Bowie Knives: Then and Now

Click To View

There are a lot of stories about how the bowie knife came about.   Bowie Knife was named after a famous soldier, land speculator, slave trader, gambler named Colonel James Bowie.  The story goes that James was in a fight in 1826 where a sheriff named Norris Wright fired at James at point blank range but the bullet was deflected and James survived the encounter. After the fight, James’ brother Rezin Bowie gave James a large knife that resembled a large butcher knife.  Many believe that James’ brother Rezin Bowie actually designed the knife and commissioned the first one to be made and not James Black, an Arkansas blacksmith as others claim.

James’Bowie had been involved in a famous fight where his knife had been of great help to him. All those who witnessed the fight remembered Bowie’s “big butcher knife”. His fight was reported in newspapers around the country and the legend of Jim Bowie and his Bowie knife was born. People everywhere wanted a Bowie knife and countless versions of various sizes and styles were made by countless cutlers and blacksmiths.

Since then, the famous knife has been redesigned and popularized in Hollywood movies like “The Iron Mistress” and several books and TV shows.  In the late 1970s, Bowie knives with saw teeth machined into the back side of the blade have had a certain popularity among collectors, possibly due to the appearance of such a knife in the first Rambo film with Sylvester Stallone. Knives with this feature are still being made and sold, often called “survival knives” and incorporating a hollow handle that can theoretically be used to carry assorted survival gear, of quality ranging from the excellent to the very poor. Today,  almost any knife with a blade more than a few inches long and a clip point is often called a Bowie knife. For that reason, the Bowie knife deserves a part in knife history as one of the most famous and often copied knives in the world.

Today, Bowie Knife comes with handles made of wood, bone, leather or gold, in lengths ranging from miniature to near short sword size. Handles have finger holds and brass plated guards and pommels.  You can now have  varied choices  from the different types of a keywordBowie  Knives for salehrefwww.BowieKnifesale.com”>Bowie  Knives for sale </a>  or  a a keywordcustom bowie knife” hrefwww.BowieKnifesale.com”> custom bowie knife</a>. You can also avail of good bargain prices  in  stores offering a keywordBowie Knife sale”hrefwww.BowieKnifesale.com”> Bowie Knife sale</a>.

Nevertheless, the choice of a Bowie knife is an acquisition that requires a great deal of review and study for the true aficionado or collector.  Weight, balance, appearance and size are all features that should be reviewed and ranked before making the final selection of the right Bowie knife.

,

↑ Back to Top