Smaller Bowie

[mustanggt]

I have searched on the net for days looking for a smaller Bowie knife. I have one that is real big 16"+ and it just gets in the way. I don't need it that big for shooting a match. I was thinking more like 10-11" or so. I'm just looking for a reasonable priced one $200 give or take. Just looking for reputable businesses to deal with. If you could give me recommendations I'd sure appreciate it. Thank you.

[St. George]

Check Dixie Gun Works and Track of the Wolf - they generally have suitable stock.

Also, take a deeper look at the 'back pages' here, and you'll see that it wasn't all about Bowies - but there were many other styles of knives and sheaths used during the time frame.

Scouts Out!

[Major 2]

If you want a handy, period correct rather handsome using knife  

here was my choice... not a Bowie, but a Roach Belly , charcoal forged , Curly Maple scales , full bladed and holds a razor edge.

hand made in the Oregon   , Price is darn right reasonable at $69.95 from Atlanta Cutlery  

http://www.atlantacutlery.com/p-852-frontier-utility-knife.aspx

[1961MJS]

Hi

I've been reading up on the whole Bowie knife and Cowboy Knife AND Buffalo Hunter knife thing.  I'm making my own, sanding knife handles is a good way to kill time.  Anyway, search on Crazy Crow Green River Knife AND Crazy Crow Butcher Knife.  They put the scales on plain old butcher knives in the old five pin pattern (like on the 5 Dice).

If you're good your hands and have a belt sander making your own is pretty easy too.  See Jantz Supply their prices are slightly cheaper than Track of the Wold and Crazy Crow, but not much. 

Just My $0.02

[Davem]

I think a 6" bowie blade with full tang, stag or jigged bone to look like stag scales, and a brass double guard- there is one in Waco, TX at the ranger museum and of all the knives carried in the cowboy days- that would have been pretty common. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I agree with Davem;  Here is a link to sheffield bowies in England. Not pushing them as there are very similar blades available in North America;

http://www.sheffieldknives.co.uk/acatalog/22-69.html

This is a product that was widely available during the day. In fact it was continuously made from then to now. The conversion to cartridge firearms made the large knives superfluous. For general utility a six-inch blade is about the top end.

[St. George]

One of the most overlooked blades of the era (today, everyone wants a big, honkin' Bowie) is the ubiquitous skinner, or 'Green River' blade.

They were found everywhere and used by everyone because of their utility and ease of sharpening, and because of their availability.

Put one in a beaded sheath and you're set.

Scouts Out!

[PJ Hardtack]

Is there a more useless belt knife than a great honkin' Bowie with a 10" or greater blade?

It's too big for daily chores that require a knife, too big for a camp knife, useless for slicing anything, weighs too much for it's utility and not big enough to clear brush or split firewood. They also make sitting down in some chairs uncomfortable and awkward.

I see a lot of city hunters coming and going at the General Store these days. There are always a few that think it really cool to come into the store wearing a huge belt knife. The locals snicker, most of them wearing folders or "Leatherman" tools on their belts as part of the dress code. They'd no sooner leave the house without one than a hat.

I've got several smaller Bowies, some of them Sheffield blades picked up at swap meets and 'junque' shops. They reside in my hunting pack while my gutting knife is a Gerber folder with a 4" blade. Any more and I get into trouble inside the body cavity of a deer or bear.

[Davem]

Try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Gunfighter-Weapons-Frontier-1840-1900/dp/0806127619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442267886&sr=8-1&keywords=gunfighters+By+Rosa#reader_0806127619

Bring up the page and then click on the index and scroll up to the photo- look at the playing card. you can sort of tell that the knife has only a 6" blade. It is almost a twin to the one at the Texas Ranger museum in Waco.  There were plenty of styles but a small "Bowie" like that I think was pretty common in the 1880's.