A co-worker came by the shop on June 4th to take a look at my patterns and decide on a knife for his maybe-possibly-future-son-in-law. So after looking at a dozen or more patterns he settled on one of Dad's patterns called "The Hunting Bowie". To my knowledge this pattern had never been made before, existing only as a wooden outline hanging from a peg on my pattern board. But it fit the stock I had on hand so we were good to go. Searching through the handle material was the next challenge. He settled on a piece of unlabelled hardwood which I believe to be cocobolo. I was nervous about this wood because it was only 1/4" thick and I was unsure about using it as scales. But he was adamant that he wanted that wood so I relented. Then he dropped the bomb on me. He wanted the knife as a birthday gift for the young fellow...and the birthday was June 29th! Well, no time to dilly dally so I kicked him out of the shop and immediately got to work. Profiling and grinding the bevels went quickly, as did layout for the 1/8" pins. The pins had to be 1/8"...what self-respecting Bowie doesn't have 1/8" brass pins? Still, my concern about the thickness nagged at me. I test fit it against the steel and considered liners of vegetable fibre. I dismissed the idea because I didn't feel that the liner colours I had on hand looked any good with the wood. I thought about doing a brass sheet liner but dismissed that idea as well fearing it would unbalance the knife. So I decided to let it ride...no liner. Damn the torpedoes! I adopted the Stuart Branson approach...put the kids to bed and then hit the grinder. Much grinding and fitting ensued. Today I put the finishing touches on the sheath and called my buddy up to come and pick it up. So down the road another one goes. I couldn't be happier with this knife. the brass pops with the wood and the colour of the wood, especially out in the sun, is amazing. I decided to do a forced patina on the blade and I am super impressed with how it came out. I actually boiled the blade in a pot of vinegar on the stove and I think this will add a significant level of protection to the blade. Carbon steel blades eventually get some patina no matter how well you take care of them and this process just accelerates the patina and makes it more uniform. The specs... 4.25" O1 blade with a forced patina Brass pins, thong hole and bolster Brass bolster Vertical carry leather sheath (as opposed to my usual two-way sheath) And the moment you've all been waiting for...the pics! Hope you like it.
Really nice looking knife. I dig the cocobolo and, like your others, i really like the shape. I guess you'd call that a really long clip point? Sweet knife.
I guess you could call it a long clip point. It arrived at the young fellow's place today. His girlfriend is holding it until his birthday tomorrow. I'll be waiting to hear how he likes it since it's a complete surprise for him.
