What kind of knife.....?

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
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What kind of knife would a mid-18th century wild-west bodyguard have carried?
(for personal protection....as well as duty/service)

I got an interesting request to look into this...

Looking for information here because of the "survival" aspect of the profession. :D


Not talking about cowboys....or even lawmen...

Talking about those folks that would have accompanied a noble businessman around taking care of his "dirty work" for him.

;)

Dan
 
Have you asked Benard Levine? I think he would have the best idea of a historically correct knife. From what I have taken from his forum my best guess would be a bowie styled knife with a guard. If the "bodyguard" couldn't get one made for him, he would probably be using one imported from the Sheffield factory in England... but if I were researching it, I would be contacting Levine and see what styles of knives were common during that time period...
Regards,
Mark
 
If you mean mid 19th Century then you should contact Bob Boze Bell at True West Magazine. He is walking book of knowledge.
here is his e-mail

bozebell@aol.com

Be sure and tell him "Cole Younger" sent you.

I personally think a bowie style could have been used but a more common type would have been a kephart (sp)

What this person carried would have carried would have depended on the area he was in. On the frontier would have been different than in St. Louis.

Cheers
 
I am sure he would have owned a Bowie-style knife...but I suppose they were a bit hard to carry around except for the most diehard frontiersman....or if someone had a specific "task" to accomplish.

*shrug*
 
I'm thinking if a bodyguard is protecting a 'noble' he'll probably be dressed for it. So maybe a suit and such, this would also be true of his weapons. From this reasoning i'm ruling out a huge bowie or knuckleguard type knife. What's left I think is the stiletto style knife. Highly concealable and really useful for killing, which is all I could imagine these knives being required to do.

I'm also reasoning that then like now many bodyguards came from the military so I think you would maybe see a fair amount of bayonets being cut down, reprofiled and double-edged.

Just my thoughts anyway, no real factual evidence backing them sadly.
 
I'd guess a Bowie style knife or some kind of guardless dagger style as carried by the native american indians !
 
trade-fr.jpg
 
It would look very much like Bark River's new Mountain Man Dag.
Or, maybe a Michael Price gold rush era small bowie.
 
Oh and maybe some people would use medical knives. Great steel and proven to slice flesh.
liston-knife-set-101.jpg


I know we're talking knives but I was thinking the bodyguards may carry saps or brass knuckles. Plus if they're doing dirty work for their boss then they'll probably be cheap shotting the target. Sticking a blade in someone generally isn't quick or silent so sapping and dragging them away to finish them off might be the way to go. Sort of like a using a tazer nowadays.

If we're going bowie then I reckon it'll be a nice stag or coffin handled blade. Bit of a big 'S' guard to.
 
RoyalM said:
Sticking a blade in someone generally isn't quick or silent so sapping and dragging them away to finish them off might be the way to go. Sort of like a using a tazer nowadays.

.
Click to expand...

Very rarely does someone, hit with anything, crumple quietly unless they are killed by the blow.

There are lots of examples of 19th century knives still around, a google image search of 19th century knife or old west knife brings up lots of examples that could have been used. Chris
 
so are we talking about 1750 (mid 18Th century) or 1850 (mid 19Th century)?
Big difference in blade types one century to another.
mid 18Th century would find you in the east, mid 19Th would find you much farther west perhaps.
The small double edge mother of pearl sleeve or garter dagger could come into play in the later time period. Also any of the myriad gambler type daggers.
Mid 18Th century would find trade knives similar to those pictured above if closer to the 1800s or more of what we think of kitchen knife pattern knives today.
The British Isle blade types should be consider as well, skein-duh, dirk and such.
Just my 2 cents....
Ted
 
Daniel Koster said:
I am sure he would have owned a Bowie-style knife...but I suppose they were a bit hard to carry around except for the most diehard frontiersman....or if someone had a specific "task" to accomplish.

*shrug*
Click to expand...

BRKT actually makes a knife called the 'Card Player' or 'Poker knife' or some such thing that is a bowie style that was worn under the vest. I think this would lead you in the right direction Mr Koster.
 
TedPalmer said:
so are we talking about 1750 (mid 18Th century) or 1850 (mid 19Th century)?
Big difference in blade types one century to another.
mid 18Th century would find you in the east, mid 19Th would find you much farther west perhaps.
The small double edge mother of pearl sleeve or garter dagger could come into play in the later time period. Also any of the myriad gambler type daggers.
Mid 18Th century would find trade knives similar to those pictured above if closer to the 1800s or more of what we think of kitchen knife pattern knives today.
The British Isle blade types should be consider as well, skein-duh, dirk and such.
Just my 2 cents....
Ted
Click to expand...

Very Good points, I read the initial post and keyed in on the wild west and didn't notice the original poster said 18th century. As Ted said, huge difference in styles of knives between 1750 and 1850. Chris
 
The mid-1800's is when the popularity of the switchblade came around. Probably pretty popular with those that wanted to keep it discrete.

For the mid-1700's, I imagine the double edged daggers would have been common.
 
In concealables, I'd look at some of the green river knives and the various patch knife designs.

Since Wild West means "anything from anywhere" given the frontier nature, you'll find everything from qama and kindjahl style blades to a curved blade 9 inch double edge sailor's knife with engraved ivory, to bowies. Stiletto type blades fo all sorts are common in period, too.

Military issue blades are good bet, as well.

I think the Lagioule is period. And gravity knives, of all things.
 
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