I stumbled across this video on YouTube this morning. Two observations:
1. The Case Congress knife is bee-utiful!
2. I've never seen a video made by this guy before, but it is obvious he understands the concept of production values. While he's clearly not from around here, he speaks better English than 99% of the fanboys posting their garbage on the web.
A great review and a great historical perspective. Enjoy!
Guess what's next on my shopping list.
Stay sharp!
Brian
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Buck Folding Hunter
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| Buck 110 Folding Hunter This is a current production standard model with ebony handle scales and brass bolsters |
One of the benefits of being a member of the Buck Collectors Club is that you get access to Buck's production numbers for specific models of knives. As I was poking around the club's website I hit on the numbers for the Buck 110 Folding Hunter. I was surprised to read that since it's introduction in 1964 Buck has produced over 10 million of the standard model Folding Hunter! When you consider that Buck also makes several other versions of this model - versions with special blade steel, fancy bolster and handle material and even a very popular plastic handled version (the BuckLite) total production is probably closer to 12 million. Buck claims that this is the most popular folding knife in the world, and I believe 'em.
This Buck was a ubiquitous knife in the circles I traveled in. Just about every Soldier carried a Folding Hunter of one style or another. If you held a formation and told everyone to lift their BDU blouses to show what they were wearing on their belt about half would have a Folding Hunter resting there. Me included. My first Folding Hunter was bought around 1979 and promptly lost. A year or two later, when this struggling second lieutenant could afford it, I went out to the PX and bought a replacement.
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| Buck 110 Folding Hunter circa 1982 This was my daily carry knife. The sheath is a replacement made by Brigade Quartermasters and specifically designed to be worn on the wide pistol belt. This knife has seen service in Germany, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Honduras and across the United States |
The Folding Hunter is one of those rare products that has both improved and gotten cheaper over time. The retail price of a Folding Hunter in 1965 was $16. Adjusted for inflation that same $16 dollar knife should cost $114 today. Yet you can walk into most Wal-Marts in the US and purchase this same knife for less than $30. High production volume, production experience and automation have made their mark here. Buck can crank out these knives at an incredibly low price yet keep quality very high.
As to quality - it is clear that Buck does a much better job of finishing these knives today than they did 30 years ago. My 1982 example has a very square, chunky profile and using it for hard tasks can be a bit uncomfortable. My 2011 example has a nicely rounded handle and frame and is one of the most comfortable to hold knives I have in my collection.
But just how well do they hold up in the real world? If my 1982 Folding Hunter is a fair example of the breed then I can say without hesitation they hold up very, very well. This particular knife has been used to cut manila rope, nylon webbing, and aluminum communications wire. It has carved tent stakes and aiming stakes. It was used more than once to dig small holes. It has cut up any number of Army issue slabs of ham, chicken (yes, in the Army even chicken comes in slabs) salisbury steak, blueberry cobbler and pumpkin pie. It has sliced open hundreds of MRE bags, cut parachute suspension lines and tent canvas, scraped carbon build-up off of M-16 bolt carriers and served as a pointer during briefings. It has sliced open hundreds of sandbags, a particularly tough test of a knife's edge holding ability. It has carved open aluminum soda cans to make strobe light covers and emergency cook stoves. It has been used as a paperweight and as a dead-weight to do river depth soundings. It has caved the husk off of coconuts and chopped bamboo. On more than one occasion it was used as a hammer. It carries the scars of 30 years of proud service; the blade is scratched and scuffed and the brass bolsters are dinged and gouged. It desperately needs a good edge re-grinding and sharpening, but it snaps open and locks up with authority and the blade is as tight in the frame as it was the day I bought it. It is an honorable veteran that has earned its retirement.
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| Buck Folding Hunters From top to bottom - 1982 production Model 110, 2011 Model 110 and a Model 426 (BuckLite) with a composite plastic handle |
The point here isn't that the Buck Folding Hunter is a good, cheap knife. Rather, it is a great knife that stands up to rough use yet is inexpensive enough that the owner doesn't feel he has to baby it. Thirty dollars buys you a whole lot of knife.
The Folding Hunter astounded the knife world when it was introduced. At first the Buck board of directors was very reluctant to approve production - they really did not see a market for the knife. I believe it was Chuck Buck that convinced them to give it a try. Chuck figured this knife would sell well with hunters who would use it just a few weeks each year. It turns out Chuck was flat wrong - but in a good way. The Folding Hunter took off in ways Buck never imagined. It proved immediately popular not just with hunters but with the military, policemen, firemen, tradesmen, and just about anybody that lived, worked or spent time in the outdoors. Demand exploded and caught the knife industry by surprise. Almost every other knife manufacturer scrambled to get their version of a large, single blade lockback knife into production. Most were very good in their own right, but none ever approached the popularity of the Buck Folding Hunter. It was there first and has stayed first for almost 50 years.
There you have it! The Buck Folding Hunter. A classic knife from an iconic American company.
Stay sharp!
Brian
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Would Congress Sell You a Congress Knife?
Not these days.
There is a very distinctive pocket knife pattern known as the 'congress pattern'. It has been around since the mid-1800s. Lots of folks on hearing the name assume it is somehow directly linked to the US Congress. Perhaps it was a style of knife officially adopted by Congress? Or presented by Congress on special occasions? That is nice to think about - our august and beneficent Congress officially adopting a knife. Unfortunately there is no record I can find proving that Congress ever officially adopted anything with a sharp edge on it. The true story behind the congress pattern knife seems to be more of a self-fulfilling wish.
In the early 1800s the cutlery firms out of Sheffield, England were pouring knives and cutlery products into the young United States to fulfill an almost insatiable demand for quality blades. At the time the US was still an agrarian society and was expanding fast, first up over the Appalachians and into the old Northwest Territories (the upper midwest), then into the Louisiana Purchase. Land was cheap and fertile and a hardworking family could easily support themselves on a modest sized farm. There were few labor saving devices in those days and everything on the farm was done by hand or horse power. Most farm tasks involved a cutting edge - a knife, axe, saw, even a plow blade. Local blacksmiths and small manufacturers in the eastern US handled the 'rough trade' implements; axes, hatchets, butcher knives, saw blades, etc., but there was still a demand for finer cutlery that American manufacturers couldn't meet - quality kitchen cutlery, fine hunting knives and well made pocket knives. This is the market the Sheffield cutlers dominated. Sheffield cutlery had an almost mystical reputation; English crucible steel was the best production steel available at the time and Sheffield's skilled workforce could turn out an amazing range and volume of high quality knives and tools to meet specific needs. The blade stamp 'Sheffield' was considered a hallmark of superior quality and American customers selected Sheffield products before all others.
