Who do you think......

WOW! Betewen Gabe's researching pics and RogerP's insights I'm floored. I'm witcha on all counts.

I tried to find a single pic of a Bowie by Joe Keeslar (now prez of the ABS) and I couldn't. He deserves a point of note, too.

Thanks Keith for the post!

Coop
 
The reason for my post is that I am starting to collect Bowie knives and I wanted the recommendations of the people on this forum as to who I should look at.

Many of the names mentioned here I know and a few I have knives on order from. There are others that I will definitely check out.

Gabe, I recognise the work of some of the smiths who's knives you posted pictures of and I could read the names on a few others, but could you please put names to the pictures. Thanks.

My list includes: Bill Moran, Ron Newton, Jerry Fisk, Jim Walker, Jim Crowell, Roger Massey, Shane Taylor, J.D. Smith, John M. Smith, Jimmie Buckner, Bailey Bradshaw, Joe Flournoy, Don Fogg, Jay Hendrickson, Mike Williams, Jarrell Lambert, Daniel Winkler, Tim Foster, John Fitch, James Rodebaugh, Dickie(Charles) Robinson, Steve Dunn and Steve Filicietti.

Others that are right up there as well in my books are: Harvey Dean, Rick Dunkerley, Ed Caffrey, Nick Wheeler, Kevin Cashen, David Anders, Al Pendray, Josh Smith, Dan Farr, Terry Primos, Bill Bagwell and Ray Kirk.

I also really like the primitive Bowies of Gib Guinard and the original styles of Dan Pfanenstiel.

There are probably a few I missed, but from the long list of names above you can tell that I like the work of a lot smiths when it comes to Bowies.

I find that I like Bowies of all styles. That may seem like a cop out, but it really isn't. I used to only like the slim Sheffield and fighting Bowies, but now I like Southwest, Samuel Bell, Michael Price, Daniel Searles and lately I have begun to like the big wide bladed Bowies like the Iron Mistress style as well. The more time I have spent looking into Bowies, the more my tastes have broadened.
 
Hmm. On my machine the names of the makers show up as the post subject. The only two I didn't put up names for were the two Russian makers, since the forum software doesn't like cyrillic.
 
homerdrool.gif
 
Okay, one more pic of a real sweet bowie. Anyone want to guess the maker? (No, Murray, you don't get to play)

orig.jpg


Cheers,

Roger
 
Just to those who dont know the mechanics of posting pictures, because it might seem to some that Gabe has singlehandedly used up all available bandwith for BF in this thread, but it appears all of his pictures are links to web pages, thus, he actually hasnt used ANY bandwidth, and i would urge everybody to post pictues in this manner whenever possible to save bandwidth for BF.

Having said that, i was wondering if Terry Primos makes a Bowie? I really like many of his traditional hunters which are Bowie-like in many ways, i like his temper lines too. Im thinking of pickup up one of his, but was wondering what his F&F is like, anybody have one of his?
 
Hmmm, answered my own question having found his website, and yes, he does make Bowies. Here though is my favorite of his, the El Camino.

tactical.jpg
 
I have seen much of Terry's work and his F&F is top notch. He is a workaholic and spends alot of time on his knives. A very standup guy as well. Brett
 
Originally posted by jbgatlin
None other than Harvey Dean! Brett
Click to expand...

Right on the money Brett!

And for Megalobyte, here's a Primos bowie that I was once fortunate enough to see in person (pic from Terry's site). 10" blade as I recall:

orig.jpg


Cheers,

RogerP
 
I don't know if my name should have even appeared in the same thread as some the great bladesmiths Ive seen mentioned here, but I'm flattered and I appreciate the vote of confidence. It's not that I'm ashamed of my work, it's just that I don't consider myself to be in the same league (yet) as many of the names I've seen in this thread.

My real "bread and butter" has been the smaller hunter and utility knives like the El Camino and the Montero, but I do a few Bowies from time to time.

