Bowie Sizes

izafireman

izafireman

Well-Known Member
Having never made a Bowie knife before I have had a request from an uncle in the US for me to make him a Bowie with a leather stacked handle.
What thickness of steel would be good for a Bowie and what total length / blade length would be a good size. I don't think it will be used as he lives in Florida and it will just be on display. If possible could you give sizes in MM.

Thanks in advance

P
 
Bowies now days fall into a wide range of sizes.

Gambler's or vest bowie blades could be in the 5"-6"range. Cowboy or camp bowies could be 7"-8" and bigger fighting bowie blades could be 9" - up to, and over 16".

The term bowie itself, and any sub-classifications, blade lengths and types/names are very loosely defined at best and are highly subjective.
 
Myself like many of you knife smiths have seen 'Bowies', 100s if not thousands 'of them' of all shapes and sizes, I bI believe most of us have in our minds the 'Alamo' type onefrom the many movies.
I cannot believe that the frontiersmen types would have been able to regularly fashion the very big finger guards, hilts on them originally, I bet most were rough ass things which due to their ruggedness, length and pointed shapes were formidible weapons.
 
Ya, Robert. The knife that Jim Bowie carried at the Sandbar Knife Fight probably looked more like a big butcher knife from down at the meat shop. Most of what we think of as bowie knives were a design originating at Sheffield Cutlery so the bowie knife is as much English as American.

Doug
 
I really cant see a using knife having a blade more than 7-8 inches in length being anything other than a bit unwieldly --unless it is going to be more for a chopper type use than a cutting tool. Kitchen blades and steaking knives excepted.
 
I suspect that in a real knife fight, it's more about reach. At least until it gets too unwieldy due to weight. Then again, if your arms are as big as your thighs, maybe weight is not such a concern. I prefer taking a gun to a knife fight myself.
 
I have seen some fantastic looking Bowies over the years not knowing if they were mass produces or not, they all looked amazing.

I have a friend gamekeeper, now retired, I also knew his father, they both carried folding pocket knives with blades not longer than 3 inches and did everything with them in the field including to gralloch deer.
 
The day of the Bowie knife was the day of the single shot black powder firearm. A frontiersman would need A blade capable of fighting with because one shot doesn’t give you a second chance. Reach would be everything. One could always carry a very small knife in his pack for dressing game or cutting small things. I believe the Bowie was the civilian’s short sword.
 
I'd bet Mr. Cashen would have some interesting and enlightening historical information regarding blades, and how they evolved over time.
 
Here is a good link to different Bowie knives: https://relentlessknives.com/newsletter0411.html

and a bit more: http://www.sonsofdewittcolony.org//adp/history/bios/bowie/knife_like_bowies.html

The Joe Musso Bowie is what I think of as a "real" Bowie, and the one I did a copy of in 1080 steel.
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During the times of the lawless 'wild west' mant carried big types of crude knives which they had fashioned themselves and bound together with wet sinew from animals so when dried out it would tighten up on the knife.
These knives in the main were not pretty but served a purpose and owners would sit out and rub them with stones, pebbles to get and edge..
 
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