The cutlery firms of Sheffield were also marketing geniuses. Lets face it, the average 19th century farm laborer or office clerk really only needed one pocket knife in his life - something to cut up his lunchtime slab of roast beef or ham and to whittle a new nib on his quill pen. A pocket knife was a durable consumer item - something that didn't wear out in use and lasted years or decades. The Sheffield firms needed to convince consumers that they just HAD to have a new knife long before the old one wore out - they needed to build steady, repeat demand. The cutlery firms hit on a brilliant marketing gimmick - the concept of the cosmetic upgrade.
More than a century before the marketing wizards of Detroit put the same plan into action, the cutlery firms of Sheffield figured out that if you gussy up a plain knife just a bit - add mother of pearl handles or silver bolsters, or put a better polish on the blade - they could more readily catch the eye of the young dandy who was doing a little window shopping. Maybe he was tired of looking at the old, scuffed up wooden handled knife he carried around in his pocket and that new, shiny, fancy knife was just what he needed to impress his girl. It was all eye candy appeal, and damn if it didn't work!
Then they took it to the next level. The Sheffield firms hit on the idea of generating the perception that specific tasks demanded very specific cutting blade styles. Any old pocket knife can slice open a letter, but the cutlers of Sheffield implied that only a specially designed desk knife with a letter opening blade can get the job done done with elegance and style. No true gentleman should ever be caught opening important correspondence with a plain old pocket knife. It was undignified! Similarly, while any old pocket knife can slice up a pear or an apple the cutlers of Sheffield impressed upon their scruffy American cousins the notion that only a knife with a specially designed blade is suitable to the elegant task of carving up the dessert fruit. It would be just so ungentlemanly to let your lady see you slice up those delicate grapes with the same pocket knife you used to clean your fingernails. Only a specially designed Sheffield fruit knife was correct for the task. Oh, you unwashed masses! You have so much to learn (and so much money to spend). Let the master cutlers of Sheffield bring elegance and orderliness into your lives!
The 19th century cutlery catalogs put out by the Sheffield firms show a bewildering array of knives. The combinations of blade styles and finishes are endless. Pocket knives for camping, cooking, carving and castrating. Doctor's pocket knives for doing emergency surgery. Whittling knives for turning big sticks into little sticks. Pruning knives for tending the garden. Farriers knives with a folding pick for cleaning your horse's hooves. Delicate little bird knives that slip comfortably into the vest pocket on upland game hunts. Knives for cutting tobacco leaf and knives for clipping the end off of a fine cigar.
Out of this crazy mix of blade styles and finishes emerged the knife known as the 'congress pattern'. It appears the name was merely a marketing device first used by Joseph Rodgers & Sons sometime before the mid-1800s. It was originally a four blade knife with edges suited for shaping pen nibs and carving and whittling. I guess the marketing guys at Joseph Rodgers figured that's all that American congressmen did with their time - whittle on wooden sticks and sharpen quill pen nibs. Thus the congress pattern knife was born.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Capitol Building. The knife proved so popular that people naturally assumed the congress pattern was what congressmen carried and that it was somehow endorsed by the US Congress. After all, who wouldn't want to own the very same knife that their local congressman carried? It helped that it was also a very good design with a great combination of useful blades. In one of the classic examples of advertising shaping reality a lot of congressmen - senators and representatives - ended up carrying and using the congress pattern knife. In fact, one of America's greatest presidents and an acknowledged knife and gun enthusiast regularly carried this knife. No, not Teddy Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln! The night he was assassinated in Ford's Theater he had a congress pattern knife in his pocket. That knife is now on display in the Library of Congress.
[Editorial aside here. Yes Virginia, Abraham Lincoln was a big gun and knife enthusiast. He loved reviewing new weapons patents and often invited gun makers to demonstrate their new inventions right on the grounds of the White House. He was fascinated by the Henry Rifle design and pushed the War Department to adopt it during the Civil War. That was probably the last time a gun was fired for sport or pleasure on the grounds of the White House.]
A question that is often asked is whether or not the congress pattern knife was ever sold in the gift shops in the US Capitol Building. I don't think anyone can say for sure, but what we do know is that right up through the early 1980s various commemorative pocket knives were offered for sale in the gift shops. While visiting the Capitol on several occasions in the early 80's I clearly remember seeing pocket knives for sale. In his classic book 'The Practical Book of Knives' the author Ken Warner shows a Schrade Uncle Henry stockman pattern knife he bought in the Senate shop in the Capitol. So, I think it's a fair assumption to say that at some point a congress pattern knife was offered for sale in the US Capitol. But those days are far behind us. I'm sure that today in a building filled with dull minds there are no sharp things on offer.
While not as popular as it once was, the congress pattern knife is still available from a number of manufacturers. Case Cutlery, the premier US pocket knife manufacturer, offers several styles in their current catalog. It is a good pattern and it still sells well.
Recently I came across a congress pattern knife offered by CRKT (Columbia River Knife and Tool). I've owned several of their other pocket knife offerings and they are all very well done. I decided to order one up and when it arrived I became fascinated by the knife's design and history (and hence this blog post!).
As much as I love stockman pattern pocket knives, this congress pattern could steal me away. One thing is certain, I'll have to get my hands on a few more to help me make up my mind.
Stay sharp!
Brian
There is a very distinctive pocket knife pattern known as the 'congress pattern'. It has been around since the mid-1800s. Lots of folks on hearing the name assume it is somehow directly linked to the US Congress. Perhaps it was a style of knife officially adopted by Congress? Or presented by Congress on special occasions? That is nice to think about - our august and beneficent Congress officially adopting a knife. Unfortunately there is no record I can find proving that Congress ever officially adopted anything with a sharp edge on it. The true story behind the congress pattern knife seems to be more of a self-fulfilling wish.
