Identifying Bowie Knives
A Bowie knife is a specific thing, even though the term is loosely applied to most any large hunting knife. A Bowie knife has distinguishing features that make it very specialized in certain ways and very versatile in others. The principal difference between a Bowie and most hunting knives is that a Bowie was designed to be a dual-purpose device in a specific regard: It was designed both for utility and as an implement of self-defense. The design carries the name of its original carrier, Jim Bowie, a legendary frontiersman and one of the fighters at the Alamo.
Bowie knives always have clipped points. This feature is the end part of the blade where the center of the blade dips below the spine. Though this feature is attractive, it offers far more than looks. In a fight, this narrow portion of the blade is lethal in its ability to penetrate deep into the body with little effort. This creates what is called a false edge along the back of the blade. Some users sharpen this edge. Outside of fighting, however, this modification has little practical usage and may make the knife more dangerous to the user.
Unlike most hunting knives, a Bowie knife has a wide and angled hand guard. This is also principally designed for its utility when fighting. The hand guard can deflect other weapons away from the user’s hands-hands and arms are major targets in knife fights-and also prevents the user’s hand from sliding up the blade if it meets heavy resistance from a thrust. As much as a Bowie is a tool of the frontier, it is also a weapon of war and its namesake owner was legendary for his skill with this particular weapon.
Bowie knives are always single-edged knives. The back of the blade is sometimes altered to provide more utility. On some knives, there are saw portions or a sharpened section along the false edge of the blade clip. These are user customizations, however, and this knife is always a single edged weapon when manufactured to traditional standards. While double-bladed knives may be a bit more deadly, they are very impractical for any kind of work and oftentimes endanger their user when pressed into service for such mundane tasks as cleaning game.
A Bowie knife is generally a very large knife, being anywhere between 6 and 12 inches long. While there are longer models made, they are essentially novelty items. A real Bowie is as precise as it is large and deadly.
Dave is the owner of an online bowie knife and glock grip extension store.
