What is the American Knife?

I would have to say that the Bowie is THE American knife, but the problem that you have is which Bowie? There are the "James Black*" designs from Washington, Arkansas, and those based upon them, which seem to all have the sharpened clip, and then there are the J.D. Searle versions from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These are the ones that fairly closely approximate the Spanish fighting knives and were ones which Rezin Bowie was accustomed to giving to friends, since his plantation was near Baton Rouge. There is a sheath for one of these in the Alamo Museum, I have read. Dixie Gun Works sells an excellent replica of the J.D. Searle Bowies.

As to the James Black Bowie design, this is the one that is our image of the "classic" Bowie for most of us. It is a large knife with a clipped point blade that has a sharpened clip and a wicked point capable of mean back-cuts (as taught by James Keating) and frequently has some sort of file work on the spine to momentarily catch an opponent's blade, as in the case of the Bart Moore Bowie. I would have to say that the best modern interpretations of the classic Bowie Knife are those by Bill Bagwell and their production versions by Ontario, remembering that the Bowie was, at heart, a fighting knife, and that is what the Bagwell Bowies are, uncompromised fighting knives.

But may I also suggest one other possible "American" knife, the Barlow clasp knife. I don't believe that I have ever seen one from a European maker, but it has an American tradition going back to the early 19th Century, at least. It is still made and is one of my favorite designs. It was the first knife that I ever owned, actually, long since lost. I have since bought a couple of high quality examples, just to keep around for "auld lang syne."

* I once caught unmitigated flack in this forum from the followers of Bernard Levine when I was a newbie for suggesting the "James Black Version" of the Bowie Knife's history. It seems that he disagrees with it and has said so quite often and quite loudly. He is quite expert and his opinions are not to be taken lightly in these matters, but he is only one of many experts and I have read others who disagree with him just as often and just as loudly.

I also would observe that, over in SwordForums, there have been some discussions of Seax Knives that have pointed out how the design of these knives varied widely over the extesive time ansd geographic periods of their use and that there were seaxes that did look remarkably like Bowie Knives, especially, apparently, among their users in the Eastern Route through Russia.
 
The knife that James Bowie had at the Vidalia Sandbar was most likely a large kitchen knife. Most historians today believe that the bowie knife as we know it today did not come into existence until three years after this historic event.

Knives that are thought to be made by James Black are anything but what we consider the classic bowie style. They looked nothing like the bowies of today. The styles that are favoured today mostly originated in Sheffield and with other blacksmiths of the day.

Below is a picture of Bowie no.1. This knife is thought to have been made by James Black. Since this knife has no mark, there is no definitive evidence that it was in fact made by Mr. Black. This knife resides at the Historic Arkansas museum.

ham_gal_knife08.jpg
 
Well, Keith, but for the lack of a guard, that knife looks almost exactly like one of Bill Bagwell's.
 
If you look at the angle this blade takes you will see that it looks nothing like bowies made today. That blade does not go in a straight line. A while back a group of ABS Mastersmiths were commisioned to make reproductions of Bowie no.1. Those that completed the reproduction all say that it was an immense challenge to make this knife. Bill Bagwell's blades like the one below bear very little resemblence to the blade on Bowie no. 1.
 
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