Whats next?

Esee has now done a Kephart, and a Nessmuck…

If they were to do a bowie, what would it look like?

Would it be Marbles perfect size?
Kabar MkII size?
Or Junglas II size?
Full Junglas size?


Fuller? No fuller?

What do you guys think?

I bet warrior could give us some pretty awesome rendering ideas about what he thinks!


Does the bowie general concept fit within the Esee use principles?

Or do the Junglas' count just as closely by the original use of the blade to be a bowie? (aka a large kitchen knife as reportedly used by the man himself)

 

I'll go out on a limb and say you'll never see a bowie knife from Esee. It's just not a practical blade that serves a legitimate purpose. It's a neat knife, and part of our history, but it's basically a prop. Now I do think there's a market for something with a clip point. Some of us, myself included, like a knife with a bit more point. I'd like to see something with a 5" blade, 5/32 thick, with a shallow clip. Think Becker bk17, with an even shallower clip, but longer blade and share the handle profile with the 5 & 6.

 

Hmmm....I'm really digging the way that ESEE is going about modernizing some historic designs, while keeping them very much in the "hard use" category. Honestly though, I know Bowies have a lot of history behind them, but I can't say that I find them to be as practical or versatile as some other designs. Maybe if I lived at the Alamo in the 1830's, I'd feel differently.

I'd like to see ESEE's take on a modern Seax blade. Somewhere around 5-7" blade length, with black oxide and those sweet sculpted Gibson scales. Kinda like these, but ESEE-fied:

 

I don't understand... First you said that a bowie isn't practical, then you said you would like a bowie... what is your definition of a bowie?

 

I dig it! I personally feel like a 5" Seax might compete a bit with the existing nessy, but a 7" would be pretty neat. With that being said, for what its worth (which is nothing), I feel like a bowie is more practical than a seax… More belly, although everything else about the design designation of "bowie" varies.

What is it that you find very practical about a small seax? Honest question, 0 sarcasm here. (seriously)

 

I agree - a 7" blade would be preferable for this type of design. They are a really under-rated blade style imo, for woodcraft tasks, chopping, game processing and defensive tasks, with a great deal of tip precision for its blade size. An all around excellent 'camp knife' design, imo. Historically, in much of Scandanavia, it would have been the 'all-around' knife of choice.

Personally, I've never found clip points to have a whole lot of usefulness, though they definitely look cool. But maybe I'm missing something.

 

I'd say if they made one along the lines (size wise) of the JG5 (maybe an inch or two longer) with more of a guard-less designed to it, they would probably sell. Something that has the potential of being concealed as a blade backup type option. Thinking something along the design philosophy of Spyderco's Street Bowie. Anything else I feel like would be stepping outside of the ESEE DNA. Would I love to see an esee bowie? Absolutely! Question is, where will it fit for the real world user.

 

Because a bowie is a very specific knife. A large, weight forward, ok at everything and good at nothing design. Just because a knife has a clip point doesn't make it a bowie. I love the bk17 which is why I brought it up. But other than having a clip point, the two are nothing similar.

 

Ok, I am tracking. My only Seax is a Skrama, which I am fond of. I think people think of one thing when they think of a clip point- a Rambo knife. The reality is that the clip can be huge, tiny, the tip can be center, forward, rear, thick thin, heck, the original bowie fighting knife was the shape of a kitchen knife, probably similar to a junglas, so I think the only limitation to the usefulness of a bowie knife lies in the designers ability to design the knife to perform its task.

Its equally interesting to me when people associate "bowie" with a size. Lol A bowie can be a 1" blade or a 12"

Anyways, you have me seax curious lol

 

Your definition of a bowie, and the definition of a bowie, are two different things. The bk17 is generally considered a bowie knife. Regardless of whos definition of a bowie is right or wrong, being that the original post asked what size bowie people would think it would be, starting with a marbles perfect, which is nearly universally considered to be a bowie knife, and is the same size roughly as a bk17, and a Junglas, I would think you would be able to figure along the lines of what we are talking about using the context clues.

I agree that not everything with a clip point is a bowie. Likewise, not every bowie has a clip point ;-)

 

Back on the Bowie track, I've always been partial to the early Natchez "coffin handle" styles over the exaggerated clip points and hand guard type:



I agree that clip points can take many forms, I've just never fully understood their value from a practical POV. It seems largely stylistic, to me (not that there's anything wrong with that). And in terms of size yeah, you're right - a "Bowie" can be just about any size. The reality is that there has been a lot of variation in what is considered a "Bowie" over the years, with many of the most popular examples having little, if any, resemblance to the knife Jim B. wielded at Vidalia.

 

I thought the junglas was the Esee take on a Bowie? Lol

 

You could be right...


Wait...


What if they released a clip point j2...


Hahahahahaha that might make the tip too fragile for what the junglas is all about.

I have the 3 mil- i really appreciate the sharpened clip for the first time digging a splinter out... lol!

I didnt appreciate it when i forgot, temporarily, about it, and did my normal push cut with my left thumb.

 

Was thinking some more on this as I was going about the day. I feel like the handle of the JG5 would lend itself well to a small and light "carry" Bowie type blade (esee B7...lol). I remember Evan Hill mentioning at Overland Expo how the JG5 handled a lot like a combat oriented knife, which got me thinking of a bowie built around that current handle. And since the bowie traditionally was more a combat orented tool (at least from my understanding) the prior mentioned conversation came to mind after reading this thread. Anyway, just tossing out another idea. Wouldn't mind seeing something around W49 size either though, if we're going straight up woods Tool.

 

A SAK type knife would be interesting. Nothing too complex. Something like an Avispa or Zancudo with the addition of a saw and 2d small blade. Also an ESEE santoku knife for the kitchen would be awesome.

 

That would be cool!

 

Jacob, I'm curious, did you have a particular size or use specific bowie in mind?

 

I just made this point to see what other people were thinking.

If I were to design a bowie for the Esee name, it would likely be like a marbles ideal, fairly thin edge, center point that is relatively thick by bowie terms, and not too... pointy, for a classic skinning/ utility knife that was also well suited to puncturing a persons ribs. But to go back to what is important, the purpose would be the utility far before the combat.

As the folks at both Esee and Kabar (at least Ethan) know, a "combat knife" needs to be 99% utility anyways.

 

How about an ESEE rendition of the Herters/Gromman/Canadian Belt Knife style?