Just picked up a knife letter of authenicity says Daniel Boone Bowie, is a good looking knife ,a little flashey good show knife. I have a problem with the term Bowie , If I remember right D B died before the Bowie knife was made, comments and information about such welcomed arkansawwind

Daniel Boone was born about 60 years before the knife-making/fighting Bowies. I've seen some of the 'Boone replicas' on the web and have an extremely hard time imagining Dan'l Boone carrying one of these knives with exaggerated clip point. They look to me like somebody scaled down a scimitar. I've read that Boone for years carried a long bladed knife that was produced, in quantity, at the order of British Governor Hamilton (a.k.a. 'The Hair Buyer') for use by Britain's Indian Allies during the American Revolution. Boone got his knife as spoils of war. That knife was a lot less flashy than the present 'Boone Bowie replicas.' Dixie Gun Works sells a knife they claim is faithful to Daniel's knife, and James Townsend & Son sells a couple of longhunter or riflemen's knives that look pretty authentic. Madison Grant's "Knife in Homespun America" would be a good reference for cutlery in the 18th Century.

Always possible later generations of Boone after Daniel produced Bowie knives - in the decades before the Civil War, big steel was a pretty popular fashion statement in the south and west. However, I don't think they'd be authentic for 18th century.

Of course Boone died before Bowie got into the sandbar fight that made his name famously associated with big knives--ironically the knife at the sandbar was a plain butcher knife without a clip point or guard. I don't know where that cartoon knife came from that is being sold as Boone bowie. The Dixie big Boone knife is more believable but I don't know its origins either. An eyewitness described Boone as wearing two knives at his belt during his prime as a hunter. I suspect at least one of them was a simple butcher knife.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike R:

<snip>

I suspect at least one of them was a simple butcher knife.

If Boone carried two knives, I would almost bet that one was a skinning knife... Which may have doubled as a patch knife.

Bill

There are more stories about the origin, and style, of the first Bowie knife than fleas on a hound dog. Bill Worthen, curator of the Historic Arkansas Museum is one of the country's leading authorities on the subject. For a condensed history of the knife, see:
http://www.arkansashistory.com/knife_gallery/

Very condensed. I know Bill casually and helped obtain an original J. Black knife for his museum in LR. Bowie owned several knives but the most famous "Bowie" knives were his brother Rezin's, most of which survived and are in collections. Rezin described the sandbar knife in print as a plain butcher knife with wood slab handles and a 9 1/4" straight blade. It may have been made by his plantation blacksmith, a Jesse Clifft. No one knows what knife Jim had at the Alamo or what he carried in between the sandbar fight and the Alamo--about 9 years--yep, Jim had only a 9 year career after fame came to him. Noah Smithwick in his recollections as an old man said Bowie brought the sandbar knife to him to copy in 1828 [a year after the fight], in Texas. He said Bowie had the sandbar knife prettied up adding an ivory handle and silver trim--and he wanted to have a plain copy for everyday use. Noah said his copy had wood handle slabs and a 10" blade. Now it is 8 yrs to the Alamo and death and lost knife. What else did he own? Rezin owned a bunch of knives--he was the real knife nut in the family.

Theres a nice knife made by Squire Boone currated in Kentucky I believe...its pretty massive, but not much like a traditional Bowie knife. I would think, if Daniel carried a big side knife, as he likely did being a "long knife", maybe it was similar to that one, if not even made by Squire?
T.C.A.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: T.Albert,

Thanks to all that answered my question . You have confirmed prety much what I suspected. Im like you all just didnt think knife was accurate. Am new to site have been shooting BP about 40 years, am also gunsmith modern and BP. been doing M man about 2 years since I had to retire due to health. been studying a lot and have 2 pards helping me thats done it awhile, getting most of my plunder together, still learning though, appreciate everones comments arkansawwind.

im a volunteer interpreter at the Nathan Boone Homestead State Historic site here in Mo. Nathan being Daniels youngest son. you would be surprised how often people get Daniel Boone, Davy Crocket and Jim Bowie all mixed up.

Johnnyboy76,
You can bet at least some of the confusion is because Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were both played by Fess Parker!
Sparks

quote:

Originally posted by T.Albert:
Theres a nice knife made by Squire Boone currated in Kentucky I believe...its pretty massive, but not much like a traditional Bowie knife. I would think, if Daniel carried a big side knife, as he likely did being a "long knife", maybe it was similar to that one, if not even made by Squire?
T.C.A.

