Can we go back to the point of the thread? I got off-course.
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What, exactly, constitutes a "Bowie" knife? (also, boo-ee or bow-ee)
- Thread starter J.Davey
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Can we go back to the point of the thread? I got off-course.
lol. I think that is the root cause of what made Bowie knife history so crazy.
Bowie gets famous for the Sandbar fight with his super tacticool knife.
Everybody wants one, then finds out it was a kitchen knife.
Knifemakers start making sexy cool stabby ones with awesome pointy stuff on them and say "That is what his knife looked like."
Everybody says "Yay!" buys them like hotcakes and everyone is happy.
Really, what happened in 1830 is no way different than now. The ninjas wanted cool stuff. Not a kitchen knife.
Exactly my point. The French and the Argentinian knives were around at the time and popular. Whoever made Bowie's Sandbar knives tweaked them a bit....weaponized them....voila! Bowie knife.
Marcinek, You have been more prevalent on BF than me, but admit it, you expect certain things out of a "Bowie" just like everybody you're making fun of.
Right?
(And that whole "ninja" thing is dead. I'd say "superhero wanna-be" now.)
(I respect the Hell out of you, but I hate being referred to as a "ninja".)
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Hickory n steel
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I consider a Bowie to genrally be a relatively traditional-ish fixed blade with 12" of overall length or greater, and having a clip point blade though there can be other blade shapes.
It should have been intended as a Bowie when it was made, if it's just a hunting or combat knife it's not necessarily a Bowie.
It doesn't have to have a cross guard but it helps for knives that may be on the border.
There can be small Bowie's such as turn of the century English hunter Bowie's and other smaller fixed blades, but they really have to instantly scream bowie when looking at them.
It should have been intended as a Bowie when it was made, if it's just a hunting or combat knife it's not necessarily a Bowie.
It doesn't have to have a cross guard but it helps for knives that may be on the border.
There can be small Bowie's such as turn of the century English hunter Bowie's and other smaller fixed blades, but they really have to instantly scream bowie when looking at them.
That story wan't making fun of anybody, just pointing out that in 1830, as now, "sexy" sells knives.
You can't be a high speed killing machine like Bowie was with a kitchen knife.
Now if you are trying to get me to post a pic of my sexy non-historically-accurate "Bowie," fine....
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But back then they didn't have malls. So it was more like open air market ninjas.
Now if you are trying to get me to post a pic of my sexy non-historically-accurate "Bowie," fine....
Ok, what in the holy hell is that. It's gorgeous.
Handle looks very Justin Gingrich... Is it a one off? Or a mod of one of his knives like an RD9 or something.
Just for the record. And I am saying "historically"....not "this is what you have to think a Bowie is"
1) Bowie era Bowies didn't have clips. Forrest, Schively-Perkins, Searles...no clip.
2) Bowie knives are "just combat knives".
3) The turn of the century "hunting Bowies" are even more incorrect than the Iron Mistress stuff. They were made for people getting int to the new hobby of outdoor recreation. They didn't work for the tasks involved in outdoor recreation. But people still wanted a Bowie knife...may they thought they could kill bears or mountain lions with them.
Again, I am saying this need not have to have anything to do with what people think Bowies look like. Like I said, I call mine a Bowie and it is wildly inaccurate, historically.
Thank you. By FAR my coolest knife. By far.
Ding, you are correct. Its a Justin Gingrich custom Ranger Bowie. RD7 sized. Maple burl scales, mirror finish, sharpened clip.
Had him make it just before he stared up with Ontario. One day maybe I'll show my pre-Ontario Afghan. I think there may be only three of them.
And for the record, much of what I know about Bowies comes from Bernard Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values 3rd Ed.
He has a phenomenal essay about Bowie knife history in there. And if somebody knows more about knife history than him, I have yet to encounter him.
He has a phenomenal essay about Bowie knife history in there. And if somebody knows more about knife history than him, I have yet to encounter him.
Justin Gingrich, correct? (nice blade!!!!!)That story wan't making fun of anybody, just pointing out that in 1830, as now, "sexy" sells knives.
You can't be a high speed killing machine like Bowie was with a kitchen knife.
Now if you are trying to get me to post a pic of my sexy non-historically-accurate "Bowie," fine....
Yup! So much "non-knife knife stuff" to buy someday!!!!
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Stop posting this pic - I will never own one and it is giving me a sad.That story wan't making fun of anybody, just pointing out that in 1830, as now, "sexy" sells knives.
You can't be a high speed killing machine like Bowie was with a kitchen knife.
Now if you are trying to get me to post a pic of my sexy non-historically-accurate "Bowie," fine....
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When I think of historically accurate bowie knives, two thoughts come to mind. First, there is the actual knife that Jim Bowie used in the famous Sandbar fight. Then second, there is the bowie knife tradition that emerged once news of the Sandbar fight went "viral" and captured the public imagination. In my opinion, both have an important place in American history.
Here's a portrait of a confederate soldier. It was common for them to pose with their bowie knives.
Here's a portrait of a confederate soldier. It was common for them to pose with their bowie knives.
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I recently read a slew of histories and biographies concerning Bloody Kansas and civil war Missouri. (Strange behaviour for an Englishman, perhaps.)
One of the things that struck me was the importance, to all guerilla fighters, of the Bowie knife, as was in the 1860’s. Used often as a killing tool, ammunition being in short supply and reloading being time consuming, the knife appears repeatedly in hundreds of actions.
Anyway, it’s a fascinating evolution that continues to capture imaginations both within and without the USA.
One of the things that struck me was the importance, to all guerilla fighters, of the Bowie knife, as was in the 1860’s. Used often as a killing tool, ammunition being in short supply and reloading being time consuming, the knife appears repeatedly in hundreds of actions.
Anyway, it’s a fascinating evolution that continues to capture imaginations both within and without the USA.
And then throw them away because they didn't function.
It is an interesting and typical part of Bowie knife history. They looked tacti-awesome. Had to have them. Didn't work.
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And then throw them away because they didn't function.
It is an interesting and typical part of Bowie knife history. They looked tacti-awesome. Had to have them. Didn't work.
Yes, there are definitely better options for the field of battle. I read an article written by a Civil War historian who said that many of the early Confederate soldiers left home armed with bowie knives. However by the latter part of the war, the bowie knife was far less common on the battlefield because most Confederate soldiers preferred other edged-weapons like the bayonet.
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Love everything that remotely falls under this genre.