Some knives are legendary. The daggers of Europe, the flint knives carried by Apache warriors and the knives carried into the battles of World War 2 all carry with them fearsome reputations, and justly so. Bowie knives are among those blades which have become the stuff of legend. Like a samurai's sword or a Spartan's spear tip, these Bowies have characteristics that make them easily identifiable and unfailingly deadly.
The end of a Bowie knife has what's called a "clipped" tip. This means that the point of the knife lies below the spine of the blade. This characteristic has its origins in fighting. A blade of this style has excellent penetration qualities. It also lightens the blade and makes it more agile when used for skinning and cleaning animals.
Like any sensible fighter, those who relied on Bowie knives needed to protect their bodies. The hand guard on a Bowie features a forward pointing design on the top of the handle. This was intended to protect the user against both other blades and against having their hand slide up their own blade when making a thrust. Without this hand guard, a knife is not a Bowie at all.
A Bowie knife is always a big knife. Subtlety cannot be said to be among their characteristics. These knives range from 6" to 12" in length, in most cases. There are longer models available, but they're generally designed more for looks than for practical use. Like most fighting knives, the longer variants of Bowies approach the length of some short swords. These knives are formidable in appearance and efficient weapons, but that was only part of their advantage.
A real Bowie knife always has a wide blade. In fact, this is a defining characteristic of these knives. When these knives were designed, the frontier conditions meant that any tool had to be versatile and tough. The heavy, wide blade of a Bowie meant it could stand up to a great deal of punishment and that it could perform chopping tasks, in addition to cutting tasks. Before steel was of a modern quality, softer metals such as brass and copper were sometimes used to reinforce the blades via a strip along the spine.
The end of a Bowie knife has what's called a "clipped" tip. This means that the point of the knife lies below the spine of the blade. This characteristic has its origins in fighting. A blade of this style has excellent penetration qualities. It also lightens the blade and makes it more agile when used for skinning and cleaning animals.
Like any sensible fighter, those who relied on Bowie knives needed to protect their bodies. The hand guard on a Bowie features a forward pointing design on the top of the handle. This was intended to protect the user against both other blades and against having their hand slide up their own blade when making a thrust. Without this hand guard, a knife is not a Bowie at all.
A Bowie knife is always a big knife. Subtlety cannot be said to be among their characteristics. These knives range from 6" to 12" in length, in most cases. There are longer models available, but they're generally designed more for looks than for practical use. Like most fighting knives, the longer variants of Bowies approach the length of some short swords. These knives are formidable in appearance and efficient weapons, but that was only part of their advantage.
A real Bowie knife always has a wide blade. In fact, this is a defining characteristic of these knives. When these knives were designed, the frontier conditions meant that any tool had to be versatile and tough. The heavy, wide blade of a Bowie meant it could stand up to a great deal of punishment and that it could perform chopping tasks, in addition to cutting tasks. Before steel was of a modern quality, softer metals such as brass and copper were sometimes used to reinforce the blades via a strip along the spine.
About the Author:
Dylan Sabot is the owner of an online bowie knives store featuring SOG bowie knives as well as humidors for storage.
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