I find it darkly amusing how those old accounts describe Bowie as having "Violently Disemboweled" his opponent ... as opposed, I guess to politely and gently disembowling him? ;)
I suppose the opposite of "violent" disembowel is "methodical" disembowel... But that doesn't sound likelly to happen in a fight with multiple people on both sides
Lindybeige is one of the only edutainment channels I watch. (When you do this for a living, watching others in the same genre isn't exactly interesting normally... Lindybeige is an extremely rare exception.) -Daven
I did a lot of hiking and camping when I was a kid (50+ years ago) and I never went anywhere without my bowie knife. I even would hike home after high school (10 to 15 miles depending on my route). No one even blinked an eye at my 11" knife. I can just imagine if some student walked into a high school today with one on his belt. (FYI: I did keep it in my locker during school.)
The best part about it is that you know there were at least 3-5 other students with smaller/concealed or open carry if you didn't recall the stories of you getting bullied for the bowie
@@cortex8239 I didn't get bullied since the 7th grade. The biggest bully in school tried to beat me up. Luckily he was the biggest idiot as well. He used an open lock as a brass knuckle, swung, missed, hit a locker, closing the lock and breaking two fingers. Rather than admit what happened, he told some story about breaking his hand on my jaw. I never said a word. LOL Being an extreme introvert, it worked for me.
I've always considered calling a weapon "perfectly balanced" not to mean it balances right at the grip, but rather that the point of balance of the piece is in the perfect place for that particular design. A rapier balanced like a perfectly balanced falchion would be a crap rapier.
Exactly. The point of balance for a bladed weapon is optimal at different points depending on type of bladed weapon & the methods used with that blade. Some are balanced heavier in the blade to provide more mass during swings for greater penetration & others are balanced closer to the handle for greater handling (maybe origin of term🤔?) & dexterity
This isn't a matter of subjectivity, if something is perfectly balanced it should be literal. I don't see how you could be wrong, this is the only logical definition.
James Black of Arkansas made this famous knife. It originally had a coffin handle which was Black’s staple of his work. In Washington, Arkansas the town is a state park with working blacksmith and tons of facts of the Texas’ journey to independence, as well as the town itself.
You failed to mention that one of the key features of the Bowie knife was that the top edge of the tip of the knife was sharpened so that it didn't just cut with downward pressure, it also cut on the upstroke. It was often called" the knife that cuts both ways".
Even without it being sharpened, it can still gouge with any force applied, hit cardboard with the false edge, and it left a slash (less clean) almost as large as a slash from the sharp side.
The advantage of a bowie over other knives of the time was indeed it's utilitarian nature aside from it's fighting ability, many people until that point would just use their food prep knife \butchers knife or even a hatchet because they didn't want to carry a dagger or other combat specific blade, the bowie in many ways is akin to the Kukhri in his that is a versatile tool and combat weapon
I wish you were a teacher i had in school. I probably would have paid more attention. The way you speak and give the story around the subject is great. I watch your videos when ever i get a chance to. Always learn something interesting.
great episode. thank you for not randomly losing composure in this one. keep up the good work! =) i happen to be an avid knife and blade collector. really neat to have some context on one of my favorite knife designs.
I like that the latest Alamo movie had James Bowie (actor Jason Patric) carrying a copy of the famous “Musso Bowie”.. Though we’ll never know what Bowie’s last knife was, it’s a real good candidate. The Musso knife dates to the early 1830s and has a “JB” and a little star on it. Not stamped but put there when forged. The star was a common mark for officers and Bowie was technically a Colonel.
As owner of two massive Bowie knives, one 17 inches and the other just 15 inches, I can say they are downright formidable and would make anyone think four times before attacking unless with a modern gun in hand.
If you want to have a good look at Bowie Knives, check out the majority of Confederate soldier photos, particularly the soldiers from the state of Arkansas. Some of these become almost comical with the size of the blades, but are all extremely fascinating
British... Some times I forget that a single life time ago they ruled the largest Empire in Human History and over one third of the worlds population...
@@gungriffen They still do. The only country they lost was America and they run the other colonies behind the scenes through diplomacy and trade like in Canada and India
6:45 "The Soldiers had trouble pronouncing the original name" he says, and continues to absolutely butcher the term. It's hard to pronounce things in a language you don't speak. It wasn't that bad, but I (as a swiss) still laughed.
The fight between Bowie and Norris Wright took place on the Vandalia SANDBAR(a sandbar is NOT an island. An island is pretty much a permanent fixture; a sandbar is formed by silt deposited by a river, and can be washed away as easily as it's formed). Another famous Bowie knife fight was between him and Jack Sturdevant, a saloon owner. The two fought with their left wrists tied together
According to THE KNIFE MANUAL and other knife collectors' publications of the 1980's and 90's. Bowies knife is unknown. The clip point having pre-existed the Bowie weapon in the form of the "Spanish dagger". The big name, as far as can be traced, IIRC is John Searles and his large bladed clip point knife. The pictures in the article show several large knives, including a drop-point which is a single-edge symmetrical point. It is also said, as a selling point of the Arkansas Toothpic, a kind of large dagger ranging from 6 to 12 inches in lenght but usually 8 to 10, is that Bowie liked this knife. The clip point existed on some kriegsmeesers, langmessers and grossmessers dating to the at least the 15th century. The preferred carrying knife of the early frontiersmen was the J. Wilson 7" butcher pattern ("pattern" is blade shape) of the late 1700. The other knife,, which probably helped cement the idea of the clip-point being the true "Bowie" is the Ka-Bar knife made famous by the US military. This knife is a 7" "Bowie [and is called such by John Stiers, a USMC combat traiing instructor in his COLD STEEL]", product of the Union Cutlaery and got it's name from a man who wrote to the company singing the praises of the knife in the late 19th century. He was only partially literate so when he wanted to claim that he was able to kill a bear with it, he did not wish to write "kill" and had a southern accent and wrote what it sounded like so he wrot "... k. a bar..." and the company adopted that as a name. The net result of the various stories is that nobody knows what the real Bowie knife was, with the Searles knife being the "model" for the "Bowie Knife". From all of this, I have concluded that "Bowie Knife" has no real meaning; there's more sizzle than steak. The 4" knife made by Western that I used to have was also called a "Bowie". Interestingly enough, the frontiersman and outdoorsman carried both