In the early 1800s the cutlery firms out of Sheffield, England were pouring knives and cutlery products into the young United States to fulfill an almost insatiable demand for quality blades. At the time the US was still an agrarian society and was expanding fast, first up over the Appalachians and into the old Northwest Territories (the upper midwest), then into the Louisiana Purchase. Land was cheap and fertile and a hardworking family could easily support themselves on a modest sized farm. There were few labor saving devices in those days and everything on the farm was done by hand or horse power. Most farm tasks involved a cutting edge - a knife, axe, saw, even a plow blade. Local blacksmiths and small manufacturers in the eastern US handled the 'rough trade' implements; axes, hatchets, butcher knives, saw blades, etc., but there was still a demand for finer cutlery that American manufacturers couldn't meet - quality kitchen cutlery, fine hunting knives and well made pocket knives. This is the market the Sheffield cutlers dominated. Sheffield cutlery had an almost mystical reputation; English crucible steel was the best production steel available at the time and Sheffield's skilled workforce could turn out an amazing range and volume of high quality knives and tools to meet specific needs. The blade stamp 'Sheffield' was considered a hallmark of superior quality and American customers selected Sheffield products before all others.
The cutlery firms of Sheffield were also marketing geniuses. Lets face it, the average 19th century farm laborer or office clerk really only needed one pocket knife in his life - something to cut up his lunchtime slab of roast beef or ham and to whittle a new nib on his quill pen. A pocket knife was a durable consumer item - something that didn't wear out in use and lasted years or decades. The Sheffield firms needed to convince consumers that they just HAD to have a new knife long before the old one wore out - they needed to build steady, repeat demand. The cutlery firms hit on a brilliant marketing gimmick - the concept of the cosmetic upgrade.
More than a century before the marketing wizards of Detroit put the same plan into action, the cutlery firms of Sheffield figured out that if you gussy up a plain knife just a bit - add mother of pearl handles or silver bolsters, or put a better polish on the blade - they could more readily catch the eye of the young dandy who was doing a little window shopping. Maybe he was tired of looking at the old, scuffed up wooden handled knife he carried around in his pocket and that new, shiny, fancy knife was just what he needed to impress his girl. It was all eye candy appeal, and damn if it didn't work!
Then they took it to the next level. The Sheffield firms hit on the idea of generating the perception that specific tasks demanded very specific cutting blade styles. Any old pocket knife can slice open a letter, but the cutlers of Sheffield implied that only a specially designed desk knife with a letter opening blade can get the job done done with elegance and style. No true gentleman should ever be caught opening important correspondence with a plain old pocket knife. It was undignified! Similarly, while any old pocket knife can slice up a pear or an apple the cutlers of Sheffield impressed upon their scruffy American cousins the notion that only a knife with a specially designed blade is suitable to the elegant task of carving up the dessert fruit. It would be just so ungentlemanly to let your lady see you slice up those delicate grapes with the same pocket knife you used to clean your fingernails. Only a specially designed Sheffield fruit knife was correct for the task. Oh, you unwashed masses! You have so much to learn (and so much money to spend). Let the master cutlers of Sheffield bring elegance and orderliness into your lives!
The 19th century cutlery catalogs put out by the Sheffield firms show a bewildering array of knives. The combinations of blade styles and finishes are endless. Pocket knives for camping, cooking, carving and castrating. Doctor's pocket knives for doing emergency surgery. Whittling knives for turning big sticks into little sticks. Pruning knives for tending the garden. Farriers knives with a folding pick for cleaning your horse's hooves. Delicate little bird knives that slip comfortably into the vest pocket on upland game hunts. Knives for cutting tobacco leaf and knives for clipping the end off of a fine cigar.
Out of this crazy mix of blade styles and finishes emerged the knife known as the 'congress pattern'. It appears the name was merely a marketing device first used by Joseph Rodgers & Sons sometime before the mid-1800s. It was originally a four blade knife with edges suited for shaping pen nibs and carving and whittling. I guess the marketing guys at Joseph Rodgers figured that's all that American congressmen did with their time - whittle on wooden sticks and sharpen quill pen nibs. Thus the congress pattern knife was born.
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| Joseph Rodgers & Sons congress pattern pocket knife. From a late 19th century cutlery catalog. |
A funny thing happened on the way to the Capitol Building. The knife proved so popular that people naturally assumed the congress pattern was what congressmen carried and that it was somehow endorsed by the US Congress. After all, who wouldn't want to own the very same knife that their local congressman carried? It helped that it was also a very good design with a great combination of useful blades. In one of the classic examples of advertising shaping reality a lot of congressmen - senators and representatives - ended up carrying and using the congress pattern knife. In fact, one of America's greatest presidents and an acknowledged knife and gun enthusiast regularly carried this knife. No, not Teddy Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln! The night he was assassinated in Ford's Theater he had a congress pattern knife in his pocket. That knife is now on display in the Library of Congress.
 |
| The contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets on the night he was assasinated at Ford's Theater. Note the distinctive congress pattern pocket knife. From the Library of Congress 'Artifacts of Assassination' on-line display |
[Editorial aside here. Yes Virginia, Abraham Lincoln was a big gun and knife enthusiast. He loved reviewing new weapons patents and often invited gun makers to demonstrate their new inventions right on the grounds of the White House. He was fascinated by the Henry Rifle design and pushed the War Department to adopt it during the Civil War. That was probably the last time a gun was fired for sport or pleasure on the grounds of the White House.]
A question that is often asked is whether or not the congress pattern knife was ever sold in the gift shops in the US Capitol Building. I don't think anyone can say for sure, but what we do know is that right up through the early 1980s various commemorative pocket knives were offered for sale in the gift shops. While visiting the Capitol on several occasions in the early 80's I clearly remember seeing pocket knives for sale. In his classic book 'The Practical Book of Knives' the author Ken Warner shows a Schrade Uncle Henry stockman pattern knife he bought in the Senate shop in the Capitol. So, I think it's a fair assumption to say that at some point a congress pattern knife was offered for sale in the US Capitol. But those days are far behind us. I'm sure that today in a building filled with dull minds there are no sharp things on offer.
While not as popular as it once was, the congress pattern knife is still available from a number of manufacturers. Case Cutlery, the premier US pocket knife manufacturer, offers several styles in their current catalog. It is a good pattern and it still sells well.
Recently I came across a congress pattern knife offered by CRKT (Columbia River Knife and Tool). I've owned several of their other pocket knife offerings and they are all very well done. I decided to order one up and when it arrived I became fascinated by the knife's design and history (and hence this blog post!).
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| The CRKT Congress Pattern Knife |
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| Blades out! An extremely useful combination of blades. No wonder this pattern was so popular. |
Stay sharp!
Brian
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Knives For An Empire
For most of the 19th and early 20th Century the British knifemakers of Sheffield dominated the cutlery trade. The British steel making industry developed and matured fairly early. The English were making production lots of blister and crucible steel well before the Bessemer Process was invented in the 1850s, and a robust cutlery industry developed to take advantage of the high quality steel being produced.
