Forging 2 Bowie Knives

so let me bring you up to speed on why a bowie knife what the connection is between bowie knives and the iconic American Old West sort of the I don't want to call it a mythology because we have record of the role of the bowie knife in the American West and there's nothing mythic about it it's just the way it worked starting with Jim Bowie so let me debrief what I know about this and what I've always sort of intended to know about it and what the experience has been like to actually now have made a couple of bowie knives [Music] bowie knives kind of began they emerged as I understand it according to google around 1830 ish and they became they sort of dominated the popular culture after a duel on a sandbar between Jim Bowie and somebody who didn't survive it now Jim almost didn't survive it either because after the two pistols of the duelers didn't work and essentially they threw down their pistols and pulled out their knives and Jim was stabbed a few times some of the guys on the sidelines opened up now that was a different world wasn't it so here's Jim Bowie and he's been shot once through the lungs he's been stabbed some number of times by his assailant and he gets his bowie knife out which he had had designed and forged by a blacksmith let's make a formal recognition of that by a blacksmith and with one stroke stabbed the man to the heart and ended the fight [Music] [Music] [Music] the newspapers that really made a big deal of this later didn't quite know what to call jim's knife whether to call it a short sword it was similar to the artillery swords in the Civil War and it was actually described as a cleaver by some who reported on the event and so that kind of set the standard for the normal understanding of a bowie knife of having a long and heavy and thick and durable blade usually or often with a guard to protect your knuckles from the slicing and dicing action of the other guy's knife something that came to me is being startling is that there was actually a move towards arms control in the 1850s in the American South there was legislation proposed to limit the effect of bowie knives and Arkansas toothpicks in our states but apparently that didn't work because they they passed into a status of being one of the top three iconic American Arms the Kentucky rifle the bowie knife and the colt 45 I started blacksmithing seriously about 15 years ago and was instantly hooked actually I think I was hooked long before I even tried it I always knew that I would love it and for lots of reasons I just love making objects that will last several lifetimes I like the fact that I'm using tools and processes that have been around for millennia I like the fact that it's artistic and creative it's a great exercise it's a great place to think there are just dozens of reasons why this is a great hobby if you're getting into blacksmithing you might consider checking out essential blacksmith our online beginning blacksmithing course it is by far the best blacksmithing content we've ever made and it's designed specifically to take a total beginner through all of the basics and to the point where they're creating some really beautiful objects if nothing else I hope you'll at least click the link so you can see what we put together we put our heart and soul into this course and we're really proud of it you're watching me take a Damascus tomahawk that I've had laying around here for two or three years and repurpose it into a Damascus bar that I'm going to use for the guards or the hilts on these bowie knives this tomahawk was a failure I punched and drifted the eye through the hawk at an angle so when I realized that I needed some more material for the guards on these things I thought you know what I think I can hammer the edge of that blade back down and just recapture that material into a three-quarter inch by three-quarter inch bar which is what I think I'm gonna need to slit and drift and draw out the guards for these knives [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so I would say overall I'm pleased with how these turned out pattern Damascus they match I mean you can tell their brothers right and so that's a win you probably know that I do not consider myself a knife maker but I'll tell you I learned a lot about knife making making these two knives which is after all the best way to learn anything you're interested in is just to start doing it and by the time you're done you're gonna be better but these things are the heat treating is durable I haven't given them a stress test to destruction I don't intend to but they look good they're gonna hold an edge and all in all I would say that these just are right squarely down the middle of the road of a classic bowie knife interpretation you know in the 21st century thanks for watching essential craftsman and keep up the good work [Music]

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 194,065

Keywords: anvil, forge, blacksmith, forging, craftsman, mentor, trades, tradesman, career, smith, builder, wisdom, workbench, fabricate, tools, tool, tips, trick, hacks, protip, Essential Blacksmith, beginning blacksmithing, Bowie knife, hilts, patterened damascus, Jim Bowie, knife hilts, Damascus

Id: Oc-d7xRSbec

Length: 15min 6sec (906 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 06 2020