Custom Bowie Knife

The Bowie Knife, also sometimes called an “Arkansas Toothpick” when blacksmith, knife maker, and metallurgist James Black of Arkansas had his living legend knife design mimicked and reproduced by metallurgists in England was sold by them to Americans who wanted to get hold of one of the famous “tough man’s” knives, was not originally called the Bowie Knife.

The knife design that became the Bowie Knife began taking on its name after, allegedly, Jim Bowie used one of Black’s knives to win the 1827 “Sandbar Duel” in Mississippi, thus establishing himself as an expert knife fighter. By the time Bowie was killed at the Alamo in 1836 (personally taking nine Mexican soldiers with him to the grave, courtesy of his double-edged blade and his incredible skill with it), Black’s “Arkansas Toothpick” had become the “knife like Bowie’s”, which then got shortened to the “Bowie Knife”.However, it is also stated by some that Bowie brought Black a self-whittled wooden model of a knife that he wanted Black to customize for him in late 1830 and that Black produced this knife for Bowie by January of 1831.

By Curtis Wilson
Left to right: Flintlock rifle used in "Man Of Conquest" (1939), Steel forged Blade, and Wood Pattern Blade, The Iron Mistress, Hollow Bladed Bowie Knife Gerber, I remember when they came out with the Paul Knife, which I believe is the first factory folder to meet the fine precision of today's custom ... Return Doc

Custom Knife Raffle Features
Custom Knife Raffle. The knife is a custom hunter/bowie medium in size, made by knife maker W. Barnes. This is from his own collection, and I was lucky enough to obtain it from him. ... Doc Retrieval

INSIDE THIS ISSUE - The Official Publication Of The North ...
The Official Publication of The North Carolina Custom Knifemakers Guild Dedicated to the Art and Craft of Custom Knife-making APRIL 2009This month’s cover knife is a vest pocket bowie made of 1095 and L6 Damascus steel. ... Retrieve Doc

And still other histories show that Rezin P. Bowie claimed to have made the first Bowie Knife in the mid-1830s after he found an old drawing made by his brother and wanted to make himself an effective hunting knife.

Today, the U.S. Marine Corps supplies a Bowie Knife and training in Jim Bowie’s fighting technique to each of its warriors, and many a hunter is careful take his Bowie Knife with him into the woods.

It was once written of Black by Arkansas’ Governor Jones, “I am certain that Black possessed the Damascus secret....He often told me that no one taught him his method of tempering steel, but that it came to him in a mysterious manner which he could not explain.” Jones referred to the famous Damascus Steel swords of pre-Christian times.

Those who today make custom Bowie Knives might very well also possess the Damascus secret. As Black was supposed to have done for Jim Bowie, makers of Bowie Knives today can be found who will take an order to make one of the beautiful, elegant, and deadly Bowie Knives to a custom design on demand—for the right price, of course.

A custom Bowie Knife can definitely be a stand-out item for a hunter, warrior, or private knife collector, for the blade has become so renowned that now all over the world knives are constantly made in the image of the first alleged Bowie Knife, with a few unique features added to entire line-issues of a Bowie Knife design. The Linder knife-making family of Germany and the Esparcia family of Spain are two companies who have created reputations for producing very high quality lines of Bowie Knife designs.

But, to have a custom Bowie Knife made for you would give you an outstanding edge in more ways than one.