Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Bowie Lusting

I have, for some time, been lusting for an Ivory scaled bowie for what ever reason. I recently ended up in a trade with a gentleman from PA that told me he was a knife maker. During the course of our conversations he sent me some pics and although crappy pictures, the knives looked pretty good. I googled his name, and found nothing on him. In talking with him, I learned that he really did not make knives to sell as he said "there's no money in them". He said that he mainly made knives for gifts, or to give to local charities to raffle off, and then they give him a portion of the proceeds. He did say that he had been working with steel since he was a kid.

Not knowing anything about him, I was skeptical of what I might get if I worked something in on the trade so I wanted to be sure that I would come out ok on the deal. At the culmination of the deal he got my stuff, I got his, to include three of his bowie knives. Small, medium and large. I received the largest of the knives today and I'm fairly impressed with the knife.

Since I am not a knife expert by any stretch of the imagination I thought I would post a couple of pics here for those more familiar to critique. I'm looking to learn from what others see I guess. The gentleman claims that he has had this knife sell for in the 750 range with exhibition curly maple as scales. I have no idea whether this is true or not. Blade is just shy of 10 inches. He has cut these blanks from a large commercial saw blade. Scales are old "bark" walrus ivory with brass liners. The ivory really "pops" with the brass.

hard to tell if those are fitting gaps at handle & bolster. if the photos were better a definitive opinion on handle & grinds could be offered.old saw blades are usually l6 alloy or similar but the heattreat decides whether the blade is a good performer.--cranky72

As Crank mentioned, its all about the HT. That will determine how functional it is.

F&F seem fairly good from the pics.

One note, I would think a maker that had been in the biz as long as he states would have moved to some better steels by now. Not saying saw blades aren't "good enough", but you would think he would be into stainless or forged carbon like 1095 by now.

Just my opinion, and worth what you paid for it.

After posting I looked at the pics and knew they weren't of the best quality. Going to be taking some more pics of stuff a little later, and I will try and get a few better ones and post them.

In talking with him, some of the knives he initially showed me, he stated, "these are for flesh cutting only". He told me that he had not built them to be used for truly hard use. I told him that if I was going to have a bowie, I wanted to be able to use it for what it was intended, "hard use". Upon it's arrival, I ripped it out of the box and promptly removed two fairly large dead branches from my apple tree with it. No damage was noted, and the edge remained sharp.

All of the information I have on him, came from him, so I have to take anything with a "grain of salt". He stated that he got his start working with steel as a kid, his dad was a water well driller, and he would sharpen and treat bits. I do not believe that he has much for tools, so I get the feeling his stuff is labor intensive, hence why he say's "there's no money in them". He talks alot about working in the dark and watching the color of the steel during his process.

I'll try and get some better pics.

It depends on his market if he actually gets that much. People who actually know knives know what to look for but if he is in a tourist area then saw mill blades and a slightly rougher appearance might actually help him sell.

I know what he means about no money in it. I have made and sold quite a few knives.

Actually the intended purpose for Bowie knives is a weapon, not a chopper. I make my bowie knives light and fast with thin high grinds. They are intended to mess a man up, not chop wood. Originally a gun would be empty fast with no fast reloads and a bowie could often be used to better effect in close quarters.

that knife looks pretty good to me. Some "bark" walrus ivory scales that are 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 would cost in the $200 range and many are even higher. I would think the guy based his price on the time and effort put into making that bowie

Camera's pissin me off, I'll try again on a couple more, lol.

Cranky,

I think what you're seeing is a bit of rouge. He had not polished the scales when I got it so I buffed a bit on the scales and guard. With the knife in hand, fitting is tight there.

I think he's talking about the junction where the guard is fitted. I can't tell if that is a black glue line or liners. Either way, you shouldn't let it rob you of enjoying a very nice knife.

A knife maker will see small things that most people won't give a second glance.

RH,

I would venture a guess that some of his value is coming from being in a benefit type setting, I could be wrong though. I would assume that values in that type of setting could be somewhat elevated though.