The one shown by RogerP was one of a couple that I wouldn't have minded keeping for myself. Here's another one that was hard to put in the box and ship off:

bowie_and_sheath.jpg


jamie_guard.jpg


But anyway, I'm not here to promote myself or my knives. When it comes to "best", there's no way I could narrow it down to one maker. It just depends on the situation.

For a guaranteed strong investment as well as very high and consistent quality, I like Jerry Fisk.

One who continues to take my breath away with his Bowies is Harvey Dean.

For a big, high performance cutting machine with Master Smith quality, John Fitch is way up there on my list, as is Jimmy Crowell.

When it comes to absolute raw untethered talent and versatility I think of one guy, and that's Ron Newton. He can do it all, and he's good at it all. If it calls for machining skills, he can do it. If it's engraving or inlaying, he can do it. Sword, folder, fixed blade, gun knife? No problem, he can do it. Of course, this thread is about Bowies. Check out that Samuel Bell Bowie and silver sheath he made. Dang it, one guy shouldn't be blessed with so much talent. It's not fair, but what are you gonna do?

Another fellow who has caught my eye when it comes to talent and versatility is Bailey Bradshaw. I don't think Bailey has realized how good he is yet. Or maybe he thinks that he's a somewhat relative newcomer and needs to pay his dues first. Whatever it is, his prices are too low for what he's producing.

Also, when it comes to cut for the cash, Roger Massey comes to mind. His work is way under priced.

This is not everyone on my list, but you get the idea. To me, there's no absolute best. It just depends.
 
Hi Terry, thanks for chiming in, its great to see such a fine maker with a good dose of humility, makes me want your knives even more!

I was wondering, do all your knives have the temper line, or just some, if only some, what does it depend on? I would have thought blade length, but it looks like some of your bowies dont have it, while the shorter Caminos do. Just curious.
 
Great post Terry, thanks for participating. If the bowies of yours pictured to this point are any indication, then your fans (myself included) would no doubt like to see you do more of the big blades.

Okay, I said I was only going to post one more pic but Terry's eloquent (and accurate) description of Newton's work reminded me that I had a pic or two of this big honkin' stag bowie that graced Ron's table at Blade (Ron's pics):

orig.jpg


orig.jpg


If the bowie fans out there haven't already been drooling all over their keyboards, this oughtta do it.

Cheers,

Roger
 
Originally posted by Megalobyte
...it appears all of his pictures are links to web pages, thus, he actually hasnt used ANY bandwidth, and i would urge everybody to post pictues in this manner whenever possible to save bandwidth for BF
Click to expand...

Of course, this means that the bandwidth is expended on the other web pages, and some people regard this as stealing. I am as guilty of doing that as others, but we shouldn't forget who's paying for this.
 
Don Fogg (picture Don):
BowieStag_Fogg.jpg

(FWIW, this is the ONE knife I most regret not buying...)

Rob Hudson (picture Jim Cooper):
Hudson.jpg


There are other great makers (check below for a pic of my Dan Winkler bowie) but the 2 above are in my opinion head and shoulders above many other names mentionned in the thread.

(Picture by NordicKnives.com)
Bowie_Winkler.jpg
 
Originally posted by Joss
Of course, this means that the bandwidth is expended on the other web pages, and some people regard this as stealing. I am as guilty of doing that as others, but we shouldn't forget who's paying for this.
Click to expand...


I was under the impression that since the picture is already hosted on the other site, the person who hosts it is already using his web space and us linking to and viewing it doesnt affect him at all, but i suppose i could be totally wrong about this.

But, even if linking to it and viewing it here does limit the host website's bandwidth, i would imagine that theyre not too upset, after all, it is very likely that they want the pictures of either their work, or of a knife they're selling, to get exposure.

Oh well, i was just trying to save BF some bandwidth since i know we have had problems in the past. Sorry.
 
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