Finally, a scholarly presentation without the macho BS or insane drum music. This man knows his stuff, and presents it well.

Fascinating stuff, I could listen to this gentleman talk about history and knives all day.

this was too short

We would like to hear the whole interview, and anything else this gent could teach us!

Damn that Texas Clip! What a beautiful piece

I sometimes get so happy when someone tells exactly what I was wanting to know. Thanks a lot, great piece.

Love to hear the entire interview!

Excellent video, texasmediateam. I enjoyed your presentation a lot. The Bowie knife has a subculture or fan base of its very own. I too, admire the Bowie knives of old and new. Thank you for your video, sir.

I love KZfaq. You get all the experts weighing in on every possible subject and refuting one another. It's all so entertaining. I love being entertained!

Hmm, pretty interesting stuff to know, my mother got me a bowie knife for Christmas one year and while it's not the best out there it's still something very dear to me so knowing a bit more about the history of the blade type is nice.

In the historical context: Bowie knife = big knife. For the modern-day evolution of the bowie knife, the work of knifemakers like Bill Bagwell was critical and his book is well worth a read.

I own a 53 year or possibly older Bowie , I was my fathers who had the handle changed to a deer bone handle . He found it when he we 14 . It had very bad gun blueing on it so I buffed it out with some zam & rouge & cleaned it up as best I could .its looks way better now cleaner , neater it dose have a brass finger guard on it . I use to have to keep it oiled with mineral oil so it would not rust but a friend told my about a metal buffing compound that you can use on it that will keep the rust away for years so I’m going to clean it with Crome & brass cleaner then clean off the oils & buff it later . It’s nice at 1-1/2 wide & 11-1/2 long handle to tip , shape as a razor & has BOWIE stamped in the blade in big bold letters .

Looking for part 2+ loved it.

Interesting history and I think pretty "spot-on". I appreciate you referring to the clip point as a "Texas Clip" and is a later style. However, I must add that his name was pronounced Boo-ie. It has Scottish origins and comes from the Scottish Gaelic word "buidh" , pronounced boo-ie, which means yellow. It was adopted as a surname in the 1600's in Scotland and no doubt originated as a physical characteristic. As Jim was from Kentucky, which had many Scots immigrants, I am certain the Scottish pronunciation was used. The pronunciation "Bow-ie" comes from the English, who couldn't, or wouldn't, pronounce Gaelic words correctly.

One of the Best explanation and synopsis of the Bowie Origin ! It Dispels the many often false information floating around. Love to see a continued episode 👍🇺🇸

Great vid..Very informative. Best on this subject. Thank You

Actually the original purpose of the Bowie notch is still up in the air, the stripping meat from the bone explanation just makes the most sense IMO.

Fascinating insight, thanks for sharing

An excellent lecture. Thank you.

I know this is an older vid, but I just love it. Great history of my favorite knife type. I'm a fixed blade collector, & I'm just now getting into the Bowie-arc in my evolution as a collector/lover. Love these knives for their size, the aggressive blade shaping, & the American history...but I also really dig the influences that other cultures have had on the Bowie knife - perhaps my favorite being the Mexican styling - I love the flow that the Mexicans introduced to the Bowie - thank you sir for this great vid! Scott Sherman

What became the "classic" Bowie knife was as much a creation of the Sheffield craftsmen as anyone in North America.

Excellent presentation of old knife patterns!

I have one that's been in my father's collection. The handle since rotten off. I restored it back with a Japanese polishing stone as it was pit rusting. I would love to know more about it

I'm from Texas. My daughter goes to James Bowie High. We pronounce his name Boo-wie.

Very informative information on Jim Bowie... :)

A very good lesson about the influence of the province of New Spain (later Mexico) and ultimately the material culture of Spain on the origin of the famous Bowie knife. In Spain in the 18th century there was the so-called "flamenco knife", which received this name because it was used by the gypsies of southern Spain, whose main popular dance was "flamenco". I am going to leave you a link with a video of a Spanish expert on knives from our nation and empire who explains it. Best regards from Spain, from a lover of Hawken rifles.

Most of them before and after the time of the Alamo were made in Sheffield, England. They were shipped to the US in their thousands in the 19th century.

Very interesting and informative.

Great information to share with my children. They don't have much knowledge of their relative and background of knife.

GREAT WORK!

Thanks I have done some research on the Bowie knife this video is giving me a better idea what the original like.

Outstanding

Is there more to this. I need another hour. It's getting really interesting.

At 6:38 he shows a knife design which featured in the old B&W movie, "The most dangerous game", the knife the hero is given to defend himself again the bad guy!

Very informative.

Interesting stuff. But where can we watch the rest?

