The Ridiculously Large Bowie

Stormcrow

Well-Known Member
Some time back, Max, the Marine who visited my shop on the return leg to L.A. on his cross-country van trip, saw a Bowie I had forged out earlier that week on a whim. I had a piece of 1 1/2" x 1/4" 1084 bar stock and I wanted to make a wide blade out of it. The Ridiculously Large Bowie was born.

Before he left, Max wrote a check for the Ridiculously Large Bowie. I mailed it to him last week. Its final dimensions ended up being 14 1/4" overall with a blade 8 1/2" long by 2 1/4" wide. The spine was still between 3/16" and 1/4", so I could have pulled it out even wider if I had wanted. In spite of its large size, it is surprisingly quick and not particularly heavy.

Here's the RLB as Max saw it:

rlb.jpg


Next to the more normal-sized Bowie I forged along with Max as a demonstration of how to make his own:

rlb2.jpg


The demonstration Bowie, by way of comparison, has a blade 1 3/4" wide.

And as it arrived to Max, with shellac-sealed hemp main wrap, three-strand and two-strand Turk's head knots in cotton, and a shaving sharp edge:

rlb3.jpg


rlb4.jpg


In comparison with an EDC-sized knife with about a 4" blade:

rlb5.jpg


rlb6.jpg


Max was quite pleased to have it arrive and described it as "lovely" with a Marine-grade adjective in front of that. :) I've already had a request to make another one from another customer. :D

Here's the Bowie Max made on his visit:

maxbowie.jpg


And him enjoying his Bowie and a cigar in my shop:

max2.jpg
 
I just finished a pedi-Bowie. Is there such a thing as "Bowie Envy". Nice work!
 
It's my understanding that no one really knows what Colonel Bowie's knife really looked like!

There seems to be a consensus that it was a large Butcher type knife for disemboweling a Buffalo or Steer. chopping down small trees and of course Fighting if the need arouse!

Its a great looking bowie, In my book A Ridiculously Large Bowie would be in the 12"-13" plus range.
So the great news is you can make a bigger one and call it a Super Ridiculously Large Bowie??:biggrin:

Glad to see our Troops armed with the right stuff!

Laurence
www.rhinoknives.com/
 
Thanks, guys!

Laurence - I've made much longer blades, but this was the widest so far. I split a table at gun shows with Rustyboy, who has several blades wider than mine. It was watching him work on his stuff that made me want to make a wide blade, and in comparison to what I typically make, this is Ridiculously Large.
 
that is a great looking piece. i don't normally go for large choppers, but that one is very nice.

liontribe
 
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