Now don't all too excited, as this isn't a great knife...
I'm not a builder, so I didn't put it in that forum, and stuck it here...
I recently bought a cheap $30 made-offshore D Guard Bowie. I'd bet that one whack on a watermelon would cause the "full length tang" to break -- that's cause it's a small weld barely holding the blade onto a length of threaded rod. But that's OK, as I'll just be wearing this on my right side in my Civil War Sergeant's uniform at the next Primitive Biathlon I compete in again this year. As in prior years, I'll carry my father's 1862 Mansfield & Lamb cavalry saber on the left side. My twin brother (Flint62Smoothie) and I really enjoy this "living history" event (see the picture from last year way down below), and he's got a number of great friends who do it with us. They'll all be in mountain man or French & Indian War era dress, but I'll have my 20th Maine set on. The camaraderie with those guys is great and a big reason why I enjoy this event.
Anyway, here's the Bowie as bought from ebay -- it was made by "El Cheapo":
I aged the brass parts with a solution of white vinegar & salt, first by brushing it on the parts, the suspending them above the vinegar in a covered bowl; wetting them every hour, for about 5 hours total. That worked OK, but then the next time I shot blackpowder at the range, I saved some of the cleaning patches and wiped those onto the brass -- and that really helped to darken up some spots.
The steel blade was aged with different types of Cold Blue solution, then wiped with steel wool in spots.
Here's the replica Bowie, all ready for the Primitive Biathlon mid-February in Southern VT:
You can't see it in the pictures, but I did rasp some finger grooves into the grip, then used the rasp to scrape the original hard finish off (which was too shiny and actually "pretty good"). That left a rough finish which I lightly sanded, then stained. I'll add a couple of coats of low gloss tung oil later. You can also see that I distressed the grip too.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I could have spent $150 to $300 more for a really nice representation of a D Guard Bowie, but for my purposes, this will be fine. And for sure -- I would not want to get stabbed with one!
Old No7
I'm not a builder, so I didn't put it in that forum, and stuck it here...
I recently bought a cheap $30 made-offshore D Guard Bowie. I'd bet that one whack on a watermelon would cause the "full length tang" to break -- that's cause it's a small weld barely holding the blade onto a length of threaded rod. But that's OK, as I'll just be wearing this on my right side in my Civil War Sergeant's uniform at the next Primitive Biathlon I compete in again this year. As in prior years, I'll carry my father's 1862 Mansfield & Lamb cavalry saber on the left side. My twin brother (Flint62Smoothie) and I really enjoy this "living history" event (see the picture from last year way down below), and he's got a number of great friends who do it with us. They'll all be in mountain man or French & Indian War era dress, but I'll have my 20th Maine set on. The camaraderie with those guys is great and a big reason why I enjoy this event.
Anyway, here's the Bowie as bought from ebay -- it was made by "El Cheapo":
I aged the brass parts with a solution of white vinegar & salt, first by brushing it on the parts, the suspending them above the vinegar in a covered bowl; wetting them every hour, for about 5 hours total. That worked OK, but then the next time I shot blackpowder at the range, I saved some of the cleaning patches and wiped those onto the brass -- and that really helped to darken up some spots.
The steel blade was aged with different types of Cold Blue solution, then wiped with steel wool in spots.
Here's the replica Bowie, all ready for the Primitive Biathlon mid-February in Southern VT:
You can't see it in the pictures, but I did rasp some finger grooves into the grip, then used the rasp to scrape the original hard finish off (which was too shiny and actually "pretty good"). That left a rough finish which I lightly sanded, then stained. I'll add a couple of coats of low gloss tung oil later. You can also see that I distressed the grip too.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I could have spent $150 to $300 more for a really nice representation of a D Guard Bowie, but for my purposes, this will be fine. And for sure -- I would not want to get stabbed with one!
Old No7
