Why bowie knives for fighting?

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Ebbtide said:
Bowies have been illegal in TX since the 1800's.

:D
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Yep, specifically by name:

Sec 46.01 Definitions

(6) “Illegal Knife” means a:

(A) knife with a blade over five and one half inches;

(B) hand instrument designed to cut or stab another by being thrown;

(C) dagger including but not limited to a dirk, stiletto, and poniard;

(D) bowie knife;


There is a specific definition for a Bowie by Texas law in Mireles v. State, 192 S.W. 241 (Tex. Crim. App. 1917) A knife in a scabbard with a blade nine inches long and a handle four or five inches long described as a butcher knife was embraced in the term “bowie knife” as defined by the Penal Code.
 
Why are Bowie-style knives still popular fighting knives today? Because they show up better on the movie screen. Try filming a scene with Rambo fighting a grizzly bear with a Case peanut. Sure he could probably do it, because he's a Rambo super-hero after all, but you wouldn't even see the knife!
 
SCWillson said:
Yep, specifically by name:

Sec 46.01 Definitions

(6) “Illegal Knife” means a:

(A) knife with a blade over five and one half inches;

(B) hand instrument designed to cut or stab another by being thrown;

(C) dagger including but not limited to a dirk, stiletto, and poniard;

(D) bowie knife;


There is a specific definition for a Bowie by Texas law in Mireles v. State, 192 S.W. 241 (Tex. Crim. App. 1917) A knife in a scabbard with a blade nine inches long and a handle four or five inches long described as a butcher knife was embraced in the term “bowie knife” as defined by the Penal Code.
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Will the new Texas knife law change that?

A shame - a Bowie being illegal in Texas. Almost a sin! :witless:
 
They have been proven to be extremely deadly if you know what your doing with it ( Jim Bowie ). It was designed as a general purpose knife, so it will not be perfect at anything, but it will be good at most things.
 
Not a general purpose knife back then.
A back up to the single shot firearms of the day.
There were still popular "fencing salons" back in Bowie's day.

Nowadays with the the lines blurred with camp knives and hunters and little bitty knives all tagged "bowie"

We had a similar discussion a month ago and a month before that.

Here is a link
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...wies-For-Anything/page2?highlight=bowie+knife

Check out the reading list that I posted there.
:D
 
A bit off topic but what would be the best book or two on the history of the bowie knife? I have Bill Bagwell's book on the knife & it made me want to know much more.

As to the OP's question, Bagwell's book goes overboard answering that question as well as having all sorts of other good stuff. Highly recommended.
 
SaintlyBrees said:
Will the new Texas knife law change that?

A shame - a Bowie being illegal in Texas. Almost a sin! :witless:
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I had not heard of any new pending Texas knife laws and the legislative session is over. But if there is one pending somewhere I wouldn't anticipate it making possession of a Bowie knife less restricted.

One good thing about Texas' knife laws - they make no distinction between concealed and open carry. If it is legal to carry at all, it can be carried either openly or concealed.

EDIT: Just did a bit of research and apparently a new law making switchblades legal in Texas is pending, and another law in the works is to prohibit cities from having knife laws stricter than the state laws. If that is true it is good news for knife owners in Texas.
 
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SCWillson said:
I had not heard of any new pending Texas knife laws and the legislative session is over. But if there is one pending somewhere I wouldn't anticipate it making possession of a Bowie knife less restricted.

One good thing about Texas' knife laws - they make no distinction between concealed and open carry. If it is legal to carry at all, it can be carried either openly or concealed.
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I'm unfamiliar with the legal action, but it is my understanding that certain portions of the existing Texas Knife laws were repealed and signed by the Governor. Such repeal to go into effect September 1. What, exactly, is repealed is what I do not know. I believe that switchblades will be legal, but not sure about any other type or size of knife.

