Photos Western Bowie USA

Found a twin brother of my own knife, also from the first generation (around 1965-1966) but in better overall condition.
The blade has seen less sharpenings over the years, only the apex was a bit blunt & damaged due to the use of a pull through device.
The guard has no play and the wooden grip panels also look good and have no gaps.
Reground the blade by hand to a full convex zero edge using 2 new sheets of 400 grit wet & dry and WD40 as a lubricant, then removed the small burr with 1.0 micron diamond compound on MDF.
No machine was used for this regrind.
The new apex fits in the 25 degrees inclusive slot of my Tormek WM200, just as the other one.
Currently busy cleaning up the swedge a bit with a couple of DMT Diafolds.
The handle & guard on this one will remain unmodified, for the new owner to decide upon.

The two knives together:





 
Last edited:
kwackster said:
Found a twin brother of my own knife, also from the first generation (around 1965-1966) but in better overall condition.
The blade has seen less sharpenings over the years, only the apex was a bit blunt & damaged due to the use of a pull through device.
The guard has no play and the wooden grip panels also look good and have no gaps.
Reground the blade by hand to a full convex zero edge using 2 new sheets of 400 grit wet & dry and WD40 as a lubricant, then removed the small burr with 1.0 micron diamond compound on MDF.
No machine was used for this regrind.
The new apex fits in the 25 degrees inclusive slot of my Tormek WM200, just as the other one.
Currently busy cleaning up the swedge a bit with a couple of DMT Diafolds.
The handle & guard on this one will remain unmodified, for the new owner to decide upon.

The two knives together:







Click to expand...
Just keep rubbing it in you lucky so and so! Nice pair!
 
Yonose Yonose : just posted my mail address on your profile page.
If you drop me line i will let you know how i found my second Bowie.
 
kwackster said:
Yonose Yonose : just posted my mail address on your profile page.
If you drop me line i will let you know how i found my second Bowie.
Click to expand...
I can’t seem to find it on my profile page; I don’t really know what I’m doing with regard to navigating this site, but I am interested if I can figure it out
 
Hey kwackster,

Just a little correction - the first gen Western Bowie (like yours with BOWIE inverted on the pile side) was 1964 to 1965.

The 1965 - 1966 second generation had the BOWIE portion of the stamp moved to the mark side.
 
A little belated follow-up story:

Upon closer inspection it turned out that this second Bowie had a number scratched in the brass guard, very small and only readable through a magnifying glass.
That number was a social security number or SSN, which i managed to trace back to the man who put it there.
The knife once belonged to James Michael Barnett, born: 08/23/1947, died: 11/12/2003, of 4301 Greenback Road; Utica, Kentucky.

Then a friend of mine who still uses Facebook managed to find and even contact his widow, and asked her if she would like to have the knife sent back to her.
While she declined that offer, she told my friend that she remembered the big Bowie as the knife Michael carried and used while stationed in Vietnam, and also after he returned to the US.
Michael enjoyed woodworking and the outdoors, through gardening and working in his yard.
His knife now has a prominent place in a display cabinet in the Netherlands.
















 
A Western Bowie was also used by Robert Redford in the classic movie Jeremiah Johnson from 1972:

 
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