I have always thought the Bowie to be a good choice for a heavy field knife. I was especially influenced by Bill Bagwell when he was writing for Soldier of Fortune magazine in the early 1980's. At the time Bagwell was more than 2 years behind on production, I placed an order but it never happened. Bill was big on ergonomics and at the time after considering my height, weight, and looking at a tracing of my handprint, he recommended a 9.5 - 10 inch blade.
I was often at the Special Warafare Center at Fort Bragg in the 70's to late 90's and on one of those occasions I had a local knife smith (S.F. Popp) make a Bowie for me conforming mostly to Bagwell's ideas (9.5 inch blade). It is not show quality and a great knife that did what I wished. The knife was made in just a couple of days because I was going back overseas and there was not a lot of time. The one issue I had with this knife was that the handle was a bit short, Steve Popp was a small guy....
New Bowie
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Re: New Bowie
Fast forward to 2016, I made contact with Bill and he said I would be on the list again but this time he recommended a 10.5 to 11.5 inch blade. Bill passed away in 2021 before making the knife.
Based on the recommendation of a well-known writer I ordered a Bagwell style Bowie from Greg Covington with a 11.5 inch blade. Greg's work is simply superb.
Based on the recommendation of a well-known writer I ordered a Bagwell style Bowie from Greg Covington with a 11.5 inch blade. Greg's work is simply superb.
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- Posts: 36
- Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:20 am
Re: New Bowie
I have since ordered another Covington with a slightly small handle. It has not been completed yet but I hope to have in my hands in the next week or two. Here is a photo prior to having the handle pinned. The photo is a little distorted....
Re: New Bowie
Those are all beautiful bowies, even the rush job.
I remember reading Bagwell's articles in SOF.
I still have a few copies of SOF from that time period somewhere, now I'm going to have to go find them.
I remember reading Bagwell's articles in SOF.
I still have a few copies of SOF from that time period somewhere, now I'm going to have to go find them.