I agree with you on the intended purpose of the bowie as well, however, for my usage this day and age, if I use it at all, it is more likely to be used for "camp" type scenario's rather than dumping someone's innards onto the ground. For strictly a self defense/close quarter battle weapon a lighter sleeker weapon would be my choice.

I'm having a heck of a time getting good pics. It's about too shiny, lol.

One other thing that he did ask when we first started this process is what my hand size was, as well as if I was right or left handed. I don't know if you can tell in the pics, but the guard is slightly canted with the top being slightly to the right. It looked a little strange too me when I first got it and I asked him about it. He stated that I was right handed, and that is the reason for it. He indicated that the way that knife was built, that should offer better feel and more control. I will say, it does fit like a glove in my right hand, and I can see how it would offer a little more control.

The knife also balances extremely well IMO. Balance point appears to be right at the leading edge of the guard.

I can't tell much about the handle, but from what I can see of the blade, his grinding is first class all the way.

What I do not understand is why people who are this talented uses scrap steel. With his ability, he could go to one of the better tool steels, either stainless or carbon.

Not that saw blades are scrap--there have been hundreds of blades made with it, but there is better steel out there, if for no other reason than you know the type of steel and the correct heat treat for it. The heat treat is going to determine the quality of the blade in use.

Looks like a damned fine knife to me. If you like it that's really the only important thing, unless you're lookin to sell it. If not, I'd enjoy the hell outa it and not worry to much about what steel was used etc. Bowie's aren't the most practical blade anyway but I'm sure it'll serve ya well as a camp knife if that's what ya have in mind for it.

Dale

for better pics cause of the shine, get farther away and zoom in....or....turn off the flash and bounce light from a window or light bulb off a white sheet of paper to make the whole knife brighter without using a flash

Thanks for the input guys. Rattler, I'll try getting further away and zooming, I'd like to post a few better pics.

I asked him specifically about the saw blade. He told me that someone had given it too him. He was not positive of the steel, but he did say he believed it was stainless steel, but it was old enough that it did not have the carbide tips. I guess I can't say for certain.

123, I would agree, his grind is excellent. I have seen a helluva lot worse. Maybe just a couple of spots that it could've been a touch better, but all in all very good IMO.

Mtnman, I appreciate your input, and I would agree with you, what matters most is whether or not I like it, and I really do. I guess I didn't go into this with the idea of selling, and to be honest, if I did sell, I'd have no idea what to even ask for it. I intially went into this deal figuring I'd have a couple to display and one to use if I wanted. I just got word, and saw the pics, the smaller of the three is done and headed my way as of tomorrow. I should have it in hand by Wednesday. It too is walrus scaled, but it isn't bark. Based on the pics, it too looks really good. The initial idea was to do one in bark ivory, one in inner ivory, and the middle one in buffalo horn. I'm beginning to re-think the buffalo, lol.

Biggest problem is, now he is wanting to do more trading, lol.

Maybe, just maybe, thanks too rattler, I've got something that guys can work with a little better.













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much better, looks like you might be pushing the capabilities of your Camera a bit.....if yah have a tripod or just something solid to rest the camera on you will prolly get rid of some of the graininess but all in all much better photos.....glad i could help.....

have had to learn these tricks via trial and error trying to take pics of small plants and critters like frogs that can sit on your fingernail when you dont have real macro equipment to get them and trying to make do with what i had

the pics later on showed better fitting than earlier. usually saw blade steels are carbon instead of stainless so you may want to clean blade after using & oil it a little. if you want to know whether its a carbon alloy ; cut a lemon or orange & wait a coupal of minutes. carbon will start a patina almost immediately. i use lots of carbon great easterns & rejoice when the black natural patina covers the blade.--cranky72

As I was taking the pics that was the one thing I kept thinking, I should have it on something. I wasn't the steadyiest as I was doing it. They are, however, a bunch better than the other crap I was getting.

I tried getting a bit of the polishing rouge out of the gaps before taking these pics. Fit is tight at the guard, but with the rouge it did appear to have a slight gap in the pics. I wouldn't have liked that at all.