i know ‘bowie knife’ is kind of a vague clasification but im pretty sure they are supposed to have a wide blade, a partially cuved leading edge and a ‘clip tip’ point. a heavy blade designed to make hacking/slashing attacks like a machete as well as stabs. this here seems like just a generic thin stabby dagger, its basically the same blade as my fairbairn-sykes except with a different handle shape.
Yeah, this is just how it was labeled on the antiques site where I found it, but I also thought it was weird for it to be labeled a Bowie. Although for the clip point specifically, that doesn’t seem to be absolutely necessary - there are bowies with more conventional blades, these days they’re often referred to as “Arkansas Toothpicks” just to better distinguish them, but in the actual historical period the two terms seem to have been used interchangeably.
Still, this one seems too small - but it could also be a situation where the American and English definitions simply differ
i know ‘bowie knife’ is kind of a vague clasification but im pretty sure they are supposed to have a wide blade, a partially cuved leading edge and a ‘clip tip’ point. a heavy blade designed to make hacking/slashing attacks like a machete as well as stabs. this here seems like just a generic thin stabby dagger, its basically the same blade as my fairbairn-sykes except with a different handle shape.
Yeah, this is just how it was labeled on the antiques site where I found it, but I also thought it was weird for it to be labeled a Bowie. Although for the clip point specifically, that doesn’t seem to be absolutely necessary - there are bowies with more conventional blades, these days they’re often referred to as “Arkansas Toothpicks” just to better distinguish them, but in the actual historical period the two terms seem to have been used interchangeably.
Still, this one seems too small - but it could also be a situation where the American and English definitions simply differ