I read that the actual knife Bowie used was a Schmidt forged knife. Have you seen this article? I didn't bookmark the article but it said for a while it was referred to as a Bowie-Schmidt or Schmidt-Bowie. I may have been reading about Gregorio Esparza who was the only one in the Alamo to be identified and buried. I'm not sure about this as fact because I was looking late at night and I didn't give it the attention it deserved. Thanks for your video. It's great. Good job!

Thanks for sharing

I didnt want this video to end

love the Bowie, best knife in the world, ancient and modern.

Is this continued. Very informative.

The Bowie knife is classic Americana and that Texas clip point has its roots in Spanish (and, therefore, Arab) design: e.g., navaja, shamshir, talwar, jambiya. The long, curved cutting edge and belly to the blade was shown centuries ago by the Mamluks of North Africa to be effective instruments of decapitation.

Nice presentation bro 😍😍😍😍

I would question the origin of those two knives as being Mexican. I would think they rather came from Spain where they had milennia old blacksmith tradition and they have engraved their knives very beautifully. Then again, there is a Mexican blacksmith in Oaxaca that claims descent from a Toledo blacksmith. So, there is a small chance. To me it is more likely those knives were produced in Albacete, Spain. The history of knives in my country is very obscure. The goverment has made sure of that, ever trying to destroy the law-abiding weapon culture in Mexico which is why nowadays only three blacksmithing houses remain: The Aragon in Oaxaca who used to make swords for Porfirio Diaz, the Aguilar who is not as widely known but he is the one who claims his tradition came from Spain and the Ojeda group in Jalisco who are relatively modern. Other than those and a few amateurs that is all that remains. What I knew from history is that Mexican blacksmiths were skilled at refurbishing older sword blades made in Spain rather than producing new works. That is what prompted the evolution of the Espada Ancha which was locally produced. Those blades were never too ornate and ultimately evolved to become indistinguishable from machetes. That is why I question those two knives you show were produced in Mexico. Not only that, many Spanish knives are labeled Mexican by ignorant owners. That is how I bought a very beautiful antique Albacete dagger at an antique shop. The idiots called it "Mexican Knife" and undervalued it Lol.

That goes to prove they don't need to be fancy, just tough and sharp. The more smaller the point , the easier the sticken. Very interesting interview.

I found your video very interesting. I love American history when it is real and not manufactured to suit their own purposes. Well done thanks again.

Thing is though there were seaxes from the viking period that had a very similar clip to the typical Bowie. Coincidence, parallel evolution or what?

Extremely educational and fascinating. Does Mcmickel have a channel?

The Arkansas tooth pick is another nice knife

Nice video :)

Very important information here

Finally, someone who pronounces Bowie properly on this site.

The Original Bagwell Bowie forged by Bill Bagwell is the one to have!

Fascinating video, I'm guessing Mr McMickel when he talks about the original Bowie Knife is refering to the 'Fowler Bowie' that is on display at The Alamo and is shown on Wikipedia when you type in 'Bowie Knives', It's about 9 inches long and really resembles a butcher knife. About a year ago at a local gun & knife show, a knife dealer was selling a replica of the Folwer Bowie for just $100. I wish I could have bought it at the time.

“Rezin” is pronounced “Reason.” My belief is that J. Bowie’s first blade was probably shaped like the ones his brother handed out.

That is a beautiful knife is thare eny chance of that Texas clip being sold? I would love some more footage and or pictures of this knife?

please post the rest!!!

I just finished making a copy of the 1600 Spanish knife that was shown in your video.

I believe the original is the Edwin Forrest knife. As the Natchez paper stated, at the time of the sandbar fight, that big Butcher Knife carried by James Bowie .

Rezin B was quoted as saying he did not make the "improvements", as he put it, on the Bowie knife. I'd like to know who came up with the sharpened clip point. Both the Scots and the Norse sometimes made knives with long clip points, but as far as i know they were not usually sharpened.

The Texas Form I like; it's just curved enough in can help against unarmed targets or cloth/leather targets, and it's straight enough to stab. I wonder how well it would hold up to the common Bowie Knife design today.

Press f to inspect then spam f+r Kappa

Well done sirI

I have an old tru-vue viewmaster type Card that tells a very different story about the Bowie knife’s origin. It includes a runaway slave and wild dogs. I can’t find that story anywhere. I listed the card on eBay if you wanna see the pictures of it.

when i imagine a western bowie, the image that pop in my head is the image of the W49 bowie, the same model that made Case XX what he is today since it their first knife and they still produce it today, that as close as owning a true original western bowie since they never stopped produce it since their beginnings

Very interesting video. Did you know that sword looks like the old Indian stick knife used by the old Indian and British navy. The Spanish knife looks like the ancient Indian/ Indonesia Badik. The bird handle is known as the Garuda from the Garuda style of Martial arts going back thousands of years.

I'm just here for all the expert opinions.