his knofe and pistol, along with other things like firemaking equipment, not on his belt, but in a pocketbook sized bag called the "possibles" bag, whidch was carried on a strap like a pocketbood (whidch is not even a book but a kind of ladies' purse)K and gave ready access to "all the things that you could possibly need" out in the wild As far as I'm concerned, a good fighting knife and a good utility knife are one and the same. Knife fighting should be treated as a form of hand-to-hand combat. Military doctrine for non-firearms combat is NOT ducking it out; it's putting the other guy on the ground and out of the fight as quickly as possible. A good utility knife can make any of the moves sufficiently well to be better than a specialized blade like a dagger, which has one move.. My preference is the Puma Waitbatte slightly swelled, reinforced tip, symrytivsl blade of 10" length. I also like the 9" Mauser bayonet that the Israelis used to use. Also, a knife fully occupies the hand it is in, which means that hand is useless for other things. Learn to use the knife in the off-hand and save your "good" had for full function. In combat, the knife is defensive, to make the other guy keep his distsnvr and only serves offensively after you have gotten the better end of the wrestling match According to legend, Bowie had his knife made from a meteor which gave the metal special qualities There are actually two companies making "Swiss Army Knife"'s. The other is Wenger. I have had both and one is as good as the other
Quite right about the various forms of messer but some versions of the Saxon Seax also had a clip back see the Sittingbourne Seax commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Sittingbourne_Seax.jpg
That was very informative, thanks for that. Only I’m not sure why you think a knife is defensive. I have never served in the military, but I did grow up with hoodlums and knife crime is a very common thing where I live in Canada (less guns, so we stab instead) and I’ve NEVER seen a knife used defensively against somebody. Usually a knife is a purely offensive weapon. It can create distance, cause hesitancy to close that gap etc, but the same can be said for ANY weapon, and I think it would fall into “the best defence is a good offence” category. Most of the time in real life when a knife is used it’s to stab someone who isn’t prepared or aware it’s going to happen. 99% of the time. Knife “fights” aren’t real, kinda like how boxing doesn’t have an similarity to a street fight really. If I’m misunderstanding, could you clear it up? I’m not trying to be argumentative, rather you seem to have a lot of info about this sort of thing so I don’t want to discredit you
@@keircampbell9374 I was speaking about military combat In civilian matters you are dead on target both about "knife fights" on the street and boxing. In fact, most crimes are committed with kitchen knoves with the switchie being mostly for show. In fact, I tell some of the younger guys who want to play with knives. "If you want to learn all the moves, whatch your mom when she is preparing supper. She uses most of the moves that a knife is good at". One of the kinves I have that is my favorite is "bush' knife that is about 1/6" thick with a downward curve and is 13" (too thick and short to be a machete) made of 420-C (Case hardened). I used it to trime back some large thick bushes, more like good suze saplings that got out of hand. I had to take a bit of sharpness off the edge or it would have been too delicate to handle the woody material. I'd love to sharpen the back to a fine edge
I have a Marine Corps Ka-Bar that was a gift from a fellow Marine. It’s similar in size and shape to a Bowie. I never carried one my entire six year tour but they were ubiquitous during WWII.
Jay Sharpe wrote a book called The Bowie Knife. He described the butcher knife James Bowie used as having a blade 9.25" X 1.25 x 3/16" thick, single edged. it was literally a butcher knife, which James' brother Rezin had for butchering cattle. (According to Rezin Bowie, who states that he did not make the "improvements" in the later Bowie-knife. He doesn't say who did.)
@@SmuggestOfRats I really hate using slipjoints, barlows, or any other folder for processing game. When it comes to small game, a small fixed blade is far superior in my experience. Something like the Buck 102 is perfect. The problem with folders is that they really suck to thoroughly clean compared to a simple fixed-blade.
@@longrider42i have never needed anything larger than 3 inches for dressing game of any size. 8 inches for gitting a deer is ridiculous. Only time I've needed 8 inches is slicing large steaks while butchering a steer
I love my cold steel trail master. Have carried it into the Wa St woods while bow hunting. Was not allowed to carry a firearm when bow hunting. Since then have become a bladesmth and have made a handful of bowie knives. What a blade!
Reading the origin of the "Bowie" knife in 1966 I recall he had it decided not for human attacks. Instead blades at that time were fragile and tended to break when used against large animals. He decided to design the knife and used it, blade up, for piercings and rotating down.
I live in Texas, and so the Battle of the Alamo has been known to me since birth really, owning this knife makes me proud of my great state. And my favorite singer is David Bowie. Listen to “Slow Burn”. It’s my favorite. And I like making the knives of others look like a child’s pocket knife 😂
As a bladesmith and a knifefighter, I can tell you that a balanced knife is preceded and if the overall weight of the knife is heavy enough the balance of it won’t make much of a difference in close quarters. An identifying characteristic of the Bart Moore Bowie knife and the Black bro Bowie knife was the sharpened clip of the blade which was used as the primary cutting edge of the weapon and the long sharpened part was what is known as a “back cut.” That refers to using the actual blade to make quick flicking cuts while the clip was used for slashes and stabs. The reason for this is simple. When the Bowie knife is held in the reverse it can be used to parry blows and to catch and opponents blade without fear of ruining the cutting edge of the blade. The clip ,therefore, acts as a claw or and makes deeper gouges and punctures. The curve of the actual cutting edge when applied makes long lateral cuts when whipped on the arms or hands. These were expensive weapons and tools, and to go blade to blade with another knife can permanently damage your weapon. So, you fought with the spine toward the enemy and sharpened clip as the main weapon. This is the ideal way to use a Bowie, in practice it may not have been the case.
I find the comment about the original knife being a "butchers knife" quite interesting, so I took mine and traced its shape onto paper. Then I drew a line with the pencil from just below the tip of the cutting edge, in a gentle curve to the back of the blade, to about 1/3 of the way from the tip. Lo and behold, it ends up almost exactly in the commonly accepted shape of many Bowie knives! I also read that butchers knives of the time were often used almost like cleavers, so some tended to be of much thicker blade stock, even up to 1/4" thick. If that original knife was one of these, then the origin of the Bowie knife becomes so much more believable. It merely took a simple grinding job to make the adjustment. Of course there are myriad variations on the theme in the course of history. The addition of the cross-piece or fingerguard is, however vexing. When did that appear? Hmmmm.
