- Joined
- Dec 29, 2012
- Messages
- 108
Hello everyone, I wanted to post my review of Ursa's Musso Bowie made by Gulzar Ahmed in Pakistan.
Gulzar's Musso Bowie is the first affordable and high quality copy of Joe Musso's knife that I am aware of.
I first discovered his knives while keyword searching on Ebay and was stunned by what came up, and couldn't believe the pictures and especially the prices he was selling them at. His feedback was flawless and the feedback that was being left for these knives were complete satisfaction.
So I decided to do some Google searching and found him on Facebook as well as posts by cc nolan at the johnwayne-thealamo forums declaring that his Musso copy by him was very nice and well done. If you know who this person is, and know that his original copy of the Musso Bowie cost well over $1,000 and was made using the original Musso Bowie that was in the knife maker's shop, that's mighty high praise indeed.
So I contacted Gulzar and he sold me an antique version of his Musso Bowie knife.
The blade is 5160 high carbon steel with brass guard and strip along the spine of the blade. Unlike the original, this is attached via 4 evenly spaced out small brass pins that were pinged and sanded smooth.
The blade is full tang and is very strong. It is not some 90 degree corner stick tang, but rounded for strength. Like the original, the tang is threaded on the end and uses a brass nut, in this case, a flat head screw driver type.
And what you're obviously wanting to see, the finished knife, these pics ARE of my blade, but he's using the pics he took of my knife for his Ebay ad which I think is really cool to see, so I will use the Ebay ad pictures and of course my own after receiving it, first the Ebay ad pictures :
No, the Blade is NOT differently tempered, but the pattern near the edge is also on the other side and I think it looks REALLY cool.
The Black micarta handle and brass nut.
And my own picture after receiving it :
I chopped down a small tree that was about 5 inches in diameter with the knife, no edge rolling or chipping occurred and the blade is still very sharp where it impacted the tree. Not sure what kind of tree it was, but the blade bit deep into the wood.
No further tests were done outside of cutting paper before and after the chopping test. (It cut the paper just as well as before)
I have NO doubt that the blade is properly tempered, so I have no plans for further tests, this is a side arm for me, I have other choppers that will suit those tasks just fine.
The handle is very comfortable to me and didn't hurt my hands at all.
The blade balance is amazing, point of balance is about 2 1/4 inches in front of the brass guard. VERY well balanced and lively in the hand for such a large blade.
Blade length is just a hair over 13 3/4 inches from tip to leather washer and around 14 inches counting from the tip to the front of the guard.
Blade width counting the brass spine at it's widest point near the guard is 2 1/2 inches.
The clip point edge is NOT sharpened, if I had known, I would have asked him to sharpen it, but to me that's no big deal as I can always sharpen it myself. I might do that at some point, but I'm lazy so no telling when that will be, LOL.
Handle length is 5 1/2 inches and is very comfortable as previously mentioned.
The leather sheath is nice, but I would one day like to have a leather covered wooden scabbard with brass fittings made for it like the Legacy Arms Musso Bowie. My sheath came apparently treated with some kind of leather lotion applied which I thought was a nice touch.
In closing, I'll say that the craftsmanship is amazing, this is a very nicely finished piece that is as solid as it feels in the hand. For the money, you just can't go wrong if you're in the market for an affordable and well built Musso Bowie copy.
I would post a facebook link to his page, but I'm not sure if that's allowed here or not, if it's allowed, I will update this post.
I told him I was going to do this review, because frankly, he deserves more business and hopefully you will give him a chance as I did. You won't be sorry you did, I'm certainly not.
Gulzar's Musso Bowie is the first affordable and high quality copy of Joe Musso's knife that I am aware of.
I first discovered his knives while keyword searching on Ebay and was stunned by what came up, and couldn't believe the pictures and especially the prices he was selling them at. His feedback was flawless and the feedback that was being left for these knives were complete satisfaction.
So I decided to do some Google searching and found him on Facebook as well as posts by cc nolan at the johnwayne-thealamo forums declaring that his Musso copy by him was very nice and well done. If you know who this person is, and know that his original copy of the Musso Bowie cost well over $1,000 and was made using the original Musso Bowie that was in the knife maker's shop, that's mighty high praise indeed.
So I contacted Gulzar and he sold me an antique version of his Musso Bowie knife.
The blade is 5160 high carbon steel with brass guard and strip along the spine of the blade. Unlike the original, this is attached via 4 evenly spaced out small brass pins that were pinged and sanded smooth.
The blade is full tang and is very strong. It is not some 90 degree corner stick tang, but rounded for strength. Like the original, the tang is threaded on the end and uses a brass nut, in this case, a flat head screw driver type.
And what you're obviously wanting to see, the finished knife, these pics ARE of my blade, but he's using the pics he took of my knife for his Ebay ad which I think is really cool to see, so I will use the Ebay ad pictures and of course my own after receiving it, first the Ebay ad pictures :
No, the Blade is NOT differently tempered, but the pattern near the edge is also on the other side and I think it looks REALLY cool.
The Black micarta handle and brass nut.
And my own picture after receiving it :
I chopped down a small tree that was about 5 inches in diameter with the knife, no edge rolling or chipping occurred and the blade is still very sharp where it impacted the tree. Not sure what kind of tree it was, but the blade bit deep into the wood.
No further tests were done outside of cutting paper before and after the chopping test. (It cut the paper just as well as before)
I have NO doubt that the blade is properly tempered, so I have no plans for further tests, this is a side arm for me, I have other choppers that will suit those tasks just fine.
The handle is very comfortable to me and didn't hurt my hands at all.
The blade balance is amazing, point of balance is about 2 1/4 inches in front of the brass guard. VERY well balanced and lively in the hand for such a large blade.
Blade length is just a hair over 13 3/4 inches from tip to leather washer and around 14 inches counting from the tip to the front of the guard.
Blade width counting the brass spine at it's widest point near the guard is 2 1/2 inches.
The clip point edge is NOT sharpened, if I had known, I would have asked him to sharpen it, but to me that's no big deal as I can always sharpen it myself. I might do that at some point, but I'm lazy so no telling when that will be, LOL.
Handle length is 5 1/2 inches and is very comfortable as previously mentioned.
The leather sheath is nice, but I would one day like to have a leather covered wooden scabbard with brass fittings made for it like the Legacy Arms Musso Bowie. My sheath came apparently treated with some kind of leather lotion applied which I thought was a nice touch.
In closing, I'll say that the craftsmanship is amazing, this is a very nicely finished piece that is as solid as it feels in the hand. For the money, you just can't go wrong if you're in the market for an affordable and well built Musso Bowie copy.
I would post a facebook link to his page, but I'm not sure if that's allowed here or not, if it's allowed, I will update this post.
I told him I was going to do this review, because frankly, he deserves more business and hopefully you will give him a chance as I did. You won't be sorry you did, I'm certainly not.
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