It helped that English knifemakers had a ready worldwide market - the British Empire and an eager American market that could not be satisfied (yet) by the fledgling US cutlery industry.
The cutlers of Sheffield produced some of the finest knives ever seen, and their products were always in high demand even after cutlery manufacturing in the US and Germany (Solingen) matured in the late 1800s. The blade stamp 'Sheffield' was a hallmark of quality as much as it was a mark of origin.
Much of the work was piecework, with the manufacturing steps divided into forging, grinding, assembly, fitting and polishing. The bladesmiths, grinders and assemblers were skilled tradesmen who often worked as independent contractors to large production houses. They served up to seven year apprenticeships and were masters of their crafts.
This film shows the steps involved in making a folding blade knife. I believe it was filmed in Sheffield right after WWII based on some visual clues I noted while watching it. It is a historical record of a process that, I'm sure, has long since died away - that of the individual cutler producing a product under the old piecework system. The sound isn't too good but the narration is an important part of the story, so turn it up and listen closely!
Alas, cutlery production died off quickly in Sheffield during WWI. The reason was frighteningly simple - most of the cutlers, the cream of British knifemaking, were inducted into the hometown army regiments that pulled members from the Sheffield region. These regiments were fed into the battlefield slaughter at places like The Somme and almost overnight an entire generation of master cutlers was wiped out. Sheffield never recovered.
Sheffield remained an important cutlery production center, but the loss of trained personnel meant greatly reduced production and Sheffield started to lose its market share. The American cutlery industry raced to fill the market void and never looked back.
It helped that English knifemakers had a ready worldwide market - the British Empire and an eager American market that could not be satisfied (yet) by the fledgling US cutlery industry.
The cutlers of Sheffield produced some of the finest knives ever seen, and their products were always in high demand even after cutlery manufacturing in the US and Germany (Solingen) matured in the late 1800s. The blade stamp 'Sheffield' was a hallmark of quality as much as it was a mark of origin.
Much of the work was piecework, with the manufacturing steps divided into forging, grinding, assembly, fitting and polishing. The bladesmiths, grinders and assemblers were skilled tradesmen who often worked as independent contractors to large production houses. They served up to seven year apprenticeships and were masters of their crafts.
This film shows the steps involved in making a folding blade knife. I believe it was filmed in Sheffield right after WWII based on some visual clues I noted while watching it. It is a historical record of a process that, I'm sure, has long since died away - that of the individual cutler producing a product under the old piecework system. The sound isn't too good but the narration is an important part of the story, so turn it up and listen closely!
Alas, cutlery production died off quickly in Sheffield during WWI. The reason was frighteningly simple - most of the cutlers, the cream of British knifemaking, were inducted into the hometown army regiments that pulled members from the Sheffield region. These regiments were fed into the battlefield slaughter at places like The Somme and almost overnight an entire generation of master cutlers was wiped out. Sheffield never recovered.
Sheffield remained an important cutlery production center, but the loss of trained personnel meant greatly reduced production and Sheffield started to lose its market share. The American cutlery industry raced to fill the market void and never looked back.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Is That a Knife In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
They say the best knife for the job is the one you have with you. There's a lot of truth in that statement. However, it also helps if you make sure what you are carrying is a truly useful design. So we'll kick off today's discussion with the concept of the Every Day Carry (EDC) knife.
Like many of you I am very restricted as to what I can carry with me at work. In fact it's a fair bet that my employer doesn't want me carrying anything with an edge on it. And yet, a knife is still needed for the myriad of cubicle combat chores that pop up every day - slicing open boxes, cutting string, cutting packaging tape, slicing up a Subway sandwich. Heck, I even had a co-worker ask to borrow my knife to cut a donut in half. In the theater of cubicle combat a blade has to be versatile and ready for any high risk operation.
But in this environment it helps if the knife doesn't look like a knife, or at least looks friendly, comforting and earth-friendly. No big honkin' tanto-style folders with skulls and crossbones etched on the blade. That's too upsetting and it tends to trigger the Political Correctness Violation Alert System (PCVAS) that is hard wired into the building I work in. Instead, something you'd find in the pocket of an Earth First tree hugging terrorist would be just fine.
I've found that a traditional 3-bladed pocket knife meets all of my EDC requirements without triggering the PCVAS. It helps if the handles are made of stag or bone. Although those materials can trigger the PCVAS (after all, something had to die to provide me those handles), they make the knife look old-timey and non-threatening, almost comforting. As one full-time PCVAS monitor at my office recently commented as I was slicing open a particularly defiant banana, "Cool, my grandpa used to have a knife like that!"
I've found you can also mute the PCVAS alarm by observing that any other handle material would necessarily be made of a petroleum-based plastic. Since we are a Green workplace any petroleum-based products would count against our carbon footprint. And besides, nobody intentionally killed the animals that provided the bone or stag for the handles. They lived in a PETA approved and monitored free range game preserve and died of old age in a loving hospice environment, surrounded by Greenpeace communicants, Yanni music and evergreen scented candles. Their body parts were harvested as specifically directed in their living wills and the profits from the sale of said body parts were put directly towards research into the medicinal uses of hemp.
So you see dear reader, carrying a stag or bone handled pocket knife is actually a very Green activity!
For the past 25 years or so I've been toting a sweet little three bladed stockman-pattern knife made by Schrade Cutlery under the Uncle Henry brand name.
This knife is, in my opinion, the finest example of a stockman-pattern knife ever produced by a volume knifemaker. The blade sizes, styles and grinds are perfect, the fit and finish of the knife is first rate and it rides very comfortably in the pocket. It has an excellent 'walk and talk'; the blades snap open and closed smoothly and with just the right amount of tension. It is the example against which I evaluate all other stockman-pattern knives. Many are found wanting.
I call this my 'lost and found' knife. Although I've owned it for some 25 years I've only known where it is for about half that time. I'd drop it in a jacket pocket, in a backpack pouch, in a fishing bag or in a duffle bag and forget where it was. Weeks, months or, in one spectacular fit of forgetfulness, half a decade later I'd find it where I left it. It was always waiting patiently for me to rediscover just what a great little knife it is. It is also one of the cleanest knives on the planet; Roberta reports washing it at least a few dozen times (I'm not real good about emptying my pockets before dropping something into the laundry basket).
