A Bowie knife I made

george wilson

Global Moderator
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
4,142
_DSC0793.jpg This Bowie knife was freehand ground from D2 steel. It has a 6" blade,sterling silver hilt,and micarta grips. I ought to change them to ivory. I must have been feeling stingy when I didn't do it in the first place. The Micarta is stacked paper laminated,and it resembles ivory. Even turns yellow over time. At the time I was enamored of it.:)

D2 steel is so wear resistant,I can only get a razor sharp edge with ceramic stones. It laughs at Arkansas stones,and just won't get quite razor sharp on anything but ceramics(which are WAY harder than Arkansas). I start out with a diamond stone,then use my black,then white Spyderco. stones.

Not that this is a hunting knife as it is too large for most game found around here (4" is about the limit),but the highly polished steel offers a real advantage: Highly polished steel doesn't get etched by blood as quickly as less finely polished steel. If wiped clean soon,it will stay bright as the elements in blood cannot get a foothold so quickly in a fine polished surface.

This is an English style Bowie. I was inspired by the shape of a 19th.C. English knife I own,except I ground the blade and the false edge differently. I think the English made some very nice looking Bowies.
 
Last edited:
George,

Again I find myself awed by your talents. I have seen and admired so many of your projects on this forum. You are a living, breathing encyclopedia/compendium of so many areas of knowledge; artist, craftsman, engineer, metallurgist, woodworker, designer, dreamer, visionary, machinist, teacher, mentor and likely philosopher. We are blessed to have you here, always willing to share and no doubt humbly inspire us. I hope I have not embarrassed you with my remarks.

Best regards and many thanks,

Jeff
 
Aw shucks,you're try'in to turn my head!:)

I wish the picture showed how polished the blade is. That's the part of making a knife I like the least!!
 
Seem like it's always that final one to two percent of the job that takes it over the top. It is too easy sometimes to say "good enough".
 
Recently,I have discovered that using one of those Porter Cable profile sanders (the ones with the detachable rubber formed profile shapes) makes a useful tool when wet or dry paper is used instead of sand paper. I did not use one on this knife. Hadn't discovered it yet. I did use it on the pocket knife I posted here a few days ago. I spray the back of wet or dry paper with spray on aerosol adhesive and stick it to the rubber form sander that fits the job. It helps these tired old fingers a lot. AND,you can preserve crisp edges with use of one of those. They reciprocate back and forth,emulating hand polishing quite effectively.
 
Beautiful, simple knife.

I have made a couple knives from D2, and really like it, especially the "orange peel" finish that so many people seem to hate. I have had good luck sharpening with diamond stones. I go to the "fine" stone (a DMT fine or extra fine, I can't recall), and then finish on a leather strop with chromium oxide (it's the green colored polishing compound). Works really well.
 
When polished finely,D2 shows a pattern of a multitude of overlapping pyramid structures. I have not seen that in other steels that I've used.
 
Back
Top