Difference between camp knife and bowie

bjohnson

Well-Known Member
I've been thinking about making a camp knife. I did a google image search and found a lot of camp knives that I would have thought were bowies. Is there a defined difference between the two?
Also, what blade thickness would you recommend for a 10"-12" camp knife? I was thinking about maybe 1/4" CPM154, but I have 5/32" on hand if that's not too thin.
Should I have it hardened to 61-62 or should I lower the hardness to better tolerate chopping?
 
1/4" is what you want. 5/32 in my opinion is too thin for a knife that size. When I do one for chopping, it's 5160 or o1. And edge quenched.
 
This is in the process of becoming my version of a camp knife.
1/4" ATS 34 blade 8 1/2 " long & just over 1 1/2" wide'
I used 1/4" because I want the blade to have a little weight to it.
Twist Damascus (by MS Tim Potier) guard & promel
Stag handle
campknife.jpg
 
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Yeah, 61-62 rockwell is a bit much, I would aim for 58-59 for a blade that will see a lot of use chopping.

The only real difference between a camp knife and a Bowie is the camp knife does not need a double guard or as fine a point, IMO.
 
I tend to think of camp knives as workhorses and Bowies as fighters. Unless a client specified otherwise I'd grind a camp knive convex and a Bowie full-flat. Of course there's a lot of overlap between the two and opinions are like bellybuttons... everybody has one :biggrin:

1/4" is good, 5/16" would be even better, both my CS Trailmaster and Browning Crowell/Barker competition cutter are that thick at the guard. With a nice distal taper it will be powerful but still quick and not feel like a brick.
The only real difference between a camp knife and a Bowie is the camp knife does not need a double guard or as fine a point, IMO.
I agree. Balance is a big part too, a camp knife should be almost a little tip-heavy with more drop to the handle for chopping power while a Bowie can balance a mere inch past the guard with a somewhat straighter handle for more speed. And of course if you're going to put a clip on a bowie it may as well be actually sharp. Not just a blunt swedge but actually sharp for those wicked back-cuts.
I haven't made a knife that big from CPM-154 but I don't see why you couldn't. It's pretty close to O1 and A2 in toughness with much better edge retention. If you really want tough go for 3V. A whole lot of cutting comp winners are using M4 for its superior edge retention and I don't recall hearing about any of them breaking either. This graph is from Crucible.
tool steel graph.jpg
 
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