My Custom Longknives Eye Candy

[brownie0486]

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_bagwells.jpg

This stag bowie at the top is a circa 1965 stag handled Bagwell Bowie, the first year he made knives. It has a 10" blade, brass guard and end cap. The second knife is a Bagwell Hells Belle made for me by Bill Bagwell and delivered after a two year wait in 1999.

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_bagwell_belle_damascus.jpg

This damascus bowie is actually Mike Sastre's Bagwell Damascus Belle which is the sister/brother of my Bagwell damascus bowie delivered Feb.04 after a two year wait. Mikes, pictured here, was made immediately after mine and is 3/4" shorter than the one delivered to me which has an 11 1/4" blade.

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_bagwell_hunter_damascus.jpg

This is a damascus hunter by Bill Bagwell

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_bagwell_stag.jpg

This picture is the same stag handled knife as it appears in the first url. It was taken from the website where I bought the knife a few months ago.

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_brown_bowie.jpg

The bottom knife with it's edge facing up is my "Brown Bowie" made by J. D. Malloy of Pennsylvania. It is D-2, 12 inch blade by 2 1/2" wide with a handle of black linen micarta and nickel silver spacers and 316 stainless guards. It is flat ground. This was made for me in 1988 and was featured at the NY Custom knife show that year as well as professionally photographed there before being submitted to a major knife rag where it appeared 6 months later.

The bowie above it is a handmade blade made from a leaf spring from a Model A sometime in the 1930's by a mountain man in Montana. It sports a 13 inch blade, razor sharp, with walnut slabs for handles, it's full tang with brass fittings.

http://www.october.com/x/brownie_long_knives.jpg

This is a compilation of the custom long knives I have collected and had made for me over the years of collecting these big boys. From the top:

Bagwell Stag handled bowie 1965
My Damascus Belle fighter
My Belle fighter
The Damascus Hunter by Bagwell
The mountain man bowie from Montana
Ed Fowler, 52100 blade steel, sheep horn handled
The "Brown Bowie"

Hope everyone enjoys the pics. Let me know what you think.

 

[JShirley]

Brownie,

I've considered getting a large Bowie-style fighter. I don't have the funds for the custom ones- have you handled the Ontario/Bagwells? If so, what'd ya think?

John

 

[brownie0486]

Hi John,

Ontario/Bagwells? Yes, I've had the Belle by Ontario. A pretty faithful reproduction of my originals. They are quick in the hand [ as a fighter should be ] and one would be hard pressed to tell the difference between them though the Bagwell Belles are better balanced and have better speed to one who wields them enough.

I can recommend them as a good representation of a supreme fighting knife.

BTW--I fixed the two broken links.

Brownie

 

[Soap]

Very nice! The Helle's Belles are particularly beautiful!

 

[Dr.Rob]

As the owner of an Ontario/bagwell "Plainsman" I'm impressed.

Very impressed.

The longer Hell's Belle and Fortress seemed more like shorty swords than working knives.

 

[brownie0486]

Dr.Rob :

It sure can look that way.

My damascus Belle pictured is 11 1/4 inches in blade length and I've had people close their eyes, hand them the knife and they can't tell me how long the blade is or that a blade is actually sticking out of the handle, they are that balanced.

To wield one of the longer Bagwells like my two Belles is to experience the joy of having the added blade length [ safety ] at no detriment to speed in redirects while in use.

A short sword that performs like a 6 inch bladed knife. Awesome to handle and years of trial and error for Bill Bagwell to find just the right formula/configuration to continue to extend their lengths incredibly while maintaining the speed needed in a fighter.

Brownie

 

[JShirley]

Respectfully, I lke my knives a little blade-heavy.

Then again, I like big knives that hack and chop well.

John

 

[brownie0486]

Hi John,

I like my blade heavy's as well. The Brown Bowie pictured is 2.8 lbs of D-2 [ after the grinding ].

When Joe Malloy had the blade ground with no handles on it yet, he took it to the back yard and with the blades weight alone from 2 feet, lopped a 2 inch limb off a feeder limb. It's definately blade heavy. The flat grind and convex Moran edge [ which I failed to mention initially ] seem the right combo to make a good chopper.

The Mountain man bowie is also very blade heavy and would perform the same for chopping and hacking.

The two above would not be carried with self defense in mind however. Too slow for government work [ if ya know what I mean ].

Brownie

 

[krept]

awesome collection

cheers

 

[JShirley]

Well, I actually meant I really like my balance point further forward than many folk like their fighters.

Beautiful collection, there.

John