Dogs in the background tells me this gentleman knows his stuff.

Another hypothesis about the origin of the "Spanish Flamenco knife" (grandfather of the Bowie knife), is that it was also manufactured in the 17th century in Flanders (now Belgium), when that territory was part of the Spanish Empire or Hispanic Monarchy. hence the name "flamenco". But the most likely hypothesis is that of its use in Spain by soldiers and especially by the gypsy community in southern Spain. Kind regards

A karambit seems like the only medieval dagger that survived until today. WOW

I really like the texas clip design, seems really functional.

Say Heah, I like a Bowie Knife, but I don't have too many. But I do have the San Mai 3 Cold Steel Natchez, It sort of surprised me how it looks to one of your knivrs you were showing, long, sharp tip, curved belly, But I use my knives in the bush, and my Natchez wouldn't be too practical because it's size, But I can see it stab and slach, not something I do in the bush, But I do have a few sort of clip points and their on some of my Fav's bush knives like my Rodent 5,7,9, and on my Ratmandu which is prolly one of my Fav's, infact I have (3) of them two in the INFI and one in the SR101, Thanx for the enlightenment on the Origin of tge Bowie, I appriciated this video, and lemme be the first to Wish You a Merry Christmas, , ,

where can I find the full interview?

Hi, can anyone tell me who made the knife he displays at the end? The audio on my laptop has gone bust....can not hear what he is saying. Is it a custom knife?

Very interesting video. I wonder what happened to the original? Somebody had to have taken it after the fall of the Alamo. Could it have ended up in Mexico?

good knife stuff

Thank you

Thank you. The evolution is quite interesting. Maybe I'll explore Spanish knives,

Nice video, too bad there was no visual of what the original Bowie knife may have looked like...

I've got several modern Bowie knives, but I'm often on e-bay doing a search on 'antique Bowie knives' and just dreaming about getting a Sheffield Bowie, a Mexican Bowie or any number of other 19th century Bowies in the several thousand dollar range. Beautiful knives but too rich for my blood. :-(

I need to find a knifemaker that has Texas point Bowies like that. That knife is fierce

I always thought the original was the Fowler knife, which resembles a butcher knife and is on display at the Alamo (and on wiki's) page on Bowie Knives, Bowie supposedly had several knives in his lifetime though, all of which were labeled "Bowie Knives" Another possible canidate for one of James Bowie's early knives IMHO is the 'Bowie No 1' knife on display in the Arkansas State Museum.

love that cane sword....the clockwork orange film is base on the 3 penny opera.....in the mack the knife scene ....he has one with a very thin flexible dangerouse looking razor type blade.....like a long thin ham knife....yee gads....more of a slash weapon....like a turkish or cossak yaghutan.

Read about the “Kentucky Long Knives”. It’s what native Americans called people from Kentucky in the late 1700s. Bowie was born in Logan County Kentucky.

I'd really love to buy that Fleiderman (sp) book, But only if it's still affordable and not an e-Bay item going for around $100 or more.

In a book i read as a child about 50 years ago the bowie knife was made from a broken sword true or not i remember very distinctly reading it in the early sixties about the alamo...

It was his darn left collar crease that gave him away as a true academic. If he were a dandy he would have had a stylist and makeup crew on set. Where is Part Deux of this and the Rambo knife?

I would like to know, because I was taught to believe, is the drop point (Texas clip) sharpened so as it could cut in either direction?

Where is the picture?

good story

I believe it's called the Primitive Bowie now, as that's the closest one I've seen to it.

I've read a few old west books. Only reference I can find was of Booie using that knife in the "Sand Bar Fight" ? PS: What the hell does an Arkansaw Tooth Pick look like FFS ?

probably very rectangular , crude looking but functional. At that time, you needed some that worked over something that is a flashy design.

yeah that's where I heard it from:)

Obe thing about sword canes - most of them are not the best of weapons, because most of them had very slim and many times too flexible blades if compared to real swords.

I prefer the model that had a 15 inch blade; 5 inch handle, and the clip point blade that had the copper sleeve running 3/4 the length of top of the blade. I had one in Nam that I greased a few dinks with, and still have.

Great bit. Ive got a book on medieval weapons and it has a Seax, or Scramasax or whatever u wanna call it, but the thing is from jolly old england and looks exactly like a modern day bowie knife. same size and all. Was the design of them ever influenced by Seax designs???

My dad was given a knife, that could well be the knife of Jim Bowie, which was found hidden under a house where an old restaurant, which was located on old Laredo st. This was a road and route which was used by Mexican soldiers when they traveled to the Alamo from Mexico. This knife looks like the one he was given at (7:30)into the video.

how can we see the rest?????

I wonder if the actual "Bowie Knife" carried by Jim Bowie at the Alamo will ever surface