The Fascinating Story of How the Bowie Knife Got Its Name

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James Bowie is a man today known primarily for two things- his participation in the Battle of the Alamo and a large knife design that bears his name. It’s impossible to separate fact from legend concerning an amazing amount of this American folk hero’s life, owing to Bowie leaving exceptionally little in the way of a paper trail documenting the events of his life and the fact that contemporary news articles about him are conflicting in their reports. That said, concerning the topic at hand today, we do definitively know how the style of knife now known as a “Bowie” knife got the name and how it was popularised.

Sources:

[old-moose]

I did a lot of hiking and camping when I was a kid (50+ years ago) and I never went anywhere without my bowie knife. I even would hike home after high school (10 to 15 miles depending on my route). No one even blinked an eye at my 11" knife. I can just imagine if some student walked into a high school today with one on his belt. (FYI: I did keep it in my locker during school.)

[CeltKnight]

I find it darkly amusing how those old accounts describe Bowie as having "Violently Disemboweled" his opponent ... as opposed, I guess to politely and gently disembowling him? ;)

[kaiserwigglesiii]

You're telling me it WASN'T David Bowie?

I'll.. I'll be gone for a few weeks. Gotta sort some things out...

[jonmichael]

So awesome you guys gave a shout out to Lindeybeige!

[RobKinneySouthpaw]

I've always considered calling a weapon "perfectly balanced" not to mean it balances right at the grip, but rather that the point of balance of the piece is in the perfect place for that particular design. A rapier balanced like a perfectly balanced falchion would be a crap rapier.

[HeyLookItsSmith]

James Black of Arkansas made this famous knife. It originally had a coffin handle which was Black’s staple of his work. In Washington, Arkansas the town is a state park with working blacksmith and tons of facts of the Texas’ journey to independence, as well as the town itself.

[barryjohnson]

You failed to mention that one of the key features of the Bowie knife was that the top edge of the tip of the knife was sharpened so that it didn't just cut with downward pressure, it also cut on the upstroke. It was often called" the knife that cuts both ways".

[aroneaton]

Just FYI. When you were talking about flintlock pistols the illustration showed a cap lock pistol.

[Shadow_Hawk_Streaming]

The advantage of a bowie over other knives of the time was indeed it's utilitarian nature aside from it's fighting ability, many people until that point would just use their food prep knife \butchers knife or even a hatchet because they didn't want to carry a dagger or other combat specific blade, the bowie in many ways is akin to the Kukhri in his that is a versatile tool and combat weapon

[nekrosis]

6:45 "The Soldiers had trouble pronouncing the original name" he says, and continues to absolutely butcher the term. It's hard to pronounce things in a language you don't speak. It wasn't that bad, but I (as a swiss) still laughed.

[SpeedyXGunz]

ˈBoowee, Bowie, Boowee, Bowie. When unsure, switch between both!

[johnnyquest]

I like that the latest Alamo movie had James Bowie (actor Jason Patric) carrying a copy of the famous “Musso Bowie”.. Though we’ll never know what Bowie’s last knife was, it’s a real good candidate. The Musso knife dates to the early 1830s and has a “JB” and a little star on it. Not stamped but put there when forged. The star was a common mark for officers and Bowie was technically a Colonel.

[ZackLondres]

great episode. thank you for not randomly losing composure in this one. keep up the good work! =) i happen to be an avid knife and blade collector. really neat to have some context on one of my favorite knife designs.

[jimbaily]

If you want to have a good look at Bowie Knives, check out the majority of Confederate soldier photos, particularly the soldiers from the state of Arkansas. Some of these become almost comical with the size of the blades, but are all extremely fascinating

[kennethbailey]

I have a Marine Corps Ka-Bar that was a gift from a fellow Marine. It’s similar in size and shape to a Bowie. I never carried one my entire six year tour but they were ubiquitous during WWII.

[ShaggyAltman]

I wish you were a teacher i had in school. I probably would have paid more attention. The way you speak and give the story around the subject is great. I watch your videos when ever i get a chance to. Always learn something interesting.

[mikegrossberg]

The fight between Bowie and Norris Wright took place on the Vandalia SANDBAR(a sandbar is NOT an island. An island is pretty much a permanent fixture; a sandbar is formed by silt deposited by a river, and can be washed away as easily as it's formed). Another famous Bowie knife fight was between him and Jack Sturdevant, a saloon owner. The two fought with their left wrists tied together

[LarryHatch]

As owner of two massive Bowie knives, one 17 inches and the other just 15 inches, I can say they are downright formidable and would make anyone think four times before attacking unless with a modern gun in hand.

[SpacePatrollerLaser]

According to THE KNIFE MANUAL and other knife collectors' publications of the 1980's and 90's. Bowies knife is unknown. The clip point having pre-existed the Bowie weapon in the form of the "Spanish dagger". The big name, as far as can be traced, IIRC is John Searles and his large bladed clip point knife. The pictures in the article show several large knives, including a drop-point which is a single-edge symmetrical point. It is also said, as a selling point of the Arkansas Toothpic, a kind of large dagger ranging from 6 to 12 inches in lenght but usually 8 to 10, is that Bowie liked this knife. The clip point existed on some kriegsmeesers, langmessers and grossmessers dating to the at least the 15th century. The preferred carrying knife of the early frontiersmen was the J. Wilson 7" butcher pattern ("pattern" is blade shape) of the late 1700. The other knife, , which probably helped cement the idea of the clip-point being the true "Bowie" is the Ka-Bar knife made famous by the US military. This knife is a 7" "Bowie [and is called such by John Stiers, a USMC combat traiing instructor in his COLD STEEL]", product of the Union Cutlaery and got it's name from a man who wrote to the company singing the praises of the knife in the late 19th century. He was only partially literate so when he wanted to claim that he was able to kill a bear with it, he did not wish to write "kill" and had a southern accent and wrote what it sounded like so he wrot "... k. a bar..." and the company adopted that as a name. The net result of the various stories is that nobody knows what the real Bowie knife was, with the Searles knife being the "model" for the "Bowie Knife". From all of this, I have concluded that "Bowie Knife" has no real meaning; there's more sizzle than steak. The 4" knife made by Western that I used to have was also called a "Bowie". Interestingly enough, the frontiersman and outdoorsman carried both his knofe and pistol, along with other things like firemaking equipment, not on his belt, but in a pocketbook sized bag called the "possibles" bag, whidch was carried on a strap like a pocketbood (whidch is not even a book but a kind of ladies' purse)K and gave ready access to "all the things that you could possibly need" out in the wild

As far as I'm concerned, a good fighting knife and a good utility knife are one and the same. Knife fighting should be treated as a form of hand-to-hand combat. Military doctrine for non-firearms combat is NOT ducking it out; it's putting the other guy on the ground and out of the fight as quickly as possible. A good utility knife can make any of the moves sufficiently well to be better than a specialized blade like a dagger, which has one move.. My preference is the Puma Waitbatte slightly swelled, reinforced tip, symrytivsl blade of 10" length. I also like the 9" Mauser bayonet that the Israelis used to use. Also, a knife fully occupies the hand it is in, which means that hand is useless for other things. Learn to use the knife in the off-hand and save your "good" had for full function. In combat, the knife is defensive, to make the other guy keep his distsnvr and only serves offensively after you have gotten the better end of the wrestling match

 According to legend, Bowie had his knife made from a meteor which gave the metal special qualities

There are actually two companies making "Swiss Army Knife"'s. The other is Wenger. I have had both and one is as good as the other

[MGProductions]

You know you've fucked up when you shoot and run a guy through and he proceeds to disembowel you with a large knife.