That said, the Knife Rights web site mentions that 46.01(6)(C) still includes, "dagger, including but not limited to dirk, stilletto and poniard" as defined as illegal, but doesn't mention Bowie as still included or removed. Not having seen the bill nor the language, I am very fuzzy on what the repeal actually covers. The law that the site links to is the old law as the new one has not passed yet. More here:

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=1
 
"A good bowie will slice like a razor, chop like a cleaver and very nearly as well as a kukhri, and will, in fact, stab and penetrate better than a dagger." - Bill Bagwell - Bowies,big knives and the best of battle blades.
 
There was another thread on this topic, but I believe that Bowie knives just became a fashion and were most used by people for personal protection when you were dealing with black powder handguns and often single shot rifles and handguns of the day. But my guess is that they were also popular for the same reasons that big knives attract knife lovers today even though their practicality is often less than hoped. But if you were in the frontier and limited to one knife, a larger knife was often the choice. You learn to use large knives.
 
SCWillson said:
Yep, specifically by name:

Sec 46.01 Definitions

(6) “Illegal Knife” means a:

(A) knife with a blade over five and one half inches;

(B) hand instrument designed to cut or stab another by being thrown;

(C) dagger including but not limited to a dirk, stiletto, and poniard;

(D) bowie knife;


There is a specific definition for a Bowie by Texas law in Mireles v. State, 192 S.W. 241 (Tex. Crim. App. 1917) A knife in a scabbard with a blade nine inches long and a handle four or five inches long described as a butcher knife was embraced in the term “bowie knife” as defined by the Penal Code.
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I wish people would quit quoting the law without quoting ALL of it. That law you quoted is in regards to CARRYING a Bowie. It is NOT ILLEGAL to own a Bowie in Texas. You also failed to note the exemption:"Exceptions: official; actor was own premises; was traveling; engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, or other sporting activity; security guard]."

So not only is it legal to own a Bowie in Texas, it's legal to CARRY them, as long as you're hunting or fishing, or engaged in other outdoor activities. Basically, the law just forbids you from walking through the local Walmart or whatever with a big 9 inch blade on your hip.
 
the bowie knife survives with a "fighting knife" stigma
partly because
back in the day when the west was being opened,
cutlery in the guise of "bowie knives" (not that there was a set standard pattern)
was a very "marketable" product positioning
aimed at the greenhorns headed out west.
the lore would have been just too great to pass.
who knows just how many were made.
but one thing is for sure, plenty enough that
it became a generic knife type with the passing of time.
probably because just about everyone had them.
head down further south and you have something called a punal
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/facon/criollo.html
the thing is, back then early manufactured bowie knives
american or otherwise;
probably wasn't intentionally made solely for the purpose of "fighting",
but rather, was a magical out doors knife with enough marketing mojo for doing it all.
fast forward, and today we have a standard looking clip point blade;
and along with sharpened false edges
having improved the lethality of the classic bowie knife.
the thing is, things constantly get improved upon with time.
so that now, we don't fence for honor but instead
seek to improve the fighting dynamics through form and techniques.
so if the tool happens to be an old fashion bowie,
you can be sure that somebody will start pimping
just so he has the dimensions of a knife that would fit his style.
in doing so, would inevitably be a making fighter out of a hunting bowie knife.
the second world war, saw the birth of the navy mark 2 aks kabar.
here was a knife born out from war.
one can witness where this has lead the development of the fighting bowie to our current times.
 
DShiflet said:
I wish people would quit quoting the law without quoting ALL of it. That law you quoted is in regards to CARRYING a Bowie. It is NOT ILLEGAL to own a Bowie in Texas. You also failed to note the exemption:"Exceptions: official; actor was own premises; was traveling; engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, or other sporting activity; security guard]."

So not only is it legal to own a Bowie in Texas, it's legal to CARRY them, as long as you're hunting or fishing, or engaged in other outdoor activities. Basically, the law just forbids you from walking through the local Walmart or whatever with a big 9 inch blade on your hip.
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Yes, my bad. I should have made that clear.
 
Yes to Texas... the law refers to carrying the blade such as walking in downtown Houston or Dallas (Corcidile Dundee stuff). I suspect you'd end up in jail or at least loose your knife. It is still okay in the outdoors, but I would suggest you don't get into a knife fight in the "outdoors".
 
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