Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bill Bagwell aka sharpsguy R.I.P.

Godspeed Sharpsguy and family.

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Bill Bagwell was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on January 11, 1944. He grew up in rural northwest Louisiana and was introduced to the outdoors at an early age by his uncles, who were avid hunters and fishermen. Bagwell was also a talented athlete and lettered in football, baseball, and track during his high school career. His senior year at North Caddo High School saw him named to the High School All-American Football team as a tackle, and he attended Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship. He also attended Northwestern State University and has an educational background in engineering, English, and history.

Bagwell has always been fascinated by knives. He made his first knife at the age of 10 from an old saw. While he was in high school he began to forge knives in the industrial arts shop, and by the time he was 15 he was forging hunting and Bowie knives as a hobby. He made and sold knives while he was in college and became a full-time professional bladesmith in 1969. Bagwell's skill and talent as a bladesmith is due in part to the fact that he grew up in an area that was rich in the lore of James Bowie and the early history of both Texas and Louisiana. The Bowie knife played a prominent role in the early history of the area, and the young Bill Bagwell wanted a good one for himself. Since none were available for purchase, he began to make his own. Bagwell has always sought excellence, and his early quest for a better Bowie knife has ultimately brought his knives to the point where they are today.

Bill Bagwell is one of the true pioneers in the making of Damascus blades in the United States. He completed his first successful Damascus blade on December 1, 1973, after about six months of trial and failure. In early 1976, with the late Don Hastings, B.R. Hughes and Bill Moran, Bagwell became one of the founding members of the American Bladesmith Society and wrote the original charter for that organization. He also served as the society's first secretary and was on its first board of directors.

Bagwell has lectured on blades and forging at the University of Wyoming at Dubois, the University of Florida at Tallahassee, and Texarkana College at its facility at Black's Forge in Washington, Arkansas. Bagwell has also made wootz steel and began work in that field in 1979.

In 1984, Bill Bagwell became the knife editor for Soldier Of Fortune magazine, and the monthly "Battle Blades" column was begun under his byline. He continued to write the column until 1988 when pressing family matters called him to Belize for 18 months. (This November, Paladin Press will release the long-awaited anthology of Bagwell's "Battle Blades" columns, entitled Bowies, Big Knives, and the Best of Battle Blades. Advance copies will be on display at the Soldier Of Fortune Convention in Las Vegas, October 12-15.) Upon his return from Belize, Bagwell resumed his knifemaking career.

In September 1995, Bagwell attended the prestigious Paris Knife Show, where one of his Damascus Bowies won the award for the best fixed-bladed Damascus knife at the show. The following spring he was commissioned to go to Theirs, France, and conduct a forging and knifemaking demonstration by the Theirs Department of Commerce and Industry.

Today Bagwell focuses his knife energies on his "Hell's Belle" fighting Bowies. The Hell's Belle is acknowledged by many to be the finest fighting Bowie knife ever made, and those examples hand-forged and made by Bagwell himself are, without a doubt, in a class by themselves. Bagwell's research and studies into tactics and application of the fighting Bowie knife in a combat environment have not gone unnoticed, and he currently serves as an instructor to selected units of the U.S. Army's Special Forces at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

Bagwell is also an accomplished rifle shot. His primary interest is in black powder firearms, and he has served as a consultant to GOEX since 1993. His love of the outdoors has remained strong over the years, and his interest in history has led him to study the arms and weapons of early America. While Bagwell's early studies were focused on muzzleloaders (which ultimately led him to good Hawken rifles), the last 10 years have seen him develop the knowledge and skills necessary to shoot the black powder cartridge rifles. The long-range marksmanship of the buffalo hunters of the plains was not just legend, and Bagwell can today take a Sharps rifle and hit a gallon jug at a quarter of a mile with cast lead bullets, black powder, and iron sights.

