How SWEET It Is!

The bowie's new sweet spot is the 9-to-9.5inch blade

In July 1990 I was in the Army, home on leave from South I Korea Knifemakers' and attending The Guild Show in Orlando, Florida. While there, I was introduced to the forged blade.

I stopped by the table of ABS Master Smith Jim Crowell. He explained to me what it took to gain the prestigious rating of ABS master smith. It wasn't just the quality of the knife that impressed me. I was amazed at how a 15-inch knife with a 10-inch blade could be so lightweight. While I was not new to fixed blades, my experience to that point had been with stock removal knives.

Jim explained that distal tapering is a procedure to thin the blade from guard to tip and spine to edge. The amount of tapering depends on the purpose of the knife. As I moved through the show, I started paying more attention to the forged blades on the exhibitors' tables. What I discovered was what was called the ABS Bowie. The dimensions of the knife were a blade of 10 inches in length, 1.5 inches wide and a quarter inch thick, generally with a 5-inch handle.

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Those who have been involved with custom knives for some years know that the knives tend to move in cycles. Innovation leads to demand from collectors. There's a lot of "following the leader" in the custom knife business. This could have helped explain why so many knives were dimensionally identical at the '90 Guild Show. While some had damascus blades and hardware, most were carbon steel.