Bonus Bonus Fact: You hold a Bowie knife with the blade side up. That way when you stab, you go inward and upward, and you can use the backside for blocking and not damage the blade. It was basically used as a small sword.
The 1956-58 TV show on Jim Bowie skillfully played by British actor Scott Forbes claims he asked for the craftsman to build the knife after his rifle misfired during a black bear attack that nearly killed him. He said he needed something that would cut through a black bear's fur with ease in the last resort of a fumbling, wounded man. This is likely a Hollywood story but worth stating for the record. It's a real cool series and I especially like his interactions with other famous people like John James Audubon.
I still have the same Bowie knife I got as a kid so it saw me through many hikes and campouts. The most helpful thing about the knife is simply a kindling splitter and an absolute necessity for cooking and rope/line use. I see a lot of Bowie knives carried by young people that are perfectly pristine. They never seem to actually use them, so I have no idea why they have them.
Jim Bowie created the iconic knife (by the hand of James Black) in Washington, Arkansas. No one is disputing the fact that his brother gave him a butcher knife.... But that the famous knife was reformed into the know shape BEFORE the brawl and the Alamo
Sorry for ruining the party but it's nothing new, Jim Bowie only adopted the Mexican-Spanish knife that the Spanish brought to the American continent hundreds of years before. He didn't invent anything, he just gave his name to something that already existed.
It's worth pointing out that large general utility knives were popular all over the world at any frontier period. The midevial ballock knife is fairly similar, as is the Seax. Every country has its comparable example. Bowie just popularized a few aesthetic features: clip point, thick spine, and generally the coffin style handle.
If I recall correctly, there was a Bowie knife, claimed to have been his, excavated at the Alamo historical site, and thereafter on display in their museum cases. It has been years since I last visited there. I think there is anther one at some small museum site nearby, also. Plus, there's an old Spanish mission some distance out of town in the middle of the countryside, which shows the minimal architecture used for such missions at that time. Cool stuff if you like history.
A distant relative of mine had a duel. Stripped to the waist with knives in a blacked out room. He killed his opponent, but suffered a chest would that never really healed and he died a year later,
Nice to hear a bit of true or not true (depending on accounts) history about an ancestor of mine. My mother's family is named "Bowie" and as far as I can tell they immigrated to the Maryland area from Scotland. The name Bowie is an anglicization of the Gaelic "Buie," hence the correct pronunciation "Boo-wee," not "Bow-ee" as adopted by the remarkable David Bowie, born David Robert Jones.
You mentioned that Swiss Army Knives are made by Victorinox. They were until recently made by two companies, Victorinox and Wenger, who split the contract (I think it was alternating years). Wenger was bought by Victorinox in 2003, but continued making Wenger-brand "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" (as opposed to Victorinox's "Original...") until 2013.
A video from one of my favorite channels referencing another one of my favorite channels and authored by the host of yet another one of my favorite channels (Karl Smallwood ~ FactFiend). Love it!
Simon: Since this topic of "knife fighters" came up, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do "Gustav Von Tempsky" of NZ. Nothing to take away from J. Bowie, but Von Tempsky's life and fighting exploits truly are - #StuffofLegends
Bowie built many different interesting weapons. Was more than a knife fighter. The reason why he was able too kill so many at the Alamo even though he was bed ridden sick, was because of his shotgun pistol Bowie made. Killed alot while laying in bed in the Alamo.
Rezin Bowie's first name is pronounced "Reason". And this topic(the knife, the man, and his life) is ironically way more ridiculously involved than anything that could be covered in the scope of this video.
A bowie knife is as fundamentally American as apple pie, rock music, pit bull tarriers, cheating on your taxes and Ar15 rifles.God bless Eugene Stoner, the constitution and the free state of Texas.
I suspect that Bowie's lungs were so damaged in this fight, that it easily led to susceptibility to pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. He was seriously afflicted at the Alamo & out of action. He may have even died before the Alamo fell.
Texas legends (or at least, stories passed down in the Texas parts of my family) claim that the Bowie knife was intended to be mostly for utility. Never once heard a story of him throwing the thing. Most of the modern day knives that I've seen labeled as Bowie knives are far better as utility hunting/camping knives. And for those having a minor freak-out over the pronunciation: it's both. "boo-wee" is the American pronunciation, and the one favored in Texas stories as well of course. "boh-wee" is a more British pronunciation (or do I mean simply more global? eh, whichever)
Same here. Bowie knives are known for utility. A few folks sometimes call it a fish knife, although I think a fish knife is not always a Bowie knife. So I am not certain on the fish knife account.
@@albertamalachi3560 Just about any knife can be thrown. I used to prefer the Marine underhand flip described by John Stiers in GOLD STEEL from the 1970's from I think Paladin Press
@@MrKumbancha The only way a knife like that is useful for hunting is if you tie it to a stick and use it like a spear. Really. Skinning with a 9" blade is a huge pain in the ass and most skinning knives have light-ish blades less than 4". It's more accurate to call it an Old Timey survival knife. Or a Bushcraft knife. It's thick, heavy on the end for chopping or batoning, a nice belly for slicing or skinning in a pinch and a solid point for stabbing.
I legally and openly carry a Ka-Bar. I've carried a large knife since I was a teen. I've never been a victim nor have I ever been mistreated by any law enforcement officer. Freedom is glorious. And very dangerous. I'd not have it any other way.
Thank you Tim! I was going to mention the same thing. I'm a Louisiana girl and always cringe when our words are mispronounced. "Rapides" Is not Rapids. Although you have to give him credit, he does a lot better than most people do with pronunciations.
