What Can Bowie Knives Cut?
Posted by Blake Benson | Filed under Recreation & Sports
The literal answer to this question is: anything softer than the blade. A better question is: What can Bowie knives cut without damaging the knife or the user? This question requires a complex answer that reveals the incredible variety of Bowie designs available on the market. The size of the knife, the style of the blade and the materials of which it is manufactured are the most significant factors in answering this question.
Smaller Bowie knives are the most practical for actual precision cutting tasks. Not only are these knives much more agile and precise, they’re usually made of better materials and are much easier to sharpen. Bowies of between 6 and 10 inches are excellent for most outdoor sports. They even make fine cooking knives, though they are a bit thick of blade for very precise, gourmet cooking. The clipped point adds an even more agile section to the blade which is great for dealing with fish and game.
A small Bowie knife is great for anything to do with hunting or fishing. Between a reduced blade size and the clipped point characteristic of these knives, they are incredibly agile for a multitude of tasks. They can fillet a fish as quickly as they can clean an elk. However, they need to be handled with more care than larger Bowies, particularly because the steel used in these knives tends to be higher precision and less durable. The steel has a huge impact on cutting ability.
If one remembers the old advertisements where a knife is first used to cut something hard, like a pipe, and then used to cut vegetables flawlessly, they’re remembering a nice fantasy. A Bowie knife will be much more specific in its usefulness, as will any knife, depending upon its materials of manufacture. High-carbon steel means a very sharp edge and ultra-precision cutting. Stainless steel means a duller edge but a knife that can survive very severe abuse. A stainless knife may not cut much, but it will hack just about anything.
Likewise, using large Bowie knives for precision work presents its own hazards. Controlling the large blade while making very painstaking cuts may end up resulting in a wound due to slippage or other control issues. At the very least, ones fish or meat will mostly likely not end up filleted in any artful way using one of these knives. It’s best to exercise some common sense and, if one’s knife seems outmatched by the task at hand, to switch knives or tools.
Blake is a business consultant for an online bowie knifes store featuring Cold Steel bowie knives.
Tags: bowie knife, bowie knives, camping, fishing, Hobbies, hunting, hunting knives, outdoors, recreation, Recreation & Sports, Survival
What are the Different Parts of a Bowie Knife Blade Used For?
Posted by Dylan Sabot | Filed under Recreation & Sports
If you have just purchased your first bowie knife, or even if you have been an avid collector of these blades for a number of years, it can be difficult to determine exactly what all the different parts of the blade are supposed to be used for. Part of this confusion stems from the myriad different styles of blade out there. For instance, you’ll find modern bowies that have saw-tooth edging on the spine, while historically accurate models do not include this feature. What are the different parts supposed to do?
Clip Point - Your bowie knife has one defining feature; it has a clipped point. This is the end of the blade and it looks like someone cut a section out of the tip. This is an important feature and serves several purposes. First, it serves to narrow the point of the knife, giving you greater control during use. Second, it ensures that the bowie knife has better penetrative (stabbing) power. As you might imagine, these benefits come in quite handy.
False Edge - The false edge of a bowie knife is the portion of the point that curves inward and upward from the point to meet the spine of the blade. This has little use unless sharpened (these are called Sheffield Bowies). When sharpened, the false edge allows for back cutting, but also provides better performance when skinning, gutting or stabbing, as it increases the tip’s cutting surface significantly.
Spanish Notch - The Spanish Notch is another sometime inclusion. You’ll find that this notch offers little in the way of enhanced usability, but it does provide you with a handy point to start sharpening the blade. The notch sits at the back edge of the blade, just before the ricasso. This might have originally been used to help skin branches, or have been used to work with nautical rigging or other rope forms, but today it has few uses and is rarely found except on historically accurate bowie knives.
You will find a bowie knife that offers features that fit your needs with a bit of searching. Make sure that you understand the different uses of all the blade areas, prior to making any purchase decision, though. This is the only way that you can ensure you get the right bowie knife for your particular usage needs.
Dylan Sabot is the owner of an online bowie knife store featuring the jim bowie knife as well as lighters for camping.
Tags: bowie knife, bowie knives, camping, fishing, Hobbies, hunting, hunting knives, outdoors, recreation, Recreation & Sports, Survival
