Did Some Work On My Western W49 Bowie

[Shinken]

I guess the only way to find out which you prefere is to try both with an open heart.

 

[mrostov]

Here's a pic that gives a size comparison:

The top three knives are Nepalese khukuris from Himalayan Imports. The top two are 16.5" WWII models, also sometimes called a 'Dehradoon', and the 3rd one is a BAS model - British Army Service, patterned off of the current issue khukuri for Gurkhas serving in the British Army.

The straight, bowie style blade is a Cold Steel Trailmaster, with a carbon steel blade made of 'Carbon-V' aka 0170-6C steel which is the same 9" length and same steel as the W49 bowie earlier in this thread, but the blade is narrower.

The smaller knife is a Cold Steel SRK with a 6" blade, also of 'Carbon-V' aka 0170-6C steel.

 

[mrostov]

I think stuart wasnt refereing to the size but the upswept clip point (which is crap at drilling) the big guard (which just gets in the way and imho has no use) and the finger grooves ( which make carving with a chestleaver grip painfull )

All of these characteristics make a bowie difficuilt to bushcraft with (imho) A leuku for instance can be the same length and do all the big jobs the bowie would do but withought any if the negatives (again imho)

One thing I was going to comment on was this point that I didn't address earlier.

The pictures may not show the knife as well as it should. The point really isn't 'upswept'. It's actually pretty much a straight slope downwards with a slight curve in the middle of the slope.

There is actually no 'upsweep' at the tip, and the tip is directly inline with the centerline of the handgrip. The knife itself can drill fine, and it has a lot of leverage, and a bit of natural weight behind it, so it drills fast without too much effort. Though, unless you want to angle it a bit, the drill hole will be a bit wider than many of the smaller knives will make.

The guard on this isn't oversized as it looks in the picture either, on my hands it extends just past the tops of my fingers when gripping the knife. Now, before I trimmed it, yeah it was oversize. It was a genuine S shaped, 19th Century style handguard when these knives were used as much for fighting as for other activities.

The knife itself is rather flat and wide, with the steel at the spine at 3/16". It's not a prybar like a lot of bigger knives are nowadays. Due to the wide, flat profile, and the shallow bevel, it has a fine, narrow cutting profile akin to a smaller knife.