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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 11-18-2005, 12:20 AM
Jehu Jehu is offline
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Whats the difference...

Howdy fellas,
I'm a New Newbie that dosent know the difference between a Bowie, a Fighter and a hunter. can somebody out there enlighten me please? I have bought a Bowie from Cabelas and have cut off the handle and I want to rebuil it and make it "MY" Bowie. I like the tear drop guard, but does that make it a fighter or hunter?

Please Help


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Old 11-18-2005, 01:44 AM
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nozh_scrap nozh_scrap is offline
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Alright man... I'm gonna try my best here.

A hunter is a small knife, usually with a drop point or spear point style blade. It can have a guard (single guard), or not, depending on the preference of the customer/maker. There are all different variations and styles, but hunters are usually small.

Fighters are larger knives, usually less wide than a bowie's blade, but can be as long, very wicked looking, with a sharpened false edge on top, and usually have a double guard, or a sub-hilt like the one pictured. Again, these knives can vary from maker to maker. The one pictured is typical fighter style.

A Bowie is a knife with a wide blade thats usually longer than 9 inches. Bowies usually have a double guard, and most have a clip style blade like the one pictured.


I'm sorry if I'm stepping on anyones toes with these pictures. They are just found pics on the internet, and I'm using them as visual aid.
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Old 11-18-2005, 08:14 AM
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mete mete is offline
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FYI there is documentation that shows that the original bowie was just a large hunting knife !! No double guard , no clip point, not a fighter . Things do evolve !
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Old 11-18-2005, 09:09 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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What the last two guys said. There is quite a bit of lattitude in the definitions of hunter, fighter, and bowie but the examples given are commonly accepted examples of each. However. you may also find a small hunter with a clip point blade so that it looks like a miniature bowie, or a fighter that looks more like a long, thin bowie or a smal knife that is called a bowie because it looks like a small scale version of the knife pictured. So, these aren't hard and fast rules but good general guide lines....


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Old 11-21-2005, 10:19 PM
Jehu Jehu is offline
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Thank you guys for all your hard work on your knives and your work here on TKN! it's an awesome site. hopefully i'll get ya'll a foto of how it turs out!

Thanx,


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Old 11-22-2005, 10:22 PM
Jason Cutter Jason Cutter is offline
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Welcome to the forums - you'll have a blast if you're into making knives.

What the others said... My own observations are that mostly hunting knives have a single guard or sometimes no guard, so as not to get in the way. They are also generally smaller to allow more detailed utility work. Big blades suually get in the way of general hunting work.

Bowies are often BIG knives. Traditionally, I suppose they would have been used as an all-in-one survival tool. Ie.- it had to serve as combat weapon, meat cleaver, small axe etc. Often they are long and heavy. Most of the olden day guys who carried bowies also carried a smaller knife for the more mundane cutting tasks.

Fighters are a lot like Bowies, but a lot of knifemakers make them lighter and faster in the hand so they were more effective (literally) fighting knives. I guess they could be more pointy as well. The double guard on Bowies and Fighters usually helped with protecting the hand. A lot of people refer to Bowies and Fighters interchangably.

As mentioned, you can bend the rules, as there really aren't any rules to start with. My 2 cents. Jason.


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Old 11-22-2005, 11:49 PM
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Had to throw in my two bits since I once pondered the same question.

In a recent episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel, a knife fighting expert pointed out that a true knife fighter wishes to puncture the vital organs of his opponent as this will cause a far quicker death than bleeding from lacerations. This would suggest that a thoroughbred fighting knife should have a long thin point and some measure of guard to prevent over-penetration.

Having pointed out this macabre fact, I think the maker is the final authority on what a knife's intended function is. If he says his two inch folding straight razor is a fighting knife, then it is a fighting knife. It just may not be the 'best' fighting knife ever conceived.


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Old 11-23-2005, 08:30 PM
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knife styles

Check out some books. a lot of what knives are called depends on what the maker wants to call them. By the 1860's, pretty much any big knife was called a Bowie and many makers still make all of those styles.......clip point, southwestern, spear point, straight back a la Searles, et al. I have made about 20 knives and the fighters i have made have been evenly spit between clip point bowie style and spear/drop point. You may also see a large spear point "bowie' with a single guard or no guard referred to as a camp knife. You will also see big coffin handled knives in clip, spear or straighback style referred to as bowies....some are called Natchez style or james Black style. a lot of the naming comes from the intended use as many of the blade shapes can be made in many diffrent sizes and for many different functions.
Joe Mandt
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Old 11-23-2005, 11:57 PM
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Since we're on the subject, what is a 'goucho' style?


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Old 11-24-2005, 12:40 AM
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Gaucho

The Gaucho knives i have seen are very similar to the Med dirks. Maybe thinner stock. Check out Jerry Fisk's integrals and the Brazilian smiths. Some of those guys like Ricardo Vilar (great guy....met him at the hammer-in) pound them from 52100 round bar....insane!!!!!! LOL
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