My new bowie, only 18 years in the making

[leonc]

When i was 17ish, a friend's father gave me a blade blank, a large bowie.

i taped the tang, sharpened the blade, and took it on scout camp, where it proved itself completely.

i got a friend of my father's to put an oak handle on it, and it did the job until i was batoning it through a tree trunk with a 4lb hammer (don't ask) and the reverb made the glued not pinned handle shatter.

I was older and slightly more skilled by then, so i put a simple handle on, pine held on with bunk bed bolts (its what i had at the time).

a few years went by, and i got more skills, more money, and more free time, and so thought i would do a proper job.

i bought some oak for scales, and managed to cut it so i could get scales for my becker necker and for the bowie.

I decided i wanted it to look rustic - i had the knife when i was young and couldn't afford to do things properly, so apart from the scales, everything was scrounged or salvaged.

The crossguard was a thick brass door hinge, cut and filed to fit the tang.

The leather came from a Marlboro classics document case i was gived many moons ago, though i admit i did buy the wenzcel thread.

I had a big block of beeswax i used to waterproof and strengthen the leather, melting it in with a paintstripping gun.

It's not pretty, but it works.

The sheath has a welt, and fits the knife well. The handle is smooth enough to be comfortable, but allows a good grip on a heavy chopping knife. The guard is solid, and big enough to protect my hand without being too big. The blade is mirror polished on the flats, and convexed from the sabre grind, and it'll shave hair, and go through a wrist thick branch in one go.

Overall, i'm quite pleased. It's not nearly as pretty as the works of art i see on here, but it's a worker, and i done it!



http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/357.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/047.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/044.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/046.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/045.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/cheekyleon/britbladespics/042.jpg

[joe-wee]

With a history like that, you can't go wrong!

[harryf3]

A great story and a nice knife!

[dalliance]

What a great history. I like the second pic with the matchstick sized comparison knife!

[leonc]

What a great history. I like the second pic with the matchstick sized comparison knife!



To put things in perspective, that's a Benchmade 705, 3" blade with a 3.5" handle.

The bowie has a 13.5" blade, and about a 5" handle, can't remember how much it weighs, but it has nice balance, and handles well.

I didn't bother sharpening the clip as i don't do a lot of back-cutting - i knifefight as often as i levitate, but the clip is semisharp, so it can be used to cut things i don't want to use the edge for.
You might have seen a chip about halfway down the edge, it's from when a friend chopped up a pallet, and it cut through a nail. Unlike those video's you see where knives cut through nails and bricks with no edge damage, my knife took a major chip and dent, and to grind it out completely would mean losing too much steel. It's a working knife, and the few inches closest to the handle are undamaged for carving and feather-sticking, so it's not worth trying to pretty it up- i'm clumsy so i'll probably bash it again.

There are better knives out there, some of which i own, but for some reason i just love this one.

[bushmeister]

Just goes to show, its not always about the steel!

[parbajtor]

Nice, Von Tempsky would be proud to own it.

[scandi nut]

very nice where did you get the bolts?
cheers

[Winter]

nice, von tempsky would be proud to own it.
:d

[leonc]

very nice where did you get the bolts?
cheers

Used to date a girl who worked at a Y.H.A hostel, and whilst she worked i had little to do except throw knives at the (dead) oak in the garden.

i couldn't do that when guests were there, so i took to fixing things - i'd grab my makita and fix beds, chairs, whatever the guests had broken whilst drunk. one bunk bed was seriously f***ed, and the bolts were a perfect size to fix the scales to my knife, so i threw it out and kept the bolts. they're not ideal, but they did the job, and were the right side of free during a time i was seriously strapped for cash.

I'm sure von tempsky would call my knife unwieldy and ill-balanced, if the svord von tempsky bowie is anything to go by, but it feathersticks like an opinel at one end and chops and splits like a hatchet at the other, it'll do for me.

[riverhog]

great knife with history