This is a big knife and I read somewhere that it was used to cut brush, etc sort of like a short machete today. It was not a hunting knife, but obviously could be used for self defense.

May I brag?
See a knife I donated to the Historic Arkansas Museum:
http://www.arkansashistory.com/collections/default.asp?cat=Knives&id=147

This big knife by Dennis Miles has a 9 1/2" X 2 3/8" blade. It works just fine for anything I wanna use it on.

Just a side note. When I lived in Europe for
three years, one of my favorite passtimes was visiting museums. In the Mainz Museum they have
show case after show case of ancient cutlery.
The Roman display dated back to about 100AD to 300AD. They had every shape knife, clip point
(Bowie), spear points, daggers, curved blades, butcher knives,small swords (gladiator). My point is nothing made in colonial or trapping eras could be considered original in design.

quote:

Originally posted by Oracle:
Just a side note. When I lived in Europe for
three years, one of my favorite passtimes was visiting museums. In the Mainz Museum they have
show case after show case of ancient cutlery.
The Roman display dated back to about 100AD to 300AD. They had every shape knife, clip point
(Bowie), spear points, daggers, curved blades, butcher knives,small swords (gladiator). My point is nothing made in colonial or trapping eras could be considered original in design.

Whereas "nothing" may be too strong a statement, I do agree that there is very little new under the sun as to blade shapes--there are limited useful designs and most have been used at one time or another through time. However styles or popularity varied through time and regional prejudices/influences, so that, for example, a kukri would not likely be found in a colonial American camp even though the design dates back to the ancient greeks. The"Bowie Knife" is really a poor descriptive term for a knife as so many different styles were in use during the Bowie Knife heyday [latest 1820s-1860s, tapering off after the civil war, but still being made and used]. Blade shape and blade size varied all over the place in the 1830s-50s. Bowie probably never owned what many think of when they hear/read "Bowie Knife"--which is a huge heavy clip bladed knife with double guards. Thousands of big knives flooded the market in the 1830s-40s after the 1827 sandbar fight [where Bowie's knife was a plain big butcher knife, so described by an eyewitness and later by his brother].

Hey Mike R.,what would the thread nazi's say if i waltzed into ft. frederick with my kukri stapped to my back ? i could tell them i seen it on the campfire website !!!!!! bucoo p.c. !!!!snicker,snort,hackin,gag,wheeze,seiously though,i wondered where Dixie Gun Works got the idea for their "Daniel Boone Replica Blade",now i know.

fellas , my pard Tom found the alleged DB Bowie knifle in a older knife catalog, Smoky Mtn Knife Works. It sold for 19.95 at the time, Sure looks to me like they were just out to generate some business, and to heck with authenicty, or trouth for that matter. Oh well I only got 10.00 in it anyway. Think i will pawn it off on some tourist at some rondy. ha arkansaw

quote:

Originally posted by Mike R:

quote:

Originally posted by T.Albert:
Theres a nice knife made by Squire Boone currated in Kentucky I believe...its pretty massive, but not much like a traditional Bowie knife. I would think, if Daniel carried a big side knife, as he likely did being a "long knife", maybe it was similar to that one, if not even made by Squire?
T.C.A.

This is a big knife and I read somewhere that it was used to cut brush, etc sort of like a short machete today. It was not a hunting knife, but obviously could be used for self defense.

I did a copy of that knife for Mike Rumping, who portrays Squire and Simon Kenton at doins. Squire made to be a cane knife origianally, I believe and I sure wouldn't want to get whacked with it, it is a handfull.

There are many shapes of blades that are given the tag "Bowie". Often just being big makes it qualify for the ad writers. There is a lot of academic study that points to the coffin handle being the original style Bowie. I ain't it is, and I ain't saying it ain't. What I will say fer certain, fer sure is that the debate will go on and on and.......on.

Since Indians often called the Americans "long knives" I guess long knives were carried but a lot of the artwork doesn't show very many people going around with a big hunk a steel knife.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly was the original Bowie and finally came to the realization- doesn't exist. The knife used in the fight was termed a big ham knife and I think the spine ran straight- no clip point and the blade was about 9" long. Ironically, the original knife lending itself to the name "Bowie" wasn't a very good looking Bowie knife. Based on the famous duel all sorts of big knives were produced and dubbed a "Bowie" and that sort of became the style. What most of us think of is a 10" or longer blade with a big clip point, and large guard. It is my take that these knives may have been more a self defense item of the frontier town than an item of the true wilderness.