The speaker failed to mention ARKANSAS territory in any of his description of Jim Bowie's knife. Because that was where the original Bowie knife was made! The speaker said very little about the knife and a lot about one knife fight. Jim Bowie was widely traveled man, fluent in three languages English, French and Spanish. At the time he was traveling west of the Mississippi River, Louisiana was the only state. Arkansas was still a territory and Texas was still part of Mexico and the whole region was lawless! Now more about the knife, it had about a 12 inch long blade, about 2 inches wide, 1/4 inch thick and weighed about one pound. About 1/3 of the top of the blade tapered down and was as sharp as the main blade, this his was for the back slash, swing in knife fighting! It had a very prominent guard different from all other knives made at that time, which kept your hand from sliding from the handle to the blade for knife fighting, because blood can make a knife greasy or slick feeling. The Bowie knife in no way looked like a butcher knife or kitchen knife. It was a fighting knife! There is a knife under glass in a museum in Berryville, Arkansas, hand etched on the blade Batesville Arkansas Jim Bowie 1833. BTW the "sandbar fight" was far from being Bowie's only knife fight killing.
i heard somewhere that a real Bowie Knife Had that upper crescent part sharpened to a razor edge . The part behind it was dull so as to block a strike from the opponent. Also heard that config illegal in most states.
The top part is called a false edge a misnomer, for it was sharpend to a razor edge for a snap cut . On several the back of the blade had a brass strip all the way back to the guard so another blade would catch itself in the sharper material , on some their were a Spanish notch just before the guard to leverage or break an opponents blade , A lot of thought went into the design of the knife ! In a lot of cities schools of how to duel with it were taught , modern self contained ammunition and reliable revolver ( aka the 1873 Colt ) did not obsolete it just regulated it to a secondary weapon , even soldiers today carry the design ie. The Kabar !
Don't quote me on this, but I have heard it said something like this. "A gun can fail or run out of ammo" or in the case of a muzzle loader, take to long to reload. "A sword can break" and is also a tad unwieldy to carry. Bowie wanted a weapon, or so the story goes, that he could rely on 100 percent of the time. And FYI, the first revolver came out in 1837, from Colt.
Production of the Swiss army knife is missing a rather big 'detail'. In 1893, the Swiss cutlery company Paul Boéchat & Cie, which later became Wenger, received its first contract from the Swiss military to produce model 1890 knives; the two companies split the contract for provision of the knives from 1908 until Victorinox acquired Wenger in 2005.
The balance point of a sword may be relevant depending on the style of combat you are using. The kind of combat that modern fencing developed from does benefit from the weight being closer to the hilt. Other styles not so much.
This is a very well done article- except that you're wrong. The Bowie knife was ALREADY called the Bowie knife PRIOR to Jim Bowie becoming a notorious/infamous wielder of the blade. His name and the name of the knife started as a coincidence, and was within a relatively short time the blade was 'understood' to be named for him.
But after the Sandbar fight, in which Bowie fought with the knife that his brother Rezin gave him, didn't Bowie then have James Black make a new knife based on Bowie's design?
You cant grind down an object to one that's larger than the original. Swords of that time have more metal in them than a the average bowie knife, but they are thinner and less wide.
Thanks for the plug!
Anytime. Love your channel :-)
I find it darkly amusing how those old accounts describe Bowie as having "Violently Disemboweled" his opponent ... as opposed, I guess to politely and gently disembowling him? ;)
Hello sir, I do hearby disembowel you.
There we go! At last, a POLITE disemboweling! Well done indeed.
I suppose the opposite of "violent" disembowel is "methodical" disembowel... But that doesn't sound likelly to happen in a fight with multiple people on both sides
Yes...quite.
Actually, that is very funny.
So awesome you guys gave a shout out to Lindeybeige!
Hell yeah!
I thought for sure they were going to shout out Matt Easton, but Lloyd is probably more accessible to viewers of this channel.
Lindybeige is one of the only edutainment channels I watch. (When you do this for a living, watching others in the same genre isn't exactly interesting normally... Lindybeige is an extremely rare exception.) -Daven
Liiiiindy-beige!
I was just going to comment this!
You're telling me it WASN'T David Bowie?
I'll.. I'll be gone for a few weeks. Gotta sort some things out...
You bastard, you got to the joke before I did. I hope you feel bad!
@@jypsridic Don't lean on me man coz you can't afford the ticket.
Based on the pronunciation which Simon got right surprisingly, Sam Bowie the basketball player makes more sense. Booey vs Boe-y
hs ha ha
So sad, u beat me to that comment. Cheers anyway
I did a lot of hiking and camping when I was a kid (50+ years ago) and I never went anywhere without my bowie knife. I even would hike home after high school (10 to 15 miles depending on my route). No one even blinked an eye at my 11" knife. I can just imagine if some student walked into a high school today with one on his belt. (FYI: I did keep it in my locker during school.)
The best part about it is that you know there were at least 3-5 other students with smaller/concealed or open carry if you didn't recall the stories of you getting bullied for the bowie
Thanks for making me want a Bowie knife. Any good place I could get one?
@@snakyYT In my day, any camping or army surplus store. Good ones aren't cheap.
@Ronald Smallwood yeah I bet. Can't believe a school allowed an 11 inch blade. Times are different
@@cortex8239 I didn't get bullied since the 7th grade. The biggest bully in school tried to beat me up. Luckily he was the biggest idiot as well. He used an open lock as a brass knuckle, swung, missed, hit a locker, closing the lock and breaking two fingers. Rather than admit what happened, he told some story about breaking his hand on my jaw. I never said a word. LOL Being an extreme introvert, it worked for me.
I've always considered calling a weapon "perfectly balanced" not to mean it balances right at the grip, but rather that the point of balance of the piece is in the perfect place for that particular design. A rapier balanced like a perfectly balanced falchion would be a crap rapier.
Exactly. The point of balance for a bladed weapon is optimal at different points depending on type of bladed weapon & the methods used with that blade. Some are balanced heavier in the blade to provide more mass during swings for greater penetration & others are balanced closer to the handle for greater handling (maybe origin of term🤔?) & dexterity
This isn't a matter of subjectivity, if something is perfectly balanced it should be literal. I don't see how you could be wrong, this is the only logical definition.
James Black of Arkansas made this famous knife. It originally had a coffin handle which was Black’s staple of his work. In Washington, Arkansas the town is a state park with working blacksmith and tons of facts of the Texas’ journey to independence, as well as the town itself.
You failed to mention that one of the key features of the Bowie knife was that the top edge of the tip of the knife was sharpened so that it didn't just cut with downward pressure, it also cut on the upstroke. It was often called" the knife that cuts both ways".
Even without it being sharpened, it can still gouge with any force applied, hit cardboard with the false edge, and it left a slash (less clean) almost as large as a slash from the sharp side.
