Bowie knife: Difference between revisions
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A '''Bowie knife''' (pronounced |
A '''Bowie knife''' (pronounced (boh-ee)cite journal |last1=Manns |first1=William |year=2004 | month=May-Jun |title=The Bowie Knife |journal=American Cowboy |publisher= |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=40–43 |page=40}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Janin | first = Hunt | title = Fort Bridger, Wyoming | publisher = McFarland & Company | location = Jefferson | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780786429127 | page=138}}</ref><ref name =MW>{{cite web| title = Bowie knife |url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bowie| work = Merriam-Webster online dicctionary|accessdate=2011-04-27}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|icon|ˈ|b| uː|.|iː}} {{respell|BOO|ee}}<ref name =MW />) is a pattern of fixed-blade [[fighting knife]] first popularized by [[Colonel]] [[James Bowie|James "Jim" Bowie]] in the early 19th Century. It was first made by [[James Black (blacksmith)|James Black]], although its common use refers to any large [[sheath knife]] with a crossguard and a [[clip point]].<ref>Todd, Frederick P., ''American Military Equipage, 1851-1872'', Scribners (1980), pp. 180-181: "The American fighting knife of the mid-19th century was par excellence the 'bowie knife'. The term itself defied definition in those days as it does today, but a rough description would be a large sheath knife, usually with a small cross guard and a clipped point, whose story began in the American Southwest about 1830."</ref> |
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The "Jim Bowie knife" first became famous due to Bowie's use of a large knife at a [[duel]] known as the [[Sandbar Fight]]. The knife pattern is still popular with collectors; in addition to various knife manufacturing companies there are hundreds of custom knife makers producing Bowies and variations. |
The "Jim Bowie knife" first became famous due to Bowie's use of a large knife at a [[duel]] known as the [[Sandbar Fight]]. The knife pattern is still popular with collectors; in addition to various knife manufacturing companies there are hundreds of custom knife makers producing Bowies and variations. |
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Revision as of 18:34, 26 August 2011
| Bowie Knife | |
|---|---|
 "Bowie Knife" | |
| Type | Knife |
| Place of origin | Arkansas, USA |
| Production history | |
| Designer | James Bowie |
| Designed | 1830 |
| Produced | 1830 through present |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 12"–30" |
| Blade length | 6"–24" |
| Blade type | Clip-point |
A Bowie knife (pronounced (boh-ee)cite journal |last1=Manns |first1=William |year=2004 | month=May-Jun |title=The Bowie Knife |journal=American Cowboy |publisher= |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=40–43 |page=40}}</ref>[1][2] or /[invalid input: 'icon']ˈbuː.iː/ BOO-ee[2]) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. It was first made by James Black, although its common use refers to any large sheath knife with a crossguard and a clip point.[3]
The "Jim Bowie knife" first became famous due to Bowie's use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight. The knife pattern is still popular with collectors; in addition to various knife manufacturing companies there are hundreds of custom knife makers producing Bowies and variations.
Description
The historical Bowie knife was not a single design, but was a series of knives improved several times by Jim Bowie over the years.[4] The earliest such knife, made by Jesse Clifft at Rezin Bowie's request resembled the Spanish hunting knives of the time and differed little from a common butcher knife.[4] The blade, as later described by Rezin Bowie, was 9.5 inches (24 cm) long, 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) thick and 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) wide. It was straight-backed having no clip point nor any hand guard with simple riveted wood scale handle.[5] Rezin presented the knife to his brother because of a recent violent encounter with one Norris Wright.[4][5] This is the knife that became famous after the sandbar duel of 1827.[5] Bowie and Wright were attendants on opposite sides of the duel. When the principals quit the field, a fight broke out among the attendees and Bowie, though seriously injured by a rifle shot, killed the 3 men, by almost decapitating one, splitting the skull of another, and disembowelling the third.[5] Bowie and his knife, described by witnesses as "a large butcher knife," quickly attained celebrity and the Bowie brothers received many requests for knives of the same design. They commissioned more ornate custom blades from various knife makers including Daniel Searles and John Constable.[5] George William Featherstonhaugh described them as, "These formidable instruments...are the pride of an Arkansas blood, and got their name of Bowie knives from a conspicuous person of this fiery climate."[6]
The version most commonly known as the historical Bowie knife would have a blade of at least 6 inches (15 cm) in length, some reaching 12 inches (30 cm) or more, with a relatively broad blade that was an inch and a half to two inches wide (4 to 5 cm) and made of steel usually between 3⁄16 to 1⁄4 in (4.763 to 6.350 mm) thick. The back of the blade sometimes had a strip of soft metal (normally brass or copper) inlaid which some believe was intended to catch an opponent's blade while others hold it was intended to provide support and absorb shock to help prevent breaking of poor quality steel or poorly heat treated blades. Bowie knives often had an upper guard that bent forward at an angle (an S-guard) intended to catch an opponent's blade or provide protection to the owner's hand during parries and corps-a-corps.
