Western W49 Bowie

[zzyzzogeton]

You have a rehandled Western Bx-54 Bushman, 1943 to 1944. This is the knife Western used as the basis for their Western Bowies/W49s.

The original handle was made of black bakelite. This picture shows the original handle and sheat, along with the back side of the knife.

When WW2 started, the AAC and Navy used the Collins #18 Machete Pequeno in their bailout survival packs. Collins could not produce enough, so Case and Western received contracts to produce them. (Kinfolks also made them, but not as part of an official contract.)

The Collins #18s/clones are commonly, and incorrectly, called the V44 Marine Raider Bowie. The V44 was a fixed blade machete by case and was one of 2 subsequent replacements for the Machete Pequenos/clones.

 

[Duckdog]

zzyzzogeton Thank you very much. This is a great help, and one of the benefits of spending some time on BladeForums. I would have searched a long time to get that depth of information. I saw references to the knives that you mention as "pilots survival bowie/machetes" in Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values (1985), but there was not much detail or dates.
- Stuart

 

[dingy]

hi you all.
recently i broght a W49 , look old and net.
do you guys know how old of this bowie ?
thanks
dingy.