From: deowll@gmail.com   
      
   "Good Soldier Schweik"  wrote in message   
   news:vfl8e5hqcjiaqf9c4g6ttfet60id8srgi6@4ax.com...   
   > On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:54:30 -0500, "deowll"  wrote:   
   >   
   >>   
   >>"B. Goode"  wrote in message   
   >>news:f373e55p18jsbkbbmu9p98jg5fru08pbls@4ax.com...   
   >>> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:48:36 -0500, "deowll"  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>"Good Soldier Schweik"  wrote in message   
   >>>>news:fistd55rvkh9eb6r4cdffnivaeop3fth4l@4ax.com...   
   >>>>> On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:36:49 -0500, "deowll"  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>"Good Soldier Schweik"  wrote in message   
   >>>>>>news:8ocnd5h41of5qkg9tg8jv5co84tikun41l@4ax.com...   
   >>>>>>> On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:52:05 +0000 (UTC), wrat@panix.com (the wharf   
   >>>>>>> rat) wrote:   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>In article <7jvb1jF3761kfU1@mid.individual.net>,   
   >>>>>>>>Del Cecchi  wrote:   
   >>>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>>was.  They did have a really cute little bayonet for the M16 that   
   >>>>>>>>>we   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>> Well if you havce a perfectly good rifle why are you bothering with   
   >>>>>>>>that stupid Glock? :-)   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>>So when you go camping you just take a big ass bowie?   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>> Actually I use a stove for cooking and a tent for shelter.  I carry   
   >>>>>>>>a small fixed blade knife, formerly a Gerver A400 that got lost then   
   >>>>>>>>a Schrade now a Bark River TUSK.  I use an entrenching tool for the   
   >>>>>>>>latrine.   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>>An I consider the current fad for all these testosterone laden   
   >>>>>>>>>manly   
   >>>>>>>>>fighting knives made out of half inch thick steel bars silly. But   
   >>>>>>>>>to   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>> The Bowie isn't a current fad.  They've been around for hmmmm   
   >>>>>>>>150 years?  It's a classic American design.   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>I've seen pictures of a sax from 900 AD that many would call a bowie.   
   >>>>>>The   
   >>>>>>basic design seems to be rather old and seems to stray rather far from   
   >>>>>>what   
   >>>>>>James Bowie described.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> However.... From all I have read the alleged reason for making the   
   >>>>>>> first Bowie knife was so that the guy who it was made for, Jim   
   >>>>>>> Bowie,   
   >>>>>>> would have a better weapon when setting upon, or being set upon, by   
   >>>>>>> various adversaries, whom it is rumored there were more then a few.   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Not to chop firewood for a camp fire...   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>Actually "the bowie" was made for James, the older brother as a   
   >>>>>>hunting   
   >>>>>>knife and he had his younger brother carry it because Jim was having   
   >>>>>>problem   
   >>>>>>getting along with others. The blade was normally described as a large   
   >>>>>>butcher knife. James said it had a blade 9 1/4 inches long with a   
   >>>>>>straight   
   >>>>>>back.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I have read that there is some evidence, I believe a letter written by   
   >>>>> a granddaughter, who states that she was present when her grand dad   
   >>>>> Rezin P. Bowie instructed a hired (White Man) blacksmith to make the   
   >>>>> knife. Several sites seem to credit this origin.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> She also wrote that knife was just a hunting knife...   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Excuse me my brain is slipping. Rezin it is. The design of bowie knives   
   >>>>changed through time. Rezin as a old man that the newer blades were a   
   >>>>big   
   >>>>improvement on his original design.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Not sure what he meant by that. I've looked at pictures of what some   
   >>>>people   
   >>>>think the original design would have looked like and I prefer it. Oh   
   >>>>well.   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> My guess is that the original "bowie knife" was just a modification of   
   >>> an existing design. Perhaps a larger or heavier design. the whole   
   >>> story of the fight on the sandbar doesn't ring true. Not that Jim   
   >>> Bowie didn't participate, but that because of the fight the knife   
   >>> became immensely popular. After all, similar types of weapons had been   
   >>> in use for hundreds or thousand of years.   
   >>>   
   >>> What I suspect happened is that the Sandbar story, being a rather   
   >>> flamboyant account of "life on the frontier" was used by foreign,   
   >>> mainly English, knife makers as a sales promotion and when we call a   
   >>> "Bowie knife" today may well have no relationship to what Jim actually   
   >>> used.   
   >>>   
   >>> Heresy? Perhaps, but likely.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >>A lot of sources I read would agree with you. That is that the modern   
   >>bowie   
   >>is in large part a product of the English cutlery trade and they called   
   >>all   
   >>their large knives Bowie because Bowie was famous even though their blade   
   >>might be said to have been based more on a large traditional English style   
   >>knife. The sax with a guard added.   
   >>   
   >>My best take on what Rezin described is a butcher knife (with wood scale   
   >>handles) with French chef's knife type back with a wide blade, wider than   
   >>the handle,  and a rounded point and straight spine. As a weapon it would   
   >>have created a wide wound and still been able to slash and hack at 9.25   
   >>inches.  It would have worked well to butcher large game and could have   
   >>done   
   >>minor wood modification.   
   >>   
   >>I'm not sure what Rezin was thinking when he had this made but it would   
   >>have   
   >>worked well as tool or a weapon while most modern bowies aren't that   
   >>flexible.   
   >>   
   >   
   > I've always view the whole story of the bowie knife with some   
   > suspicion. The Bowie brothers were essentially criminals; illegal   
   > slave trading and illegal land trading. Jim, who already had a   
   > reputation for being a feisty chap was involved in what is best   
   > described as a melee and suddenly his knife becomes popular   
   > practically world wide?   
   >   
   > Now, just a minute, what other duel or brawl, murder or other battle   
   > has resulted in the immortalizing of the weapons?   
   >   
   > Take for instance the Burr - Hamilton duel... did folks rush to   
   > purchase pistols from the maker of the deadly weapon? Does anyone even   
   > remember what they were? What type of pistol was used to kill Wild   
   > Bill Hickok? Did the Gun fight at the O.K. Corral cause folks to rush   
   > out and buy the same gun that Wyatt had?   
   >   
      
   Some years back I read an article about the dueling pistols used in the   
   Burr-Hamilton duel. Even though Hamilton owned dueling pistols he borrowed a   
   set to use in the duel in which he fired early and was killed. A son of   
   Hamilton later met the same fate. The guns ended up I think in the   
   Smithsonian. Somebody wanted to make a reproduction set and when examined   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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