Bowie knife

What makes a knife a bowie?

There's no strict definition. A modern bowie is usually:

• large, with a blade of about 15–30 cm;
• clip-pointed, the spine cut away towards the tip in a straight or concave line, sometimes sharpened (a false edge or swedge);
• guarded, with a brass or steel cross guard;
• full of presence: a thick spine, often a coffin-shaped or barrel handle.

The earliest bowie knives weren't standardised. Accounts describe knives with and without guards and with different blade shapes. What set them apart from ordinary hunting knives was their size and quality of finish, and many were decorated with silver, etching or engraving.

Where does the bowie knife come from?

On 19 September 1827, a duel on a sandbar in the Mississippi River near Natchez turned into a brawl, now called the Sandbar Fight. Jim Bowie, badly wounded, killed one man and injured another with a large knife. The story spread through newspapers, and "bowie knives" became wildly popular across the American South and West.

Who made the first one is disputed. Jim's brother Rezin Bowie later said he designed it, describing a fairly plain hunting knife. James Black, a cutler in Washington, Arkansas, also claimed to have made a knife for Bowie; an 1841 newspaper credited him with inventing it. Neither claim can be proved.

Sheffield and the bowie knife

Demand for bowie knives in America was met in large part by Sheffield's cutlers, who made them in great numbers in the 19th century, often etched with patriotic American slogans. Many of the finest antique bowies carry Sheffield makers' marks. See Sheffield steel.

Is a bowie knife legal in the UK?

It is legal to own and to buy if you're 18 or over. Like any fixed-blade knife, carrying it in public needs a good reason. Since September 2024, "zombie-style" knives are banned: blades over 8 inches with a plain edge and a sharp point, plus at least one of serrations over 2 inches, more than one hole in the blade, spikes, or more than two sharp points. Many bowies are over 8 inches, so those extra features decide it: a plain bowie without them is not banned. See UK knife law.

Making a bowie knife

A bowie is a satisfying step up after a first knife. The long blade needs even heat and careful straightening, and the guard has to be fitted tightly. Some forges offer bowie knives on two-day courses, often for people who've made a knife before.