The advantage of a bowie over other knives of the time was indeed it's utilitarian nature aside from it's fighting ability, many people until that point would just use their food prep knife \butchers knife or even a hatchet because they didn't want to carry a dagger or other combat specific blade, the bowie in many ways is akin to the Kukhri in his that is a versatile tool and combat weapon
I wish you were a teacher i had in school. I probably would have paid more attention. The way you speak and give the story around the subject is great. I watch your videos when ever i get a chance to. Always learn something interesting.
great episode. thank you for not randomly losing composure in this one. keep up the good work! =) i happen to be an avid knife and blade collector. really neat to have some context on one of my favorite knife designs.
I like that the latest Alamo movie had James Bowie (actor Jason Patric) carrying a copy of the famous “Musso Bowie”.. Though we’ll never know what Bowie’s last knife was, it’s a real good candidate. The Musso knife dates to the early 1830s and has a “JB” and a little star on it. Not stamped but put there when forged. The star was a common mark for officers and Bowie was technically a Colonel.
Love your content! Always really nice to hear your voice... 💖
Excellent video. Filled a few gaps! Subscribed!!!
ˈBoowee, Bowie, Boowee, Bowie. When unsure, switch between both!
One minute i say bow-e and the next i'm saying boo- wee
As owner of two massive Bowie knives, one 17 inches and the other just 15 inches, I can say they are downright formidable and would make anyone think four times before attacking unless with a modern gun in hand.
They are good with a tomahawk as well
If you want to have a good look at Bowie Knives, check out the majority of Confederate soldier photos, particularly the soldiers from the state of Arkansas. Some of these become almost comical with the size of the blades, but are all extremely fascinating
The "Arkansas Tooth Pic"
The toothpick state
You're killing it dawg!! Love all your content!
Just FYI. When you were talking about flintlock pistols the illustration showed a cap lock pistol.
Jsyk British folk don't know what a pistol is lol.
British...
Some times I forget that a single life time ago they ruled the largest Empire in Human History and over one third of the worlds population...
@@gungriffen They still do. The only country they lost was America and they run the other colonies behind the scenes through diplomacy and trade like in Canada and India
A caps lock pistol?
I've always known them as percussion lock pistols
Your research is consistently good. Thanks for another gem.
6:45 "The Soldiers had trouble pronouncing the original name" he says, and continues to absolutely butcher the term. It's hard to pronounce things in a language you don't speak. It wasn't that bad, but I (as a swiss) still laughed.
Next you'll tell me that you are not responsible for the little holes in that cheese of yours....
@@smokecathairandtoenails9626 Oh we do are very responsible, we make sure there is enough cheese around the holes we sell.
@@nekrosis4431 Cheers friend.
So was it butchered or not that bad?
@@legion999pretty bad, but its a hard word for non-german speakers, but it sounded very wrong :D
Glad you mentioned Lindeybeige. I love his channel.
Lindybeige! Simon you need to make a collaborative video. My two favorite UA-camrs from across the pond.
Thank you for all of your hard work, it's the best origin story im sure anyone will see for the bowie knife
The fight between Bowie and Norris Wright took place on the Vandalia SANDBAR(a sandbar is NOT an island. An island is pretty much a permanent fixture; a sandbar is formed by silt deposited by a river, and can be washed away as easily as it's formed). Another famous Bowie knife fight was between him and Jack Sturdevant, a saloon owner. The two fought with their left wrists tied together
Vidalia, LA. My ex wife is from Natchez (we were married there), and many friends and family are from Vidalia.
Awesome video as always. Keep up great work.
You seem to know a great deal about Yankee history for a Redcoat. Well done, sir! I tip my feathered cap to you.
Eh redcoat ur are an insurrectionist not an independent pal get it right
According to THE KNIFE MANUAL and other knife collectors' publications of the 1980's and 90's. Bowies knife is unknown. The clip point having pre-existed the Bowie weapon in the form of the "Spanish dagger". The big name, as far as can be traced, IIRC is John Searles and his large bladed clip point knife. The pictures in the article show several large knives, including a drop-point which is a single-edge symmetrical point. It is also said, as a selling point of the Arkansas Toothpic, a kind of large dagger ranging from 6 to 12 inches in lenght but usually 8 to 10, is that Bowie liked this knife. The clip point existed on some kriegsmeesers, langmessers and grossmessers dating to the at least the 15th century. The preferred carrying knife of the early frontiersmen was the J. Wilson 7" butcher pattern ("pattern" is blade shape) of the late 1700. The other knife,, which probably helped cement the idea of the clip-point being the true "Bowie" is the Ka-Bar knife made famous by the US military. This knife is a 7" "Bowie [and is called such by John Stiers, a USMC combat traiing instructor in his COLD STEEL]", product of the Union Cutlaery and got it's name from a man who wrote to the company singing the praises of the knife in the late 19th century. He was only partially literate so when he wanted to claim that he was able to kill a bear with it, he did not wish to write "kill" and had a southern accent and wrote what it sounded like so he wrot "... k. a bar..." and the company adopted that as a name. The net result of the various stories is that nobody knows what the real Bowie knife was, with the Searles knife being the "model" for the "Bowie Knife". From all of this, I have concluded that "Bowie Knife" has no real meaning; there's more sizzle than steak. The 4" knife made by Western that I used to have was also called a "Bowie". Interestingly enough, the frontiersman and outdoorsman carried both his knofe and pistol, along with other things like firemaking equipment, not on his belt, but in a pocketbook sized bag called the "possibles" bag, whidch was carried on a strap like a pocketbood (whidch is not even a book but a kind of ladies' purse)K and gave ready access to "all the things that you could possibly need" out in the wild
As far as I'm concerned, a good fighting knife and a good utility knife are one and the same. Knife fighting should be treated as a form of hand-to-hand combat. Military doctrine for non-firearms combat is NOT ducking it out; it's putting the other guy on the ground and out of the fight as quickly as possible. A good utility knife can make any of the moves sufficiently well to be better than a specialized blade like a dagger, which has one move.. My preference is the Puma Waitbatte slightly swelled, reinforced tip, symrytivsl blade of 10" length. I also like the 9" Mauser bayonet that the Israelis used to use. Also, a knife fully occupies the hand it is in, which means that hand is useless for other things. Learn to use the knife in the off-hand and save your "good" had for full function. In combat, the knife is defensive, to make the other guy keep his distsnvr and only serves offensively after you have gotten the better end of the wrestling match
According to legend, Bowie had his knife made from a meteor which gave the metal special qualities
There are actually two companies making "Swiss Army Knife"'s. The other is Wenger. I have had both and one is as good as the other
Never thought about off hand knife combat. Usually don't read the long comments but you flowed my friend.