Bill Bagwell is a rarity in today's world. He is a man at the top of his game who is doing exactly what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. Happily married, he and his wife, Sidra, currently reside in Louisiana.

Very sad deal. My condolences to his wife, family, and friends.

Bill was a great guy. RIP, my friend.

RIP Mr. Bagwell.

May he RIP.

My condolences, thoughts and prayers are with the family.

I fondly recall reading his work in SOF all those years ago, the man knew his blades and blade history.

Dwayne

The older we get, the more loss we experience. RIP, Sharpsguy. Prayers of comfort for your family.

Quite an accomplished fellow, and based on the many here, a damn fine man to be able to call friend.

I did not know him personally. My loss.


RIP and condolences to all who knew and loved him.



Tim

Godspeed, Sir.

Sounds like a stand up guy I’m sorry we lost him! RIP

Sorry to hear of losing another craftsman and
artist. I met Mr. Bagwell a good while back at
some kind of outdoor show when he was selling
Sharps rifles. He had several there, and a couple
of black powder muzzleloaders that he used for
hunting, and not for looks. I don't remember what
size the one was, but you could almost stick your
thumb in the end. He was a really pleasant person,
and we talked a good while about muzzleloader
hunting, and he was telling me about how accurate
the Sharps rifles were, let me handle the guns, etc.
Really nice man to visit with.
Still have the cards he gave me somewhere.
He was out of Naples, in the ne part of the state
at the time. I can't recall if he said he lived there,
or just did business from there or both.
Good hunting that way, so probably both

RIP Mr Bagwell

RIP Sharpsguy.

Bill helped me getting my C. Sharps shooting. He was more than willing to talk to me about various “tricks” of using cast bullets and setting up my single shot rifles to shoot them. He was interested in my hunting success with lead bullets, black powder and iron sights. He quizzed me about the cast bullets performance when I was successful and chided me about using a modern, scoped rifle the next year.

Bill was an intelligent, generous man. My sincere condolences to his family!

Godspeed Bill!

So sad... RIP

A gentleman, very willing (and able) to pass along his knowledge and craft.

Spent hours talking to him one day....I remember it very well and it seemed just the other day.

RIP my friend. May the powder be black and the shot true on the other side.

Didn t know him at all, but can offer condolences to those left behind.

if that is a 10 shot group at 500 yards in the OP, with open sights, holy schit! The fella was a hell of a rifleman!

RIP Sharpsguy . I met him at one of the Tennessee hog hunts. Good guy!

Sorry to hear this news. Prayers on the way.

RIP Bill!

I heard about it from mutual friend gunner500 (member here) about 4:30 PM, about an hour after Bill passed today.
Gunner500 lives closer to Bill and is one of his most distinguished trainees in the art of the Sharps rifle.
I never got to meet Bill in person, sorry to say.

I had talked to Bill several times while he was recuperating from surgery some weeks ago.
He was in a physical rehabilitation/medical facility/hospital, which is common following such surgery on a man of Bill's age with chronic spine issues.
They were probably keeping him for the maximum duration for such a stay, 21 days post-op sounds familiar, I am a retired physician.
They kept one of my relatives for the full 21 days and then some, after major surgery: Rehab.
So, Bill and his Wife were there practicing getting him in and out of a motor vehicle/transport simulation today.
He was walking and talking and expecting to go home in 2 days.
After a bit of walking he collapsed and his heart stopped beating.
Pulmonary embolus is most suspect, of course.
I cannot speculate anymore than that most likely thing.

Remember Peter Hathaway Capstick deceased after cardiac bypass surgery (CABG) ?
He was 56, and also might have died due to pulmonary embolus, or some other complication. Blood clot travels from lower extremity to lungs and blocks heart and lung circulation.
Don't know if cause was ever reported for sure.
Unlike Capstick, Bill Bagwell did not drink alcohol to excess nor write fiction.
Bill Bagwell was a clean-liver and truth-teller.

God bless Bill and his loving Wife.