Bowie Knife

[lonehunter]

10"X2" 0-1 Blade, Through tang peened over a Iron butt cap, Iron Guard, Lightly aged, Antler handle. 15" overall
Thanks for looking, As always comments welcome!

[Scout]

Real nice work ! That style is kind of what I would think Jim Bowie carried. I have seen real fancy type knives called Bowies and always thought would that have really been used on the frontier? Most IMO were too much like show pieces instead of useful tools or weapons.

Yours looks great.  On that subject was the real Bowie knife from the Alamo ever recovered and in a museum somewhere?

[Ken G]

I love the Bowie.  Looks great to me.  Thanks for posting the pics.
Ken

[The other DWS]

"was the real Bowie knife from the Alamo ever recovered and in a museum somewhere?"  

No!   He was either dead or dying of disease when or just before before the Fort was overwhelmed.  he was totally incapacitated and unable to participate in any command activity shortly after the "siege" commenced.
From what I have studied over the years; spite of the glorious JohnWayne Disneyesque hero myths of him fighting with knife and pistol form his deathbed there is no credible evidence that his knife was recovered in spite of a few supposed "Bowie" knives that purportedly "came from Mexican officers"   In all likelihood if all the arms were piled and burned  as was reported, His personal knife would have been pretty much indistinguishable from any other large side/fighting knife of that era.

Aside from that, the pictured knife is really nice looking and is a real nice interpretation of a "working  bowie".  the filework on the back of the blade is a really nice touch that certainly raises it a notch or two above the typical local blacksmith made knife.   Its one I'd be proud of.

[Scout]

"was the real Bowie knife from the Alamo ever recovered and in a museum somewhere?"  

No!   He was either dead or dying of disease when or just before before the Fort was overwhelmed.  he was totally incapacitated and unable to participate in any command activity shortly after the "siege" commenced.
From what I have studied over the years; spite of the glorious JohnWayne Disneyesque hero myths of him fighting with knife and pistol form his deathbed there is no credible evidence that his knife was recovered in spite of a few supposed "Bowie" knives that purportedly "came from Mexican officers"   In all likelihood if all the arms were piled and burned  as was reported, His personal knife would have been pretty much indistinguishable from any other large side/fighting knife of that era.

As I'm a bit of a "student" of the Alamo battle I appreciate the info in your post.

[The other DWS]

there are a number of books and articles on the bowie blade, and few of the agree on its story.  One of the best was a 3 or 4 part series on one of the knife collector magazines a few years back
. Bowies's brother Rezin sorta capitalized on James fame and created part of the legend, including several presentation "bowie knives" that are authentic "bowie knves", just form the worng Bowie.
Much of the rest is second or third hand reports from someone who "knew" long after the facts and fails even minima historical standards of credibility.  I base my own opinion, and thats all it is, on the few survivors accounts, and even they had their own bowieknives to grind. .
 Basically he was incapacitated and deathly ill, of typhus or typhoid as I recall, and was being tended by a servant from his Tejano-wife's family.  Very shortly after Santa Ana's forces arrived he ceased having any role in the command structure leaving Travis in sole "command".  Accounts of his death are circumstantially suspicious.  I personally believe he was probably dead of his illness before the fall of the fort and the ensuing massacre, but that only my own conjecture.

 Remember that after the event all of the fallen Alamo defenders were immediately raised to the Pantheon of Texas civility.   Their survivors/families were  given large land grants by the new Republic, which really skewed documentable historical facts; starting frauds and feuds, some of which are still ongoing.

 I imagine that his blade may have fallen into the hands of a Mexican soldier, but by that time the "bowie-knife" fad had taken off and there were probably dozens of bowie-style, oversized single edged hunting knifes with some sort of hand guard in the hands of the "anglo" defenders.  Perhaps in his later years he may have had a more ornate version made, but no evidence has ever surfaced of such.  If his was picked up by someone it was not recognized, and in the decade after the founding of the Republic, it, Travis's sword and pistols, Crockett's rifle  (whole 'nother tale for that'un) would have been the Holy Grails of Texas Culture.  the fact that they have not surfaced is pretty indicative I think.

[Scout]

If only those fools had known what they were burning was worth, we may have had something to look at years later.

[Eric Smith]

This knife is probably a more realistic interpretation of a Bowie, but I just can't help myself from slobbering all over the "Iron Mistress" knife from the movie.