Sadly, Schrade Cutlery went bankrupt in 2004 and production of this fine knife ended. When I figured this out recently I panicked. What if I lost this knife again? What if the TSA came to my house and confiscated it as a preemptive measure? What if the PCVAS monitors caught me at work and confiscated it for doing battle with mailing envelopes and bailing twine? What if... Oh hell, what if I simply lost it? Again? I had to find a suitable replacement! But could anything measure up to my beloved Uncle Henry?
Well I'm happy to report that the answer is a resounding, yet somewhat troubling, yes! The search for a replacement took me from knife maker to knife maker and included a trip to the 2011 Blade Show in Atlanta, a visit to one of the quirkiest yet fascinating knife dealers on the east coast (more about that later), to in-person visits to the 800 pound gorillas of outdoor retail - Cabela's and Bass Pro, to local hardware stores, surplus stores and even to WallyWorld. Along the way I discovered some really great knives like the Case blue bone stockman.
Lordy, that's a beautiful knife. Case pocket knives sparkle like Christmas! It's just too damned nice to drop into a pocket full of keys, loose change and the other debris of life I end up carrying.
The Buck 300 series of folders looked promising. From a distance.
Now, I love Buck knives and own a fair number of them, but Buck really can't make a decent multi-blade pocket folder at any price. Buck seems to follow the Soviet model of pocket knife design and execution - build 'em big and heavy and square and make 'em as aesthetically pleasing as a T-34 tank. Sure the knife rates high on the utilitarian scale, but so does a 5lb sledge hammer.
Moving on...
Next I thought I'd give one of the Victorinox Swiss Army knives another look. The Swiss make good knives, and the Victorinox brand are the best of the best. Not only that, these knives held great potential to earn me brownie points from the PCVAS monitors. After all, Swiss Army knives are made in (wait for it)... Switzerland! Yes! The land of entrenched neutrality, the Red Cross, golden alpine meadows, pampered cows and, let's not forget, where half of the population speaks French!
I've got several possible candidates in my accumulation. (I hesitate to call it a collection. The term 'collection' implies direction and purpose. I ain't got any of that.) One of my long time favorites is the Pioneer model.
While a great knife, and one I would certainly choose if I was back in uniform again, it is a bit too bulky and has too many tools that don't serve any purpose in cubicle combat. Now that Vienna sausage cans have pull tops there's not much need for a can opener and since they've canceled the lunchtime leathercrafting series at work there's not much need for an awl. And of course they killed the two beer lunch, so the bottle opener wouldn't get much use.
Then one day I was nosing around a favorite surplus store and spied a nice looking little folder sitting in the display case. The salesgal let me handle it and I was immediately impressed. It was a three blade stockman built on the same pattern as my Uncle Henry. It was very nicely finished and the blades had an excellent 'walk and talk'. The manufacturer was Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT), a company I'd heard a lot about but I never had cause to buy one of their knives. The asking price in the store was OK, but I knew I could do better on-line. Some quick research revealed this knife was part of CRKT's new Pocket Classic line. I immediately ordered one up from Amazon (for about $30) and waited anxiously for its arrival.
I was not disappointed. In fact, I'm amazed at the level of fit and finish this knife presents at this price point.
The blades are flat tapered and ground thin, and are razor sharp and hold a good edge. The bolsters are stainless steel and are very nicely and evenly rounded. The handle scales are jigged bone and the liners are brass. All the way around the fit and finish are first rate - everything is precisely joined and well polished. In fact, it is polished to an amazing level even deep down. The inner faces of the springs - something you would normally never look at - are polished mirror bright. And as I've already mention the blades 'walk and talk' with authority and are perfectly centered.
Now here is the troubling part of my observation. This knife is made in China. In fact, much of CRKT's production is done in China. While China has never been known for its quality cutlery in the past decade or so a number of US manufacturers have moved all or part of their production to China to take advantage of reduced labor and material costs. This includes many 'traditionally American' knife makers such as Buck, Gerber and Ka-Bar. The Chinese have proven to be quick learners. They learned how to make excellent cutlery steel and developed a skilled workforce capable of producing high quality knives at high retail volume. This CRKT stockman is a reflection of this coming of age for Chinese knife production. It meets and in some cases surpasses the level of quality put out by American companies like Case, but at around 2/3 the retail price.
So here is my dilemma. I'm an All American kind of guy. I honestly and deeply believe that Americans can make the best of anything, whether it's pocket knives or space ships. China is our economic and military rival and every penny they get from us helps strengthen their position in the world. But CRKT is an American company and they are merely using China as a production source. Do I commit patriotic sin if I buy a knife made in China for an American firm? Perhaps, just a bit. But sometimes American companies just can't meet the need. The best example is Buck Knives. Nothing in their pocket knife lineup comes close to the level of design, fit and finish this CRKT knife presents. Case makes excellent knives but they are more collector pieces than daily carry items. I need something that I feel comfortable carrying and using day in and day out. This CRKT stockman fits the bill perfectly.
Let's end on a high note. CRKT has several different knife styles in their Pocket Classic line. In addition to the stockman, they offer a whittler, a trapper and a toothpick. I wanted to check and see if the knife I bought was a fluke - a singularly good example among an otherwise mediocre run of knives. I purchased one of their whittler models and I have to say this knife too is superb.
It is clear that CRKT is putting out excellent pocket knives at an amazingly low price. The little stockman is now my favorite EDC knife. I feel somewhat naked and unprepared for the day if it is not in my pocket as I head out the door. My faithful Uncle Henry has been pulled from active service and now enjoys a well earned retirement, nestled away comfortably where I know I can always find it.
My final concern is that a Chinese produced knife will set off multiple PCVAS alarms and if I'm ever found out the PCVAS monitors will have me locked up for life. Let's see, China spews millions of tons of pollutants into the air every year, dams up river gorges and executes Tibetan monks. On the other hand, the Chinese do like calligraphy, opium and Al Gore. Maybe it all balances out. Like ying and yang.
Brian
Like many of you I am very restricted as to what I can carry with me at work. In fact it's a fair bet that my employer doesn't want me carrying anything with an edge on it. And yet, a knife is still needed for the myriad of cubicle combat chores that pop up every day - slicing open boxes, cutting string, cutting packaging tape, slicing up a Subway sandwich. Heck, I even had a co-worker ask to borrow my knife to cut a donut in half. In the theater of cubicle combat a blade has to be versatile and ready for any high risk operation.
But in this environment it helps if the knife doesn't look like a knife, or at least looks friendly, comforting and earth-friendly. No big honkin' tanto-style folders with skulls and crossbones etched on the blade. That's too upsetting and it tends to trigger the Political Correctness Violation Alert System (PCVAS) that is hard wired into the building I work in. Instead, something you'd find in the pocket of an Earth First tree hugging terrorist would be just fine.