Quite right about the various forms of messer but some versions of the Saxon Seax also had a clip back see the Sittingbourne Seax commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Sittingbourne_Seax.jpg
The historic Bowie Knife also goes back to the Musso Bowie and Bowie No 1, Not to mention the Juan Seguin Bowie.
That was very informative, thanks for that. Only I’m not sure why you think a knife is defensive. I have never served in the military, but I did grow up with hoodlums and knife crime is a very common thing where I live in Canada (less guns, so we stab instead) and I’ve NEVER seen a knife used defensively against somebody.
Usually a knife is a purely offensive weapon. It can create distance, cause hesitancy to close that gap etc, but the same can be said for ANY weapon, and I think it would fall into “the best defence is a good offence” category.
Most of the time in real life when a knife is used it’s to stab someone who isn’t prepared or aware it’s going to happen. 99% of the time. Knife “fights” aren’t real, kinda like how boxing doesn’t have an similarity to a street fight really.
If I’m misunderstanding, could you clear it up? I’m not trying to be argumentative, rather you seem to have a lot of info about this sort of thing so I don’t want to discredit you
@@keircampbell9374 I was speaking about military combat In civilian matters you are dead on target both about "knife fights" on the street and boxing. In fact, most crimes are committed with kitchen knoves with the switchie being mostly for show. In fact, I tell some of the younger guys who want to play with knives. "If you want to learn all the moves, whatch your mom when she is preparing supper. She uses most of the moves that a knife is good at". One of the kinves I have that is my favorite is "bush' knife that is about 1/6" thick with a downward curve and is 13" (too thick and short to be a machete) made of 420-C (Case hardened). I used it to trime back some large thick bushes, more like good suze saplings that got out of hand. I had to take a bit of sharpness off the edge or it would have been too delicate to handle the woody material. I'd love to sharpen the back to a fine edge
I stand further informed.
Thank you crew and Simon too!
I have a Marine Corps Ka-Bar that was a gift from a fellow Marine. It’s similar in size and shape to a Bowie. I never carried one my entire six year tour but they were ubiquitous during WWII.
Thank you for everything 💚
thanks for this legendary video.
Relatively new here. But I enjoy all three channels very much.
Simon's talent in narration is superb .
I'm from Texas and this was an awesome video. Thank you!!!!!!!
Jay Sharpe wrote a book called The Bowie Knife. He described the butcher knife James Bowie used as having a blade 9.25" X 1.25 x 3/16" thick, single edged. it was literally a butcher knife, which James' brother Rezin had for butchering cattle. (According to Rezin Bowie, who states that he did not make the "improvements" in the later Bowie-knife. He doesn't say who did.)
The Bowie knife is pure genuse 😊
I’ve been wanting my own Bowie knife for hunting a trapping. You just can’t beat a track record of the Bowie knife!
Then get one with a blade no longer then 8 inches long. Any thing bigger would be too bulky to use working with small game.
@@longrider42 that may be true, but hey, at least you can pull it out and say "THIS is a knoife!"
@@longrider42 Do as the original users did. Carry a bowie for processing the big stuff; a slipjoint like a stockman or a barlow for the small stuff.
@@SmuggestOfRats I really hate using slipjoints, barlows, or any other folder for processing game. When it comes to small game, a small fixed blade is far superior in my experience. Something like the Buck 102 is perfect. The problem with folders is that they really suck to thoroughly clean compared to a simple fixed-blade.
@@longrider42i have never needed anything larger than 3 inches for dressing game of any size. 8 inches for gitting a deer is ridiculous. Only time I've needed 8 inches is slicing large steaks while butchering a steer
love all these videos i try to watch one a day to learn something new :(
I love my cold steel trail master. Have carried it into the Wa St woods while bow hunting. Was not allowed to carry a firearm when bow hunting. Since then have become a bladesmth and have made a handful of bowie knives. What a blade!
Been waiting for this one!
Not saying the bowie is the best knife ever made, but if I could only ever have one knife, it would be a bowie.
Good information to know. I like your content, keep it up.
Thank you so much for using Lindybeige as a resource.
Reading the origin of the "Bowie" knife in 1966 I recall he had it decided not for human attacks. Instead blades at that time were fragile and tended to break when used against large animals. He decided to design the knife and used it, blade up, for piercings and rotating down.
Great Story ! I have a Bowie knife it is a very Valuable piece of gear.
I live in Texas, and so the Battle of the Alamo has been known to me since birth really, owning this knife makes me proud of my great state. And my favorite singer is David Bowie. Listen to “Slow Burn”. It’s my favorite. And I like making the knives of others look like a child’s pocket knife 😂
As a bladesmith and a knifefighter, I can tell you that a balanced knife is preceded and if the overall weight of the knife is heavy enough the balance of it won’t make much of a difference in close quarters. An identifying characteristic of the Bart Moore Bowie knife and the Black bro Bowie knife was the sharpened clip of the blade which was used as the primary cutting edge of the weapon and the long sharpened part was what is known as a “back cut.” That refers to using the actual blade to make quick flicking cuts while the clip was used for slashes and stabs. The reason for this is simple. When the Bowie knife is held in the reverse it can be used to parry blows and to catch and opponents blade without fear of ruining the cutting edge of the blade. The clip ,therefore, acts as a claw or and makes deeper gouges and punctures. The curve of the actual cutting edge when applied makes long lateral cuts when whipped on the arms or hands. These were expensive weapons and tools, and to go blade to blade with another knife can permanently damage your weapon. So, you fought with the spine toward the enemy and sharpened clip as the main weapon. This is the ideal way to use a Bowie, in practice it may not have been the case.
"Preceded?"
Have that exact Bowie knife. Great video, very interesting.
