- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 2,101
Asian influence in Western culture can be found everywhere. From martial arts in action films, to chop suey at your local Chinese buffet to the computer you are probably reading this review on, the far East is around us. As outdoorsmen and women, Asian and Pacific Island blades have probably not gone unnoticed. Popular weapon patterns have been used by large manufacturing companies to sell blades and make profit. Little or no regard is given to the user who may need the blade to actually do what it is intended to do, heavy duty work.
With this in mind, I decided to focus on function rather than flare in designing the Bolo pattern Scott Gossman and Greg Haugh would ultimately create for me. In the Philippines, when my father was a child, he carried a bolo whenever in the bush. Growing up on the Island of Luzon, he tended to a large parcel of land on the family plantation. It is no secret the stories my father told me inspired me to study survival since my adolescence. What may not be known is how he has sketched for me the tools he carried including his .22 Mossberg autoloader and the blades he used. This design is an adaptation of his bolo.
Filipino weapons were generally field tools first and weapons second. Farmers would grab the nearest sharp object and apply it to their adversary. The traditional bolo machete or long knife was a tool for heavy vegetation cutting. My father would use it for denser wood cutting when a longer and lighter blade wouldn’t…well,cut it. I recall stories of him climbing trees to score coconuts or cutting bananas and carrying them home. I would focus on the bolo as the preferred shape for this new blade. Surely if it would cut dense woods in the Philippines, it would cut dense wood here in the Northeast.
I researched blades from the Luzon area and also looked at the sketches my father made. I pulled design aspects of those pictures and sketches in with familiar handle shapes Scott has ground to create the Gossman Bolo pictured here.
The gossman bolo with the sheath I made for it on the NH to ME river trip in June 2010.
As with any proper bolo, it has certain features not found in many blades. Due to the taper from broad to narrow from tip to ricasso, the sharpened edge has different purposes. The nearest section to the ricasso, where the width of the blade is most narrow, is used for fine carving. The sweet spot before the belly is the power area for chopping. The belly and tip is used for skinning (if no small knife is available first) or piercing. Scott nailed the convex edge on this one but has another option for grinding. In talking with Scott, it would have been possible to grind the ricasso area thinner and the belly portion thicker to improve weight forward. The handle is long enough for a full grip and wide/thick enough to prevent unwanted hand fatigue.
Sometimes, drywood is only found in the worst spots!
2 person battoning with Big John Brown. Really giving the blade hell. No damage to report.
Digging roots with the bolo
After using the Gossman Bolo for a couple months now, it is everything I would need in a quality large field knife. It isn't quite a machete, it isn't a sharpened prybar either. It is a good large knife for bigger work. I used it all summer at the survival school on courses and also on personal outdoors trips. It sharpened easily and with a little stropping, the hair popping edge was renewed everytime. The full-height grind didn't bind like a short flat grind or secondary bevel. Pure and simple, it works as intended. From digging (please read cautious probing in organic soil) to draw knife duty, this blade did it all. It rode nicely around my body on a shoulder rig and also took the occasional ride stowed behind my belt at my 6. All you would expect to do with a knife was done to this one. Battoning, slicing food for group outtings, removing obstructions during navigation exercises and more.
Using the blade to harvest earthworms
I would have left this knife home after the first week if it wasn't worth its weight. However, I used it all summer and it was with me over 30 nights in the field and many more day trips than I am able to recall. In testing a lot of blades over the years, I always am excited to unsheath it for the first time. This one however, being part of my family's history, is exciting everytime. I get a little smirk on my face when I see that shape leave the leather I made for it. I know this blade will be with me for a long time and I hope you'll think about adding it to your lineup too.
With this in mind, I decided to focus on function rather than flare in designing the Bolo pattern Scott Gossman and Greg Haugh would ultimately create for me. In the Philippines, when my father was a child, he carried a bolo whenever in the bush. Growing up on the Island of Luzon, he tended to a large parcel of land on the family plantation. It is no secret the stories my father told me inspired me to study survival since my adolescence. What may not be known is how he has sketched for me the tools he carried including his .22 Mossberg autoloader and the blades he used. This design is an adaptation of his bolo.
Filipino weapons were generally field tools first and weapons second. Farmers would grab the nearest sharp object and apply it to their adversary. The traditional bolo machete or long knife was a tool for heavy vegetation cutting. My father would use it for denser wood cutting when a longer and lighter blade wouldn’t…well,cut it. I recall stories of him climbing trees to score coconuts or cutting bananas and carrying them home. I would focus on the bolo as the preferred shape for this new blade. Surely if it would cut dense woods in the Philippines, it would cut dense wood here in the Northeast.
I researched blades from the Luzon area and also looked at the sketches my father made. I pulled design aspects of those pictures and sketches in with familiar handle shapes Scott has ground to create the Gossman Bolo pictured here.
The gossman bolo with the sheath I made for it on the NH to ME river trip in June 2010.
As with any proper bolo, it has certain features not found in many blades. Due to the taper from broad to narrow from tip to ricasso, the sharpened edge has different purposes. The nearest section to the ricasso, where the width of the blade is most narrow, is used for fine carving. The sweet spot before the belly is the power area for chopping. The belly and tip is used for skinning (if no small knife is available first) or piercing. Scott nailed the convex edge on this one but has another option for grinding. In talking with Scott, it would have been possible to grind the ricasso area thinner and the belly portion thicker to improve weight forward. The handle is long enough for a full grip and wide/thick enough to prevent unwanted hand fatigue.
Sometimes, drywood is only found in the worst spots!
2 person battoning with Big John Brown. Really giving the blade hell. No damage to report.
Digging roots with the bolo
After using the Gossman Bolo for a couple months now, it is everything I would need in a quality large field knife. It isn't quite a machete, it isn't a sharpened prybar either. It is a good large knife for bigger work. I used it all summer at the survival school on courses and also on personal outdoors trips. It sharpened easily and with a little stropping, the hair popping edge was renewed everytime. The full-height grind didn't bind like a short flat grind or secondary bevel. Pure and simple, it works as intended. From digging (please read cautious probing in organic soil) to draw knife duty, this blade did it all. It rode nicely around my body on a shoulder rig and also took the occasional ride stowed behind my belt at my 6. All you would expect to do with a knife was done to this one. Battoning, slicing food for group outtings, removing obstructions during navigation exercises and more.
Using the blade to harvest earthworms
I would have left this knife home after the first week if it wasn't worth its weight. However, I used it all summer and it was with me over 30 nights in the field and many more day trips than I am able to recall. In testing a lot of blades over the years, I always am excited to unsheath it for the first time. This one however, being part of my family's history, is exciting everytime. I get a little smirk on my face when I see that shape leave the leather I made for it. I know this blade will be with me for a long time and I hope you'll think about adding it to your lineup too.
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