I've found that a traditional 3-bladed pocket knife meets all of my EDC requirements without triggering the PCVAS. It helps if the handles are made of stag or bone. Although those materials can trigger the PCVAS (after all, something had to die to provide me those handles), they make the knife look old-timey and non-threatening, almost comforting. As one full-time PCVAS monitor at my office recently commented as I was slicing open a particularly defiant banana, "Cool, my grandpa used to have a knife like that!"
I've found you can also mute the PCVAS alarm by observing that any other handle material would necessarily be made of a petroleum-based plastic. Since we are a Green workplace any petroleum-based products would count against our carbon footprint. And besides, nobody intentionally killed the animals that provided the bone or stag for the handles. They lived in a PETA approved and monitored free range game preserve and died of old age in a loving hospice environment, surrounded by Greenpeace communicants, Yanni music and evergreen scented candles. Their body parts were harvested as specifically directed in their living wills and the profits from the sale of said body parts were put directly towards research into the medicinal uses of hemp.
So you see dear reader, carrying a stag or bone handled pocket knife is actually a very Green activity!
For the past 25 years or so I've been toting a sweet little three bladed stockman-pattern knife made by Schrade Cutlery under the Uncle Henry brand name.
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| Schrade Cutlery Uncle Henry Model 897 Stockman The classic stockman-pattern pocket knife |
This knife is, in my opinion, the finest example of a stockman-pattern knife ever produced by a volume knifemaker. The blade sizes, styles and grinds are perfect, the fit and finish of the knife is first rate and it rides very comfortably in the pocket. It has an excellent 'walk and talk'; the blades snap open and closed smoothly and with just the right amount of tension. It is the example against which I evaluate all other stockman-pattern knives. Many are found wanting.
I call this my 'lost and found' knife. Although I've owned it for some 25 years I've only known where it is for about half that time. I'd drop it in a jacket pocket, in a backpack pouch, in a fishing bag or in a duffle bag and forget where it was. Weeks, months or, in one spectacular fit of forgetfulness, half a decade later I'd find it where I left it. It was always waiting patiently for me to rediscover just what a great little knife it is. It is also one of the cleanest knives on the planet; Roberta reports washing it at least a few dozen times (I'm not real good about emptying my pockets before dropping something into the laundry basket).
Sadly, Schrade Cutlery went bankrupt in 2004 and production of this fine knife ended. When I figured this out recently I panicked. What if I lost this knife again? What if the TSA came to my house and confiscated it as a preemptive measure? What if the PCVAS monitors caught me at work and confiscated it for doing battle with mailing envelopes and bailing twine? What if... Oh hell, what if I simply lost it? Again? I had to find a suitable replacement! But could anything measure up to my beloved Uncle Henry?
Well I'm happy to report that the answer is a resounding, yet somewhat troubling, yes! The search for a replacement took me from knife maker to knife maker and included a trip to the 2011 Blade Show in Atlanta, a visit to one of the quirkiest yet fascinating knife dealers on the east coast (more about that later), to in-person visits to the 800 pound gorillas of outdoor retail - Cabela's and Bass Pro, to local hardware stores, surplus stores and even to WallyWorld. Along the way I discovered some really great knives like the Case blue bone stockman.
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| Case Model 6318 Stockman |
Lordy, that's a beautiful knife. Case pocket knives sparkle like Christmas! It's just too damned nice to drop into a pocket full of keys, loose change and the other debris of life I end up carrying.
The Buck 300 series of folders looked promising. From a distance.
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| Buck Model 303 Cadet |
Now, I love Buck knives and own a fair number of them, but Buck really can't make a decent multi-blade pocket folder at any price. Buck seems to follow the Soviet model of pocket knife design and execution - build 'em big and heavy and square and make 'em as aesthetically pleasing as a T-34 tank. Sure the knife rates high on the utilitarian scale, but so does a 5lb sledge hammer.
Moving on...
Next I thought I'd give one of the Victorinox Swiss Army knives another look. The Swiss make good knives, and the Victorinox brand are the best of the best. Not only that, these knives held great potential to earn me brownie points from the PCVAS monitors. After all, Swiss Army knives are made in (wait for it)... Switzerland! Yes! The land of entrenched neutrality, the Red Cross, golden alpine meadows, pampered cows and, let's not forget, where half of the population speaks French!
I've got several possible candidates in my accumulation. (I hesitate to call it a collection. The term 'collection' implies direction and purpose. I ain't got any of that.) One of my long time favorites is the Pioneer model.
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| Victorinox Pioneer |
While a great knife, and one I would certainly choose if I was back in uniform again, it is a bit too bulky and has too many tools that don't serve any purpose in cubicle combat. Now that Vienna sausage cans have pull tops there's not much need for a can opener and since they've canceled the lunchtime leathercrafting series at work there's not much need for an awl. And of course they killed the two beer lunch, so the bottle opener wouldn't get much use.
Then one day I was nosing around a favorite surplus store and spied a nice looking little folder sitting in the display case. The salesgal let me handle it and I was immediately impressed. It was a three blade stockman built on the same pattern as my Uncle Henry. It was very nicely finished and the blades had an excellent 'walk and talk'. The manufacturer was Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT), a company I'd heard a lot about but I never had cause to buy one of their knives. The asking price in the store was OK, but I knew I could do better on-line. Some quick research revealed this knife was part of CRKT's new Pocket Classic line. I immediately ordered one up from Amazon (for about $30) and waited anxiously for its arrival.
I was not disappointed. In fact, I'm amazed at the level of fit and finish this knife presents at this price point.
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| CRKT Model 6063 Stockman |
The blades are flat tapered and ground thin, and are razor sharp and hold a good edge. The bolsters are stainless steel and are very nicely and evenly rounded. The handle scales are jigged bone and the liners are brass. All the way around the fit and finish are first rate - everything is precisely joined and well polished. In fact, it is polished to an amazing level even deep down. The inner faces of the springs - something you would normally never look at - are polished mirror bright. And as I've already mention the blades 'walk and talk' with authority and are perfectly centered.