Some Bowie knives had a notch on the bottom of the blade near the hilt known as a "Spanish Notch". The Spanish Notch is often cited as a mechanism for catching an opponent's blade; however, some Bowie researchers hold that the Spanish Notch is ill-suited to this function and frequently fails to achieve the desired results. These researchers, instead, hold that the Spanish Notch has the much more mundane function as a tool for stripping sinew and repairing rope and nets, as a guide to assist in sharpening the blade (assuring that the sharpening process starts at a specific point and not further up the edge), or as a point to relieve stress on the blade during use.
One characteristic of Bowie knives is the clip point at the top of the blade, which brings the tip of the blade lower than the spine for better control. As the goal is to produce a sharp, stabbing point, most Bowie knives have a bevel ground along the clip, typically 1/4 of the way, but sometimes much further running the entire top-edge. This is referred to as a false edge as from a distance it looks sharpened, although it may or may not be. Regardless of whether or not the false edge is sharp, it serves to take metal away from the point, streamlining the tip and thus enhancing the penetration capability of the blade during a stab. The version attributed to blacksmith James Black had this false edge fully sharpened in order to allow someone trained in European techniques of saber fencing to execute the maneuver called the "back cut" or "back slash".[5] A brass quillon, usually cast in a mold, was attached to protect the hand.
Noted knife expert Bernard Levine has reported that the first known Bowie knife showed a strong Mediterranean influence insofar as general lines were concerned. This would have involved the single, principal cutting edge, regardless of the false edge's existence or not. It is noted that in the Old West many "Bowie knives" were made that in fact did not show Mediterranean influence, but were just large knives, often with two full edges.[7]
The curved portion of the edge, toward the point, is for removing the skin from a carcass, and the straight portion of the edge, toward the guard, is for chores involving cutting slices, similar in concept to the traditional Finnish hunting knife, the "puukko" (though the typical early 19th-century Bowie knife was far larger and heavier than the typical puukko). Arkansas culturalist and researcher Russell T. Johnson describes the James Black knife in the following manner and at the same time captures the quintessence of the Bowie Knife: "It must be long enough to use as a sword, sharp enough to use as a razor, wide enough to use as a paddle, and heavy enough to use as a hatchet."[5][8] Most such knives intended for hunting are only sharpened on one edge, to reduce the danger of cutting oneself while butchering and skinning the carcass.
History
The Sandbar Fight
The first knife, with which Bowie became famous, allegedly was designed by Jim Bowie's brother Rezin in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana and smithed by blacksmith Jesse Cleft out of an old file.[5] Period court documents indicate that Rezin Bowie and Cleft were well acquainted with one another. Rezin's granddaughter claimed in an 1885 letter to Louisiana State University that she personally witnessed Cleft make the knife for her grandfather.
This knife became famous as the knife used by Bowie at the Sandbar Fight, which was the famous 1827 duel between Bowie and several men including a Major Norris Wright of Alexandria, Louisiana.[5] The fight took place on a sandbar in the Mississippi River across from Natchez, Mississippi. In this battle Bowie was stabbed, shot, and beaten half to death but managed to win the fight using the large knife.[5]
Jim Bowie's older brother John claimed that the knife at the Sandbar Fight was not Cleft's knife, but a knife specifically made for Bowie by a blacksmith named Snowden.
Bowie’s fame as a knife fighter continued to grow. In 1829 he wounded and then spared a man in a knife fight, who upon recovering, promptly hired three assassins to kill Bowie on sight.
