BladeForums BEST BOWIE - 2010 Edition - VOTING NOW CLOSED - Finalists Selected

I have some pretty specific ideas of what a bowie should look like and all of these really nailed down the concept for me. Of course I could have chosen more but these were for me the most acute.

Post # 1:
No 3 Fisk Personal Cutter (probably the best looking bowie I have ever seen)
No 6 Wheeler W2 Fighter (incredible hamon and the rest aint too shabby!)
No 7 Bruce Bump Newell Bowie (amazing stag and everything else. Love the handle)

Post # 27: No. 2 Lisch Flying Dragon (how about that damascus! Love the graceful but wicked lines of this one)

Post # 62: No. 2 Russ Andrews (a classic bowie profile to my eye with perfect proportions)

Post # 68: Claudio Sobral (the dark horse for me, just wow!)
 
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I must confess that Kevin Jones disrupted my carefully composed list by posting that Damascus Wheeler at the last moment. It reminded me that this is a vote for BEST BOWIE of 2010 and caused me to remove two stunning art knives from my final list. Attempting to define what constitutes a Bowie is very difficult, if not impossible. However to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, I know them when I see them. Here are seven great Bowies for 2010.

In order of posting:

1. Post #7, #1, Burt Foster MS, Persian

2. Post #12, #1, Jerry Fisk MS, Artifact/NLT

3. Post #14, #1, Larry Fuegen MS, Large Buckaroo

4. Post #21, #1, Nick Wheeler JS, Coop Special

5. Post #27, #1, Don Hanson III MS, FLOW

6. Post #27, #2, David Lisch JS, Flying Dragons

7. Post #103, #1 Nick Wheeler JS, Damascus
 
So many incredible, inspired works of cutting art in this thread, truly an embarrassment of riches from the knife world. Difficult choices indeed...

1. Post 2, #6 - Larry Fuegen damascus and ivory bowie. Lovely details and embellishment. Classic Fuegen art bowie.
2. Post 5, #1 - Kyle Royer "Taxas Bowie 101" - great lines, beautiful ebony handle and complementary fittings
3. Post 7, #1 - Burt Foster laminated persian fighting bowie with stag. Incredible steel, wicked lines, beautiful stag, tasteful accents
4. Post 41, #3 - Bruce Bump feather and stag fighter/ bowie. Brilliant feather pattern, matched grind lines, fierce profile, gorgeous fittings, and some very nice engraving to boot
5. Post 45, #3 - Mike Quesenberry damascus double edged fighter. Tight pattern, precise grinds, aggressive profile, beautiful lines and proportions
6. Post 97, #4 - Bill Buxton MS bowie #1 - really bold damascus pattern, classic bowie shape, inspired profile and proportions, beautiful ivory
7. Post 103, #1 - Nick Wheeler damascus bowie - tight, fast, sexy and fierce blade with a crisp, refined and incredibly sculpted handle
 
Yes, I was right, this is TUFFF. Here's my take for the finalists.

Post 1 Photo 6 Nick Wheeler fighter

Post 2 Photo 1 John White Legacy

Post 3 Photo 2 Tom Ferry Persian

Post 4 Photo 2 Mike Ruth Jr. Ruthless

Post 41 Photo 3 Bruce Bump fighter

Post 97 Photo 6 Stuart Branson A truely hand made knife.

Post 103 Photo 1 Nick Wheeler Damascus

I have held each of these fine knives in my hand (with the exception of the Stuart Branson piece), and they are all everything you could want in a knife.

Paul
 
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My choices and reasons for such in no particular order.

1. Post 4, Knife # 1 - JR Cook #9 2010 ALT - Both JR Cook and Jerry Fisk are going all out in pushing their artistic talents in creating knives which promote custom knives as "ART", while still being true to their roots in also insuring their knives are high performance cutting tools. This knife is a great example of this.

2. Post 12, Knife # 1 - Jerry Fisk - Artifact Southwest Bowie - Again, another example of what I stated above. IMO, these two (Cook above and here) are a toss-up for Best Bowie of 2010.

3. Post 14, Knife #1 - Larry Fuegen Buckaroo Bowie - Larry is an outstanding artist and craftsman and this is demonstrated in every knife he makes. While the other Fuegen submitted is absolutely beautiful, it being basically a replica of last year's Fuegen Best Bowie finalist made my selection of the Buckaroo Bowie much easier. This bowie has the perfect balance of "art piece" and "high performance bowie".

4. Post 1, Knife #2 - CKCA 2010 Cancer Benefit Knife - Here we have five of the finest, most talented and most celebrated knifemakers/artist in the world, together to create an outstanding knife. It's beautiful in every aspect in my opinion. Arguably, one of, if not the most substantial knife collaboration to date. While no bearing here, however notable that it raised $17,000 for cancer research. Contributing makers/artists, Edmund Davidson, Barry Lee Hands, Steve Johnson, Wolfgang Loerchner and Paul Long.

5. Post 14, Knife #2 - Bruce Bump Pinkerton Bowie - Bruce made quite a few outstanding knives this year. This is my favorite as Bruce was successful in bringing a lot of design elements together here and making them ALL contribute to the overall. A task that's very difficult to do. The Jere Davidson inlay/engraving is beautiful, the whole knife flows tremendously for such an ornate piece and it's so comfortable in the hand.

6. Post 27, Knife #2 - Dave Lisch Damascus Bowie - I agree with Steven, BEST LISCH KNIFE EVER and it looks so clean and well executed.

