Atlanta Cutlery's "D-Guard Bowie" -- Opinions? -- myArmoury.com

David W. Hughett

Has any one on this message board purchased the "D-Guard Bowie" from Atlanta Cutlery?
Here is a link :

http://www.atlantacutlery.com/webstore/eCat/s...bowie.aspx

I just wondered if any one could give me an informed opinion about this item. Thanks in advance for any information that you can give me!

Douglas G. Taylor · Posted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 2:09 pm Post subject: D-Guard Bowie

Hi David,

I don't have this particular Bowie, but from the looks of it I wouldn't consider it a Bowie at all. It is way too long and sword-like. I collect Bowies (especially the larger ones) and I have Atlanta Cutlery's "Primitive Bowie." I have two of them in fact. This is a real kick-in-the-pants Bowie, and will not break your pocketbook, either. It has a lot of style and is very eye-catching, and you can hardly help but smile every time you pick it up. I own Bowies costing many times the amount this knife costs, and they are quite nice and sort of put this knife to shame. But bang for the buck this is a tough Bowie to beat!

Doug

Roger Hooper · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 6:26 am Post subject:

That AC model does seem more like a hanger than a knife, but D-guard bowies with blades that long really were made during the Civil War. David, I've asked the same question of the forums before, but no one seems to have bought one.

Hugh Fuller · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 7:00 am Post subject:

A couple of points:
1) A lot of soldiers, both North and South, toted huge Bowie knives off to war when they went in the beginning but they rapidly learned that these things were heavy, awkward, and not particularly useful in the field. According to what I have read, most were discarded early on in the campaigning.

2) If you buy it, pay the extra $15 or whatever to get Atlanta Cutlery to sharpen it if you intend to use it for anything other than re-enacting knife fights. They come dull and take a lot of work to get the beginning edge.

Sean Flynt · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 8:16 am Post subject:

Some, but not all, confederate "bowies" were more like what we think of as messers or hangers--very long by knife standards.

I'm slightly skeptical of the conventional wisdom that these weapons proved to be too cumbersome to carry. Some of them were made at home from saw blades--very thin stuff, and I don't know of any that reached the length of, say, a 2 lb. medieval sword. We're not talking about enormous weight. I think it's more likely that the large knives simply weren't useful. A short pike (musket and bayonet) is vastly superior to a long knife in combat, and a short knife would probably be more useful in foraging, butchering, food preparation, etc. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective--A pound of equipment that can save your life is light. A pound that isn't useful is heavy.

Personally, if I wanted a confederate fighting knife I'd just cut down a cheap machete, make a "d" guard from a strip of 16 ga. steel, add a dowel for the grip and peen the tang over the end of the guard (see the example below, right). That's a very simple and authentically crude project.

Here are a few of these knives as displayed in the museum of the Alabama Department of Archives and History--home to an astonishing collection of rare arms and accoutrements of the Civil War era:

Hugh Fuller · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 9:27 am Post subject:

Sean, I was saying that they were found not to be useful and then found to be too heavy. Please remember that the private soldiers on both sides had a habit of discarding anything that they didn't find immediately useful when on the march. I have read of them discarding their overcoats when carrying them during the summer months only to miss them terribly come late fall. Or they discarded the cast iron skillets and made lighter substitutes out of half a US Army canteen unsoldered and then with a handle attached. Similarly, the favored coffee making pot was a large cup with a lid and a bale called a "boiler" which the soldier could hang over a fire to boil up his coffee and then drink it out of the same cup. Also, both sides would frequently discard their knapsacks and roll their personal items up in a blanket roll covered by their gum blanket and then tied at the two ends and carried over their left shoulders. It was a way to minimize what you had to carry.

Roger Hooper · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 9:36 am Post subject:

What I read was that many of the swords that were issued were found to be wanting and were replaced by the D-guard bowies, especially the swords given to artillery officers. Unfortunately, I can't refer you to the quote. It is just an (un?)reliable memory.

Some of them were made in the arsenals out of used up files like the one below.

Thomas Watt · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 2:51 pm Post subject:

Here is a link to a nice collection of Bowie knives...
http://www.historicarkansas.org/collections/d...cat=Knives
Most are attributed to James Black, the reputed inventor/manufacturer of the "original" Bowie knife.

These predate the style the OP was asking about, but notably feature the "coffin shaped" handle.

Don't know if this offers any help or not.
Just sharing.

Ken Speed · Posted: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 5:16 pm Post subject:

I have seen a huge D handle Bowie in a library here in New England, it is easily as big as any gladius. It was presumably carried by a Confederate soldier long enough for it to be taken by a Union soldier one way or another.

I was asking a Civil War re-enacter about it and about swords and he told me that almost all battle field deaths that were not caused by gun fire were r blunt trauma injuries from gun butts and the like . Swords were used as signaling devices by officers and these big bowies were more tools than weapons. I was told they were more likely used for foraging (robbing and terrorizing civilians), butchery and as the machetes of the era.

Ken Speed.