James Black's Bowie Knife
The most famous version of the Bowie knife was designed by Jim Bowie and presented to Arkansas blacksmith James Black in the form of a carved wooden model in December 1830.[5] Black produced the knife ordered by Bowie, and at the same time created another based on Bowie's original design but with a sharpened edge on the curved top edge of the blade. Black offered Bowie his choice and Bowie chose the modified version.[8] Knives such as this, with a blade shaped like that of the Bowie knife, but with a pronounced false edge, are today called "Sheffield Bowie" knives, because this blade shape became so popular that cutlery factories in Sheffield, England were mass-producing such knives for export to the U.S. by 1850, usually with a handle made from either hardwood, deer antler, or bone, and sometimes with a guard and other fittings of sterling silver.[5] The James Black Bowie knife had a blade approximately twelve inches long, two inches wide, and 0.25 inch thick.[9] The spine of the knife was covered with soft brass or silver to catch the opponent's blade in the course of a knife fight, while a brass quillion protected the hand from the blade.[9]
In 1831 Bowie returned with his James Black Bowie knife to Texas, and was involved in a knife fight with three men armed with firearms, who had been hired to kill him by the man he had spared in his 1829 fight.[10][9] In a fierce combat, Bowie killed the three would-be assassins with his new knife and the fame of the knife grew.[5][9] Legend holds that one man was almost decapitated, the second was disemboweled, and the third had his skull split open.[5][9] Bowie died at the Battle of the Alamo five years later and in death both he and his knife became an American legend. The fate of the original Bowie knife is unknown; however, a knife bearing the engraving "Bowie No. 1" has been acquired by the Historic Arkansas Museum from a Texas collector and has been attributed to Black through scientific analysis.
Black soon had a booming business making and selling these knives out of his shop in Washington, Arkansas. Black continued to refine his technique and improve the quality of the knife as he went. In 1839, shortly after his wife's death, Black was nearly blinded when, while he was in bed with illness, his father-in-law and former partner broke into his home and attacked him with a club, having objected to his daughter having married Black years earlier. Black was no longer able to continue in his trade.
Black's knives were known to be exceedingly tough, yet flexible, and his technique has not been duplicated. Black kept his technique secret and did all of his work behind a leather curtain. Many claim that Black rediscovered the secret of producing true Damascus steel.[8]
In 1870, at the age of 70, Black attempted to pass on his secret to the son of the family that had cared for him in his old age, Daniel Webster Jones. However, Black had been retired for many years and found that he himself had forgotten the secret. Jones would later become Governor of Arkansas.
The birthplace of the Bowie knife is now part of the Old Washington Historic State Park which has over 40 restored historical buildings and other facilities including Black's shop. The park is known as "The Colonial Williamsburg of Arkansas". The American Bladesmith Society established the William F. Moran School of Bladesmithing at this site to instruct new apprentices as well as journeyman, and mastersmiths in the art of bladesmithing.[11]
Variations and collecting
Over the years many knives have been called Bowie knives and the term has almost become a generic term for any large sheath knife. During the early days of the American Civil War Confederate soldiers carried immense knives called D-Guard Bowie knives.[5] Many of these knives could have qualified as short swords and were often made from old saw or scythe blades.
The Bowie knife is sometimes confused with the "Arkansas toothpick," possibly due to the interchangeable use of the names "Arkansas toothpick", "Bowie knife", and "Arkansas knife" in the antebellum period.[11] The Arkansas toothpick is essentially a heavy dagger with a straight 15-25-inch blade. While balanced and weighted for throwing, the toothpick can be used for thrusting and slashing. James Black is credited with inventing the "Arkansas Toothpick" but no firm evidence exists for this claim.[8]
Knives made in Sheffield, England, were quick to enter the market with "Bowie Knives" of a distinctive pattern that most modern users identify with the true form Bowie. The Sheffield pattern blade is thinner than the Black/Musso knives while the false edge is often longer with a less pronounced clip.[5]
The shape and style of blade was such that the Bowie knife could serve usefully as a camp and hunting tool as well as a weapon, and is still popular as such with hunters and sportsmen even in the present day.[5] However, some camping authorities dissent as to its usefulness as a camping knife on the grounds that it is far too large.[12]
Since the 1960s, Bowie knives with sawteeth machined into the back side of the blade appeared inspired by the United States Air Force survival knife (NSN 7340-00-098-4327). The sawteeth were intended to cut through the acrylic glass canopy of a downed aircraft. During the Vietnam War the United States Army issued them to helicopter crews for the same purpose.
The Bowie remains popular with collectors. In addition to various knife manufacturing companies there are hundreds of custom knife makers and bladesmiths producing Bowies and variations. The Bowie knife dominates the work produced by members of the American Bladesmith Society.[13] Collecting antique Bowie knives is one of the higher-end forms of knife collecting with rare models selling as high as $200,000. Even mass-produced Sheffield Bowies from the 19th century can sell in the range of $5,000US to $15,000US.[14]
The USMC Ka-Bar of World War II fame is based on the Bowie design.[15] Custom knife maker, Ernest Emerson originally used a Bowie knife in his logo and manufactures a folding Bowie known in his line-up as the CQC13.