7. Post 103, Knife #1 - Nick Wheeler Damascus Bowie - Very simple, I own this fighter and I love damascus and it could have the "perfect knife handle". I often take it out of my cabinet just to feel it in my hand. I actually seriously considered having this knife engraved by one of my favorite engravers. Even asked opinions on this forum and was very surprised that most recommended engraving.
But I finally decided to leave it ALL Wheeler excellence.
 
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there are many more than just my seven faovourites that i'd love to own. but at the top of my list are:

1. post 1, photo 6: nick wheeler

2. post 7, photo 1: burt foster

3. post 20, photo 2: adam desrosiers

4. post 21, photo 1: nick wheeler

5. post 27, photo 1: don hanson

6. post 41, photo 3: bruce bump

7. post 50, photo 4: tad lynch

hans
 
I have certainly followed this thread with a great deal of attention.
I have to keep in mind the topic, which is "Best Bowie".
There are countless examples here of the vast array of extremely capable artists/knife makers that we're are all so lucky to be surrounded by.
The talent, the expertise, the application of concept and use of all the finest equipment we can possess is well exhibited here.
Yet, when I close my eyes and dream of the perfect "BOWIE", which, as far as I'm concerned, also evokes the concept of 'simplicity of function', the one knife in this entire thread that exemplifies that in my mind's eye is:

Russ Andrews - Post #1, Photo #1.
 
Huge array of superb work to choose from but these are my picks for finalists:

Post #1 Knife #6--Wheeler

Post #4 Knife #2--Ferry

Post #26 Knife #1--Broadwell

Post #62 Knife#4--Campbell

Post #97 Knife#4--Buxton

Post #99 Knife #1--Tomberlin

Post #100 Knife #2--Ruth Sr.
 
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tickled to be mentioned in this thread... THANK YOU guys :)



But the reason I'm posting is I'm wondering where in the heck all the Jason Knight bowies are?!?!?!?!? :eek: :eek: :eek: Few can approach Jason's ability to create a bowie with fast, mean, aggressive...FLOWING lines... and I think even less actually DO.
 
NickWheeler said:
But the reason I'm posting is I'm wondering where in the heck all the Jason Knight bowies are?
Click to expand...

I actually called Jason yesterday and asked him that exact question.

I feared he was taking after Nick Wheeler....

...but he said that he had made 100+ knives in 2010 and just did not have any images to post.
 
Votes as cast by our annual anonymous contributor.

Post # / knife #

Sfreddo
#1 / #5
All of his are crazy, but this one tops them all.

John White
#4 / #6
I generally don't like damascus, but I have to choose one. This? It's the swell.

Royer
# 5 / #2
So screamingly subtle with the coin guard and criss-cross handle

Wheeler
#21 / #1
My fave.

Hanson
#27 / #1
Compulsory love.

Bump
#41 / # 3
Love the simpler buttcap instead of the frame.

Campbell
#62 / #4
Less is more. Best of the (9) clam guards shown.

Thank YOU!
 
ptgdvc said:
I actually called Jason yesterday and asked him that exact question.

I feared he was taking after Nick Wheeler....

...but he said that he had made 100+ knives in 2010 and just did not have any images to post.
Click to expand...

I aked him the same thing and requested pics which he said he did not have
 
Post #1 Knife #4 Foster

Post #1 Knife #6 Wheeler

Post #4 Knife #4 Ruth

Post #14 Knife #4 Fisk

Post # 47 Knife #1 Sfreddo

Post # 97 Knife #2 Lamey

Post # 50 Knife # Lurquin
 
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Crap! Sorry everyone, but it looks like too many peeps are checking out my pics and overloaded my available bandwidth. The issue will likely be rectified by the start of the new year, but for the time being I'll do my best to get the pics that I posted back up:eek:
 
Lorien - just e-mail me the pic and I will upload it to my host and flip you back an IMG tag.
 
will do bud
 
This was tough since there were numerous blades I wanted to vote for. But, here's my list:

1. Post 1 #3: Fisk Personal Cutter - probably my favorite of all

2. Post 1 #6: Wheeler W2 fighter - great looking bowie

3. Post 12 #1: Fisk Artifact - what more can I say?

4. Post 13 #2: White Dogbone - great rendition of a dogbone handled bowie

5. Post 18 #6: Fisk 30 yrs stag bowie

6. Post 33 #1: White stag handled bowie

7. Post 97 #2: Lamey damascus bowie
 
My seven favorites, in order of posting:

Post #1, Knife #4 -- Burt Foster CLI

Post #2, Knife #1 -- John White Legacy Series

Post #15, Knife #1 -- Dave Lisch Feather Fighter

Post #18, Knife #3 and #7 (same knife shown twice in same post!) -- Mike Ruth Engraved Damascus Fighter

Post #20, Knife #2 -- Adam DesRosiers (also my vote for photograph of the year!)

Post #47, Knife #1 -- Rodrigo Sfreddo Moghul Fighter

Post #97, Knife #7 -- Tad Lynch Stag Recurve with Hamon
 
WOW, What a year for Bowies.

Post #2 pic 4
Wolfgang Loerchner

Post #4 Pic 1
JR Cook #9 Alt Gold Rush Bowie

Post #4 pic 7
John Horrigan

Post #13 pic 2
John White

Post #47 Pic 1
Rodrigo Sfreddo

Post #27 Pic 1
Don Hanson III

The Choices were tough
Dave from Diller
 
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