A Texas size Bowie

[LaBonte]

This one has a 12 1/4" x 2 1/2" blade - OAL is a hair under 19". Makes that 1860 Army look small!
It's in the works - things still to do are: add a 1" or so wide buffalo rawhide wrap/ferrule just above the guard edged with brass nails, carve the end cap into a Texas star with a poured pewter center circle since I need to add just a bit of weight on the back end to bring it into balance, maybe add some checkering on the grip behind the ferrule, and then age everything. The guard has three wrought iron inserts on both sides - you can sort of see them, they'll show up better after I finish it out.

These pics show the progression so far......

then comes the sheath - this is a working drawing - the sheath will be rawhide over a bark tan liner, with brass tacks (the brownish circles), and lots of beadwork - some danglies too, but they're not shown - and yes I know the tip is missing - my scanner isn't big enough!

I'll post more pics as O go along.....

 

[yoda1624]

Looks nice and mean.

Fabucci

 

Right on, Chuck. Really nice work. That fella will be really happy with that unless he decides to try to swim while wearing it. Looking forward to seeing the sheath. You might have to use that big ol' knife to skin out a whole cow to make it, and making it might be like beading the Goodyear blimp. :grin:

Sean

 

[PitchyPine]

I like that alot. :thumbsup:

 

[anvil1231]

Very Nice :hatsoff: Theres is just a fine line between that one and a sword.

 

[davy]

Very nice ... may I ask the thickness of the blade? I found that some bigger Bowies lose some of their balance in a too thick blade.

I personally found that out on my Bowie (still in progress). It simply felt like a heavy bar of iron until I thinned it to what suddenly transformed into a better balance point.

I think we do not talk about this important point when we discuss making knives here. I readily& surprizingly found this to be true with the Musso Bowie when I had the chance of a lifetime to handle it last October. Even though large it it quit well balanced and easy to manuver. The knife was genuine pleasure to handle ... the grin was genuine too! :grin:

Davy

 

[smo]

Very nice work! :thumbsup:

 

[LaBonte]

may I ask the thickness of the blade?

Davy it's .275" at the hilt and about .190" at the start of the clip. It is distal tapered to the point and teh grind is a full flat grind starting jut below the back edge so over all there it is not overly thick for it's size.

Here's some more pics......
In the hand shot.....my hand is a little larger than normal........

Only thing left to do is sew the rawhide wrap on the grip....

The butt cap carved into a Texas star with poured lead/pewter inlays to bring it into balance.....

A closeup of the back side of the guard - I fluted it on both sides to reduce weight.....

Some might "question" the somewhat rough overall finish, but that's the aesthetic I'm going for - a piece built on the frontier by a blacksmith with minimal tools rather than by a trained cutler and then used but not abused for several years....

 

[davy]

Looks really nice sir ... With all the other measurments, I am curious about the thickness of the blade! :hmm: You can pick up two knives of the same basic size and one will feel like a dancer .. the other a bar of heavy steel ... the thickness and overall balance being the deciding factors. :hatsoff:

Well done!

Davy

 

[JamesG]

Looks great nice work on the carving can not wait to see the case finished.

 

[LaBonte]

Well here it is all finished up with the sheath - I got into a fight with some kind of bug and it slowed me down a bunch.......

 

[Dances With Coyotes]

Nice work!
:thumbsup:

 

[anvil1231]

Wow!! That really did turn out Nice :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[davy]

Thtas a beauty for sure! Nice work! :thumbsup:

Davy

 

[Blizzard of '93]

that's first-class work there :thumbsup:

 

[dodgecity]

LaBonte, this is museum quality work! You are an extremely talented knifemaker, not to mention the outstanding leather work.

 

[mazo kid]

I'm a little confused.... you said a rawhide sheath OVER a bark tanned liner. Is that what you actually used? By the way, I really like your work even though the Bowie (LARGE Bowies) are not my favorite knife type. Excellent craftsmanship!

 

There's only one word that I can say about your knife and sheath: AWESOME!

 

[LaBonte]

Glad ya'll enjoyed the look see. To keep things "honest", on this one the blade was hand forged (no power hammer!) and hand shaped with files by my compadre and IMO the best bladesmith now living - Tai Goo......Due to a severe neck injury my forging is very limited - waking up unable to move from the neck down is not something I want to expereince again!

I'm a little confused.... you said a rawhide sheath OVER a bark tanned liner. Is that what you actually used? By the way, I really like your work even though the Bowie (LARGE Bowies) are not my favorite knife type. Excellent craftsmanship!

mazo - that's exactly right - the core/liner was made from 8/9oz bark tan and then covered with deer rawhide and yes the beadwork in the lower section is on rawhide. The beaded "cuff" at the top is made from braintan, and on this one the belt loop is bark tan with a rawhide overlay.
I know it sounds bass ackwards, but there are original 19th Century sheaths I've handled that were repaired by covering with rawhide - I just fancied mine up.
Plus finding the Indian style semi-tanned parfleche type buffalo rawhide (which is not the same critter as "modern" rawhide) is hard to find and usually costly so I like this technique as an alternative since it makes a VERY durable and stiff sheath especially for big knives like this one and keeps the cost down.