Now here is the troubling part of my observation. This knife is made in China. In fact, much of CRKT's production is done in China. While China has never been known for its quality cutlery in the past decade or so a number of US manufacturers have moved all or part of their production to China to take advantage of reduced labor and material costs. This includes many 'traditionally American' knife makers such as Buck, Gerber and Ka-Bar. The Chinese have proven to be quick learners. They learned how to make excellent cutlery steel and developed a skilled workforce capable of producing high quality knives at high retail volume. This CRKT stockman is a reflection of this coming of age for Chinese knife production. It meets and in some cases surpasses the level of quality put out by American companies like Case, but at around 2/3 the retail price.
So here is my dilemma. I'm an All American kind of guy. I honestly and deeply believe that Americans can make the best of anything, whether it's pocket knives or space ships. China is our economic and military rival and every penny they get from us helps strengthen their position in the world. But CRKT is an American company and they are merely using China as a production source. Do I commit patriotic sin if I buy a knife made in China for an American firm? Perhaps, just a bit. But sometimes American companies just can't meet the need. The best example is Buck Knives. Nothing in their pocket knife lineup comes close to the level of design, fit and finish this CRKT knife presents. Case makes excellent knives but they are more collector pieces than daily carry items. I need something that I feel comfortable carrying and using day in and day out. This CRKT stockman fits the bill perfectly.
Let's end on a high note. CRKT has several different knife styles in their Pocket Classic line. In addition to the stockman, they offer a whittler, a trapper and a toothpick. I wanted to check and see if the knife I bought was a fluke - a singularly good example among an otherwise mediocre run of knives. I purchased one of their whittler models and I have to say this knife too is superb.
 |
| CRKT Model 6065 Whittler |
It is clear that CRKT is putting out excellent pocket knives at an amazingly low price. The little stockman is now my favorite EDC knife. I feel somewhat naked and unprepared for the day if it is not in my pocket as I head out the door. My faithful Uncle Henry has been pulled from active service and now enjoys a well earned retirement, nestled away comfortably where I know I can always find it.
My final concern is that a Chinese produced knife will set off multiple PCVAS alarms and if I'm ever found out the PCVAS monitors will have me locked up for life. Let's see, China spews millions of tons of pollutants into the air every year, dams up river gorges and executes Tibetan monks. On the other hand, the Chinese do like calligraphy, opium and Al Gore. Maybe it all balances out. Like ying and yang.
Brian
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Just In Case Santa Anna Makes a Comeback
I figure what better knife to inaugurate my new blog with than the Bowie knife. Is any knife more American than the Bowie? Well, yeah. Like the early English trade knife patterns, but I digress.
Jim Bowie was a scoundrel, land speculator, scofflaw, slaver and, many claim, a murderer. He also just happened to be at the Alamo and dying of tuberculosis when Santa Ana decided to teach the uppity Texicans a lesson by wiping them out.
Several years before the Alamo, while living in Louisiana and Mississippi, Bowie had cause to use a big ol' hunting knife on a few folks. One of these fights, originally arranged as a formal duel, devolved into a melee that ended with Bowie disemboweling the sheriff of Rapides Parish. He used a big knife his brother Rezin had given him. This was the infamous Sandbar Fight that established the legend of Jim Bowie and the Bowie knife.
But what did the first Bowie knife look like? Who knows. Whatever Bowie was carrying at the Sandbar and at the Alamo has been lost to time.
What we do know is that it was probably made in Arkansas by a local blacksmith and it was most likely nothing more than an enlarged butcher knife. Historians are pretty sure it didn't look anything like the Bowie knives we see made today. The blacksmith's name was James Black and he did a good business in knives. A number of his blades exist in collections today but none have been identified as the Bowie knife, the original carried by Jim Bowie at that Alamo or a close authentic copy.
No matter - by the 1840s the Bowie knife and Jim Bowie's death at the Alamo had become the stuff of legend. American cutlery manufacturers couldn't make Bowie knives fast enough. Literally. To fill the gap the English stepped in with their own interpretation of the knife and they exported tens of thousands of 'bowie style' blades and finished knives to the US right up into the early 1900s.
The fact that nobody really knew what Bowie's knife looked like didn't seem to slow anyone down - all they had to do was make it big and call it a 'Bowie style' and it sold. Early on two features became almost standard - a clip point blade and a coffin-shaped handle. Seems these two features had shown up on a James Black knife made after the Alamo and everybody just assumed that was what Jim Bowie's famous knife looked like. Rezin Bowie was always real circumspect with his description of the original knife, probably because he couldn't really remember what it looked like. But he wasn't about to admit that - there was too much money and prestige on the line!
Once the Bowie knife was burned into American folklore it proved impossible to root out. It has become a movie star. Literally. Any movie about Jim Bowie or the Alamo had to have the Bowie knife as a co-star. Just as in real life, the Bowie knife on screen became an integral part of the Jim Bowie persona. It became the iconic American blade style. Even in today's jaded age of the internet where pundits work overtime to pull down our heroes, Jim Bowie and his knife remain an almost untouched icon of the American frontier. Sure, he was a flawed character, but he was authentic! He was as big a personality and as forceful a character as his legend suggests, and the knife he carried was as authentic and as forceful as the man. By God, he was an American! Well, at least until he was granted Mexican citizenship and headed to Texas...
Virtually every knife maker - whether a large cutlery firm or a small time maker - has a Bowie style knife (or two, or three) in their catalog. Some offer entire lines of Bowies. Some independent knifemakers make nothing but Bowies. They are as popular today as they were in the 1840s.
If, like me, you spend any time and effort accumulating knives you will very quickly add several Bowie-style blades to your collection. They are impossible to avoid. A knife must satisfy two or three stylistic trademarks before it can be called a Bowie. First, it has to be big. Why big? Simple - Jim Bowie didn't win the fight at the Sandbar with a pocket knife. Real Bowies are big, manly knives. Girls don't carry Bowie knives, they carry dainty little pen knives. A Bowie is a man's knife. It's gotta' be big. If it ain't big it ain't a Bowie. Period. Next, it has to have a clipped blade. A clipped blade is one where a false edge is ground along the top 1/3 or so of the blade. This clip angles down to meet the belly of the knife blade at the tip. What's the false edge for? Why, for easier penetration when disemboweling your enemies. Did you learn nothing from the Sandbar Fight incident? Last, it must have a double cross guard. This is so when you are going mano a mano with your enemies your hand is protected as you thrust, slash and parry with your knife. It also helps if the knife has a coffin shaped handle because, well, because that's what James Black put on his knives and if it's good enough for James Black (and James Bowie) it's good enough for us!