I find the comment about the original knife being a "butchers knife" quite interesting, so I took mine and traced its shape onto paper. Then I drew a line with the pencil from just below the tip of the cutting edge, in a gentle curve to the back of the blade, to about 1/3 of the way from the tip. Lo and behold, it ends up almost exactly in the commonly accepted shape of many Bowie knives! I also read that butchers knives of the time were often used almost like cleavers, so some tended to be of much thicker blade stock, even up to 1/4" thick. If that original knife was one of these, then the origin of the Bowie knife becomes so much more believable. It merely took a simple grinding job to make the adjustment. Of course there are myriad variations on the theme in the course of history. The addition of the cross-piece or fingerguard is, however vexing. When did that appear? Hmmmm.
Bonus Bonus Fact: You hold a Bowie knife with the blade side up. That way when you stab, you go inward and upward, and you can use the backside for blocking and not damage the blade. It was basically used as a small sword.
I would never hold a knife like that in a fight.
@@tunturikuningas5393 Maybe not, but he did.
The 1956-58 TV show on Jim Bowie skillfully played by British actor Scott Forbes claims he asked for the craftsman to build the knife after his rifle misfired during a black bear attack that nearly killed him. He said he needed something that would cut through a black bear's fur with ease in the last resort of a fumbling, wounded man. This is likely a Hollywood story but worth stating for the record. It's a real cool series and I especially like his interactions with other famous people like John James Audubon.
"I don't know who Jim Bowie was, but he must have been big, long und sharp!"
I still have the same Bowie knife I got as a kid so it saw me through many hikes and campouts. The most helpful thing about the knife is simply a kindling splitter and an absolute necessity for cooking and rope/line use. I see a lot of Bowie knives carried by young people that are perfectly pristine. They never seem to actually use them, so I have no idea why they have them.
That was even better than usual. 👍
Jim Bowie created the iconic knife (by the hand of James Black) in Washington, Arkansas.
No one is disputing the fact that his brother gave him a butcher knife.... But that the famous knife was reformed into the know shape BEFORE the brawl and the Alamo
Yep
Yep
Sorry for ruining the party but it's nothing new, Jim Bowie only adopted the Mexican-Spanish knife that the Spanish brought to the American continent hundreds of years before. He didn't invent anything, he just gave his name to something that already existed.
Lol my dyslexia. I read that as "Bowie the Knife" creating a whole new story in my mind.
I'm actually surprised that isn't a real book in Texas. I could see it as a children's book: "The Adventures of Bowie the Knife" 🤔 😅
Drinking game: drink everytime Simon says "Bowie".
GrumpyFinch “boowie”
Which pronounciation are we supposed to drink to?
@@buddyclem7328 both 😈
@@GrumpyFinch 🍺😃🍺
@FIIK see above
How much you bet Bowie was on cocaine during the sandbar fight lol
It's worth pointing out that large general utility knives were popular all over the world at any frontier period. The midevial ballock knife is fairly similar, as is the Seax. Every country has its comparable example. Bowie just popularized a few aesthetic features: clip point, thick spine, and generally the coffin style handle.
8:20 I love the shoutout to LindyBeige, his videos are really great and informative!
Thanks for this. Jim Bowie was a larger than life guy, and the Bowie knife was a very big deal back then.
If I recall correctly, there was a Bowie knife, claimed to have been his, excavated at the Alamo historical site, and thereafter on display in their museum cases. It has been years since I last visited there. I think there is anther one at some small museum site nearby, also. Plus, there's an old Spanish mission some distance out of town in the middle of the countryside, which shows the minimal architecture used for such missions at that time. Cool stuff if you like history.
You are pronouncing Bowie like a Texan. Good job (most of the time, quite a few slips though!)
as opposed to how everywhere else in the country the man lived would have pronounced it.
Yeah, I caught that too. But still impressive he knew the Texan pronunciation to begin with.
EddyGurge or a Marylander. Everyone else seems to pronounce it "Bow-ie" for some reason :p
Good catch, @@RaiZaku. I'm originally from Maryland and we always say it the "Texas way." Everybody else seems to get Bowie's pronunciation wrong.
Bowie is Scot name,they know how to pronounce it.lol..
A distant relative of mine had a duel. Stripped to the waist with knives in a blacked out room. He killed his opponent, but suffered a chest would that never really healed and he died a year later,
He had an Akansas tooth pick
Nice to hear a bit of true or not true (depending on accounts) history about an ancestor of mine. My mother's family is named "Bowie" and as far as I can tell they immigrated to the Maryland area from Scotland. The name Bowie is an anglicization of the Gaelic "Buie," hence the correct pronunciation "Boo-wee," not "Bow-ee" as adopted by the remarkable David Bowie, born David Robert Jones.
Remarkable?
Excellent video 👌🏾
I always thought it was from when David Bowie slayed Godzilla on the dance floor
Thank u so much CS I have a project
great story and history
You know you've fucked up when you shoot and run a guy through and he proceeds to disembowel you with a large knife.
You mentioned that Swiss Army Knives are made by Victorinox. They were until recently made by two companies, Victorinox and Wenger, who split the contract (I think it was alternating years). Wenger was bought by Victorinox in 2003, but continued making Wenger-brand "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" (as opposed to Victorinox's "Original...") until 2013.
I knew this story already but it is a fascinating one.
Knives are tools first, weapons second.A Bowie knife is a weapon first, tool second.
Bravo. Well said.
I'll have to call major Tom to confirm this one, or make it through a labyrinth
Not funny.
I just don't think that Major Tom could help. We all know Major Tom is a junkie.
A junkie 😂😂😂 now that's funny
Yes, he's a junkie if he feels like a star man, waiting in the sky
Who else loves learning facts like this , I love it😍😍😍
Great video. I top-quality production and content. Thank you for choosing this subject.
Thank you!
A video from one of my favorite channels referencing another one of my favorite channels and authored by the host of yet another one of my favorite channels (Karl Smallwood ~ FactFiend). Love it!
Simon:
Since this topic of "knife fighters" came up, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do "Gustav Von Tempsky" of NZ. Nothing to take away from J. Bowie, but Von Tempsky's life and fighting exploits truly are -
#StuffofLegends
That could be an interesting series 🤔 A whole UA-cam channel on famous blades could even work. I wonder if one already exists.
Bowie built many different interesting weapons. Was more than a knife fighter. The reason why he was able too kill so many at the Alamo even though he was bed ridden sick, was because of his shotgun pistol Bowie made. Killed alot while laying in bed in the Alamo.