A Bowie knife appears on the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jim Bowie was posthumously inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame at the 1988 Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia in recognition for the impact that his design made upon generations of knife makers and cutlery companies. Rock star David Bowie (born David Robert Jones) took the name Bowie after the Bowie knife because, in his words "it cuts both ways".[16]
Legal status
Although many jurisdictions worldwide have knife legislation regulating the length of a blade one may own or carry, certain locales in the United States have legislation mentioning "Bowie knives" in particular. The deadly reputation of the Bowie knife led to it being banned in many areas of the American South during the late 1830s.[17] In 1837, the year after Bowie’s death, the Alabama legislature passed laws imposing a $100 transfer tax on 'Bowie' knives and decreeing that anyone carrying a Bowie knife who subsequently killed a person in a fight would be charged with premeditated murder.[18][17] Mississippi prohibited it as a dueling weapon, and in 1838 Tennessee legislators attempted to ban its sale altogether.[17] Laws are still on the books today in states from Virginia to Texas listing the “Bowie Knife” by name as a deadly weapon and prohibiting the possession and/or carrying of such a knife on one's person.[17]
In modern-day Texas, the state where Jim Bowie died, it is a criminal offense (generally a Class A misdemeanor) to carry a Bowie knife, as a Bowie knife is classified in Texas as an "illegal knife".[19] This law does not apply if you are traveling in a private vehicle because it is legal to carry a handgun, knife, or club while en route to or from the vehicle or engaged in a sporting activity involving the use of such equipment.
References
- ^ Janin, Hunt (2007). Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Jefferson: McFarland & Company. p. 138. ISBN 9780786429127.
- ^ a b "Bowie knife". Merriam-Webster online dicctionary. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
- ^ Todd, Frederick P., American Military Equipage, 1851-1872, Scribners (1980), pp. 180-181: "The American fighting knife of the mid-19th century was par excellence the 'bowie knife'. The term itself defied definition in those days as it does today, but a rough description would be a large sheath knife, usually with a small cross guard and a clipped point, whose story began in the American Southwest about 1830."
- ^ a b c Walker, Greg (1993). Battle Blades: A Professional's Guide to Combat/Fighting Knives (Hardcover), pages 210 ISBN 0-87364-732-7
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cumpston, Mike (04/01/2007). "The American Exalibur (sic): Jim Bowie's lethal legacy". Guns Magazine. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Featherstonhaugh, George William (1844). "Excursion Through The Slave States, From Washington On The Potomac To The Frontier Of Mexico".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Levine, Bernard. (2002).Knives and their Values
- ^ a b c d Johnson, Russel (2006). "The Bowie Knife and the Arkansas Toothpick". The Arkansas Travelog Home Page. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ a b c d e Manns, William, The Bowie Knife, American Cowboy, Vol. 11, No. 1 (May-June 2004), p. 41
- ^ Pacella, Gerard (2002). 100 Legendary Knives. Krause Publications. p. 145. ISBN 978-0873494172.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: checksum (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b "Bill Moran Jr. (1925–2006)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 2011/03/08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Miracle, Leonard, Complete Book of Camping, HarperCollins (2000), ISBN 978-0060712303, p. 160.
- ^ Lewis, Jack (1992). Gun digest Book of Knives. Iola, WI: DBI Books. p. 120. ISBN 9780873491297.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Manns, William (2004). "The Bowie Knife". American Cowboy. 11 (1). Active Interest Media, Inc.: 40–43. Retrieved 04-03-2011.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Walker, Greg (2001). KA-BAR: The Next Generation of the Ultimate Fighting Knife. Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press. ISBN 1581601204.
- ^ "Bowie Inducted into the Hall of Fame". Blade Magazine. 8/01/1988.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d Trembula, Dan, U.S.N., Knife Fighting on the 19th-Century American Frontier, Annapolis MD: U.S. Naval Academy, Violence in the American West HH462 Thesis, 19 February 2004
- ^ Cramer, Clayton (1999). Concealed Weapon Laws of the Early Republic: Dueling, Southern Violence, and Moral Reform. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 192. ISBN 978-0275966157.
- ^ Tex. Penal Code sec. 46.01(6) and sec. 46.02.
Further reading
- Cramer, Clayton E. Concealed Weapon Laws of the Early Republic: Dueling, Southern Violence, and Moral Reform. Praeger Publishers, 1999.
- Kirchner, Paul (2010). Bowie Knife Fights, Fighters, and Fighting Techniques (2010 ed.). Paladin Press. ISBN 9781581607420.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
External links
Media related to Bowie knives at Wikimedia Commons