But is the Bowie style knife good for anything other than fightin', slashin' and stabbin'? Opinions vary, and they vary very, very widely. Some consider it the ideal all-around knife. Some consider it good for nothing but killing (well, duh). That last group is mainly politicians from Chicago, downstate New York and the entire state of New Jersey. Hell, let's just throw the entire Democratic Party into the blame pool and call it a day. The truth is that this style does make a good all-around outdoor knife. I'll be fair and admit that there are other blade styles better suited for things like skinning animals or delicate camp chores like slicing food, and sometimes the shear size of the blade gets in the way. These relatively minor complaints aside, the Bowie knife is a great all-around design. Plus, it's just darned cool looking. So menacing. So ready for a fight. So damned politically incorrect. I love it!
So dear readers, your assignment for this week is to go watch John Wayne's classic movie 'The Alamo' and then go buy yourself a good 'ol Bowie knife.
Jim Bowie was a scoundrel, land speculator, scofflaw, slaver and, many claim, a murderer. He also just happened to be at the Alamo and dying of tuberculosis when Santa Ana decided to teach the uppity Texicans a lesson by wiping them out.
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| Jim Bowie. Without the knife. |
Several years before the Alamo, while living in Louisiana and Mississippi, Bowie had cause to use a big ol' hunting knife on a few folks. One of these fights, originally arranged as a formal duel, devolved into a melee that ended with Bowie disemboweling the sheriff of Rapides Parish. He used a big knife his brother Rezin had given him. This was the infamous Sandbar Fight that established the legend of Jim Bowie and the Bowie knife.
But what did the first Bowie knife look like? Who knows. Whatever Bowie was carrying at the Sandbar and at the Alamo has been lost to time.
 |
| An early pattern Bowie, commissioned by Jim Bowie's brother Rezin. This is probably close to the style of knife carried by Jim Bowie. This knife is on display at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas |
What we do know is that it was probably made in Arkansas by a local blacksmith and it was most likely nothing more than an enlarged butcher knife. Historians are pretty sure it didn't look anything like the Bowie knives we see made today. The blacksmith's name was James Black and he did a good business in knives. A number of his blades exist in collections today but none have been identified as the Bowie knife, the original carried by Jim Bowie at that Alamo or a close authentic copy.
 |
| A picture of James Black, reputed to be the blacksmith that created the first 'bowie knife' for Jim Bowie's brother Rezin. Note the knife he's holding in his left hand. |
No matter - by the 1840s the Bowie knife and Jim Bowie's death at the Alamo had become the stuff of legend. American cutlery manufacturers couldn't make Bowie knives fast enough. Literally. To fill the gap the English stepped in with their own interpretation of the knife and they exported tens of thousands of 'bowie style' blades and finished knives to the US right up into the early 1900s.
The fact that nobody really knew what Bowie's knife looked like didn't seem to slow anyone down - all they had to do was make it big and call it a 'Bowie style' and it sold. Early on two features became almost standard - a clip point blade and a coffin-shaped handle. Seems these two features had shown up on a James Black knife made after the Alamo and everybody just assumed that was what Jim Bowie's famous knife looked like. Rezin Bowie was always real circumspect with his description of the original knife, probably because he couldn't really remember what it looked like. But he wasn't about to admit that - there was too much money and prestige on the line!
Once the Bowie knife was burned into American folklore it proved impossible to root out. It has become a movie star. Literally. Any movie about Jim Bowie or the Alamo had to have the Bowie knife as a co-star. Just as in real life, the Bowie knife on screen became an integral part of the Jim Bowie persona. It became the iconic American blade style. Even in today's jaded age of the internet where pundits work overtime to pull down our heroes, Jim Bowie and his knife remain an almost untouched icon of the American frontier. Sure, he was a flawed character, but he was authentic! He was as big a personality and as forceful a character as his legend suggests, and the knife he carried was as authentic and as forceful as the man. By God, he was an American! Well, at least until he was granted Mexican citizenship and headed to Texas...
Virtually every knife maker - whether a large cutlery firm or a small time maker - has a Bowie style knife (or two, or three) in their catalog. Some offer entire lines of Bowies. Some independent knifemakers make nothing but Bowies. They are as popular today as they were in the 1840s.
 |
| A modern interpretation of the Bowie knife made by Case Cutlery. This knife was a gift from my wife back in 1977. I'm not sure who the coon skin capped fellow is who's likeness is etched on the blade. Davey Crocett perhaps? About the only thing he and Jim Bowie had in common is that they both died at the Alamo |
If, like me, you spend any time and effort accumulating knives you will very quickly add several Bowie-style blades to your collection. They are impossible to avoid. A knife must satisfy two or three stylistic trademarks before it can be called a Bowie. First, it has to be big. Why big? Simple - Jim Bowie didn't win the fight at the Sandbar with a pocket knife. Real Bowies are big, manly knives. Girls don't carry Bowie knives, they carry dainty little pen knives. A Bowie is a man's knife. It's gotta' be big. If it ain't big it ain't a Bowie. Period. Next, it has to have a clipped blade. A clipped blade is one where a false edge is ground along the top 1/3 or so of the blade. This clip angles down to meet the belly of the knife blade at the tip. What's the false edge for? Why, for easier penetration when disemboweling your enemies. Did you learn nothing from the Sandbar Fight incident? Last, it must have a double cross guard. This is so when you are going mano a mano with your enemies your hand is protected as you thrust, slash and parry with your knife. It also helps if the knife has a coffin shaped handle because, well, because that's what James Black put on his knives and if it's good enough for James Black (and James Bowie) it's good enough for us!
 |
Another classic modern interpretation of the Bowie. This one is by Buck Knives and is their Model 119 Special. This has been Buck's #1 selling fixed blade knife for decades. |
But is the Bowie style knife good for anything other than fightin', slashin' and stabbin'? Opinions vary, and they vary very, very widely. Some consider it the ideal all-around knife. Some consider it good for nothing but killing (well, duh). That last group is mainly politicians from Chicago, downstate New York and the entire state of New Jersey. Hell, let's just throw the entire Democratic Party into the blame pool and call it a day. The truth is that this style does make a good all-around outdoor knife. I'll be fair and admit that there are other blade styles better suited for things like skinning animals or delicate camp chores like slicing food, and sometimes the shear size of the blade gets in the way. These relatively minor complaints aside, the Bowie knife is a great all-around design. Plus, it's just darned cool looking. So menacing. So ready for a fight. So damned politically incorrect. I love it!
So dear readers, your assignment for this week is to go watch John Wayne's classic movie 'The Alamo' and then go buy yourself a good 'ol Bowie knife.
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