Great video brotha
Rezin Bowie's first name is pronounced "Reason". And this topic(the knife, the man, and his life) is ironically way more ridiculously involved than anything that could be covered in the scope of this video.
Great video I was always wondering what the myth vs reality was on the Bowie knife.
Great accurate video,, thanks,, there are so many bad videos on this topic out there, !!
A bowie knife is as fundamentally American as apple pie, rock music, pit bull tarriers, cheating on your taxes and Ar15 rifles.God bless Eugene Stoner, the constitution and the free state of Texas.
I suspect that Bowie's lungs were so damaged in this fight, that it easily led to susceptibility to pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. He was seriously afflicted at the Alamo & out of action. He may have even died before the Alamo fell.
Texas legends (or at least, stories passed down in the Texas parts of my family) claim that the Bowie knife was intended to be mostly for utility. Never once heard a story of him throwing the thing. Most of the modern day knives that I've seen labeled as Bowie knives are far better as utility hunting/camping knives.
And for those having a minor freak-out over the pronunciation: it's both. "boo-wee" is the American pronunciation, and the one favored in Texas stories as well of course. "boh-wee" is a more British pronunciation (or do I mean simply more global? eh, whichever)
Same here. Bowie knives are known for utility. A few folks sometimes call it a fish knife, although I think a fish knife is not always a Bowie knife. So I am not certain on the fish knife account.
@@albertamalachi3560 Just about any knife can be thrown. I used to prefer the Marine underhand flip described by John Stiers in GOLD STEEL from the 1970's from I think Paladin Press
That has to be more a regional thing than an american thing, I've never met anyone that pronounced it "boo-wee".
@@MrKumbancha The only way a knife like that is useful for hunting is if you tie it to a stick and use it like a spear. Really. Skinning with a 9" blade is a huge pain in the ass and most skinning knives have light-ish blades less than 4".
It's more accurate to call it an Old Timey survival knife. Or a Bushcraft knife. It's thick, heavy on the end for chopping or batoning, a nice belly for slicing or skinning in a pinch and a solid point for stabbing.
I would say most "bowie" knives are pretty useless - most of them are clearly designed by someone who has never used a knife.
Great video, amazing how certain things become famous by accident
I legally and openly carry a Ka-Bar. I've carried a large knife since I was a teen. I've never been a victim nor have I ever been mistreated by any law enforcement officer. Freedom is glorious. And very dangerous. I'd not have it any other way.
Jean Lafitte is pronounced "Zhawn La Feet". And Rapides parish pronounced "Rapeeds" because it's in French Cajun Louisiana.
Thank you Tim! I was going to mention the same thing. I'm a Louisiana girl and always cringe when our words are mispronounced. "Rapides" Is not Rapids. Although you have to give him credit, he does a lot better than most people do with pronunciations.
I live in Bowie County, TX!
The speaker failed to mention ARKANSAS territory in any of his description of Jim Bowie's knife. Because that was where the original Bowie knife was made! The speaker said very little about the knife and a lot about one knife fight. Jim Bowie was widely traveled man, fluent in three languages English, French and Spanish. At the time he was traveling west of the Mississippi River, Louisiana was the only state. Arkansas was still a territory and Texas was still part of Mexico and the whole region was lawless!
Now more about the knife, it had about a 12 inch long blade, about 2 inches wide, 1/4 inch thick and weighed about one pound. About 1/3 of the top of the blade tapered down and was as sharp as the main blade, this his was for the back slash, swing in knife fighting! It had a very prominent guard different from all other knives made at that time, which kept your hand from sliding from the handle to the blade for knife fighting, because blood can make a knife greasy or slick feeling. The Bowie knife in no way looked like a butcher knife or kitchen knife. It was a fighting knife! There is a knife under glass in a museum in Berryville, Arkansas, hand etched on the blade
Batesville Arkansas
Jim Bowie
1833.
BTW the "sandbar fight" was far from being Bowie's only knife fight killing.
i heard somewhere that a real Bowie Knife Had that upper crescent part sharpened to a razor edge . The part behind it was dull so as to block a strike from the opponent. Also heard that config illegal in most states.
The top part is called a false edge a misnomer, for it was sharpend to a razor edge for a snap cut . On several the back of the blade had a brass strip all the way back to the guard so another blade would catch itself in the sharper material , on some their were a Spanish notch just before the guard to leverage or break an opponents blade , A lot of thought went into the design of the knife ! In a lot of cities schools of how to duel with it were taught , modern self contained ammunition and reliable revolver ( aka the 1873 Colt ) did not obsolete it just regulated it to a secondary weapon , even soldiers today carry the design ie. The Kabar !
That was meant to be softer material not sharper , sorry !
Don't quote me on this, but I have heard it said something like this. "A gun can fail or run out of ammo" or in the case of a muzzle loader, take to long to reload. "A sword can break" and is also a tad unwieldy to carry. Bowie wanted a weapon, or so the story goes, that he could rely on 100 percent of the time. And FYI, the first revolver came out in 1837, from Colt.
Production of the Swiss army knife is missing a rather big 'detail'.
In 1893, the Swiss cutlery company Paul Boéchat & Cie, which later became Wenger, received its first contract from the Swiss military to produce model 1890 knives; the two companies split the contract for provision of the knives from 1908 until Victorinox acquired Wenger in 2005.
The balance point of a sword may be relevant depending on the style of combat you are using. The kind of combat that modern fencing developed from does benefit from the weight being closer to the hilt. Other styles not so much.
I like Bowie knife. Good as knife, and good as artist, especially his experimental Berlin Trilogy, with Brian Eno. Amazing knife ❤
This is a very well done article- except that you're wrong. The Bowie knife was ALREADY called the Bowie knife PRIOR to Jim Bowie becoming a notorious/infamous wielder of the blade. His name and the name of the knife started as a coincidence, and was within a relatively short time the blade was 'understood' to be named for him.
But after the Sandbar fight, in which Bowie fought with the knife that his brother Rezin gave him, didn't Bowie then have James Black make a new knife based on Bowie's design?
I heard Bowie was dishonourably discharged and had his sword snapped. He later ground it down to make a large ( bowie) knife.
You cant grind down an object to one that's larger than the original. Swords of that time have more metal in them than a the average bowie knife, but they are thinner and less wide.
"...including somewhat unscrupulous business practices." That made me chuckle. :]