaller companion knife is not near as nice as the larger one. It's made of thin SS, and generally feels cheap. Personally, I'm not even going to attempt to put an edge on the little one. They came in a cheaply made sheath.

I really can't find much information on the knife set, or on the knives as individuals. If anyone can shed some light on the topic, I'd appreciate it. I'm planning on redoing the handle on the larger knife, perhaps with a walnut and a new brass guard. If anyone has one of these, and has removed the handle, could you please share with me the length of the tang. I don't want to remove the current scales until I know something about what's under them.

Pictures for your enjoyment...and thank you for any assistance you may be able to give

image hosting 30 mb

image hosting 30 mb

image hosting 30 mb

image hosting 30 mb
 
I have a Tramontina machete and have been beating on it for 10+ years. Its a very solid blade. Sorry not much help.
 
These are the first Tramontinas I have, other than a couple kitchen knives we threw into the camp kit. The smaller of the two is fairly useless, but it part of the set. The notch in the spine by the guard makes little sense to me. I imagine that the dogleg in the guard is done to be a thumb steady.
 
One would assume (I know, not safe) that the tang at least extends to where the third pin is located. Your best bet is to just go ahead and take the scales off and see what you have underneath! From the pictures it looks like you have a full tang knife but I can't see the butt end of the handle.
After you expose the tang we can better give advice on putting on a new handle:thumbup:
 
Assume is one word that has always gotten me in trouble...Murphy loves that word.

I'll try to get the scales off tomorrow, depending on time. As soon as I do, I'll post pictures of either the tang, or the carnage.
 
nice score! heres my rehandled tramotina bowie, I've had it since i was 14-15 yrs old so 30 years now, its held up this long. long since lost the smaller knife and i rehandled it in bloodwood, the dunlap cattle knife was my granddads and it got the blood wood also
i still use the bowie when doing yard work so the bluing doesn't look as nice as this old picture
still need to make a sheath for it the cheap nylon sheath isn't great
gene

bowie1LR.jpg

bowie2LR.jpg
 
IVANKERLEY said:
nice score! heres my rehandled tramotina bowie, I've had it since i was 14-15 yrs old so 30 years now, its held up this long. long since lost the smaller knife and i rehandled it in bloodwood, the dunlap cattle knife was my granddads and it got the blood wood also
i still use the bowie when doing yard work so the bluing doesn't look as nice as this old picture
still need to make a sheath for it the cheap nylon sheath isn't great
gene

bowie1LR.jpg

bowie2LR.jpg
Click to expand...

I like the looks of yours with the color contrast of the blue steel, thick brass guard and bloodwood. How did you go about rehandling yours? I don't see pins, so I'm guessing it's epoxied?

It sure is a substantial blade. I haven't done anything with mine since getting it. The strap snap for the bowie broke on mine the first time I tried to unsnap it.
 
the tang if i remember was plenty long i ended up doing a rabbet tang, then epoxied the 2 pieces together, looks pretty good and has held up to chopping etc round the yard, haven't batonned thru concrete or anything ;-) don't remember why i didn't use pins but seeing that this was my one and only rehandle and for that matter only wood working project I'm sure there was a reason i didn't or couldn't if i had to do it again id do it all differently lol, but I'm fond of the darn thing
good luck with whatever you do, they're decent chunks of steel
gene

PS mine came with a black nylon sheath that the snap broke off of a long time ago one day I'm gonna do a sheath for it
 
Nice Bowie ivankerley , especially with that bloodwood.
If you want to make a sheath for your knife , go for a 7$ bag of leather scraps from Micheal's crafts or the like.
I made this sheath in an hour with under 14$ invested, and that knife really deserves a leather sheath with some cowboy flare to it.
 
Nice work on that Bowie Gene, and that's a good-looking sheath H n S :thumbup:

Good luck Stringplucker :thumbup:

I've had a Tramontina machete for years, the carbon steel is OK. Their stainless (on kitchen knives and folders), I've found less good.
 
IVANKERLEY said:
thank ya and thats a nice sheath ya made, looks great
Gene
Click to expand...

Thanks, and when you end up making a sheath for your Bowie I'd love to see a pic or two.
I know I've posted pictures of this sheath quite a bit, but i feel it's a good fairly realistic example of what can be made in 1hr with minimal tools ( an awl or punch , a utility knife, and a fork to mark 4 evenly spaced holes ) and a 7$ bag of leather remnants.
 
Yep, they make the quintessential South American machete. I bought one a few months ago. Once I got it good and sharp, it'll hack through tree limbs and still slice newsprint afterwards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top