Wild West Bowie

J

johnnywizzo

Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
421
I received mine yesterday, and found it a bit disappointing. They should call it the Wild East Bowie, seeing that it was made in India. Mine was not shaving sharp as some reviews said they were. The brass handguard had some discoloration in one spot, and it just has a general feeling and look of lack of quality. Even the box is ugly. CS is not stamped anywhere on the knife, but it is on the sheath, which seems to be of a decent quality and design. I don't know whether to sharpen it myself or send it to the factory. Also, I have seen reports that the handguard becomes loose and rattles under hard use, and that even though screwed on, the handles can't be removed due to the lanyard grommet.

Maybe I'm being too critical, but I own quite a few CS products, and this one just does not seem to be up to snuff. I did advance purchase it before they were in stock at a discount price, and now I see that they are up about $25 more than what I paid. So maybe I got a deal, but there is no substitute for quality.
 
That is disappointing, I was thinking of getting one. I guess the price makes it made in India, the machete's are OK(for the price) but I was hoping a different manufacturer for it. Guess I was hoping for something in between the cheap and expensive ones, this seems more toward the cheap end, maybe my expectations are too high(as usual it seems). Watched a couple of YouTuber's and they liked it but I take that with a grain of salt usually. I kinda miss the pre-internet days when you when into a store and checked them out first and even went through their stock to pick yours out.
 
I bought mine a few month ago before the price increase.For me,even with the price increase still provides value.It is of decent quality - has a nice brass guard,a quality leather sheath,is a hunk of 1090 steel and nice rosewood handles.

What disappointed me was how the blade was in a plastic bag but taped on with some cheap scotch tape from a stationary store which in my view cheapened it.Even worse was how after removing the tip protector and plastic bag was how the tip was blunted.Upon closer inspection,was apparently dropped on a hard surface but was then still packaged and boxed up.Not to mention the edge was sharpened with an even bevel but are not razor sharp.Other problems,gaps between the handles scales.

It is fair to say the blades coming out of India do have a certain level of craftsmanship.Like the handles and handle hardware on the wild west bowie and 1917 frontier bowie.The 1917 being the better quality of the two.

I have yet to sharpen it but until then I am sure this is blade is going to perform outstandingly in the deep woods
 
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I've never had great experience with these made in India blades. Before the price increase I was still planning to try it, but with the price going up, it's probably been knocked off my buy list.
 
Never really cared for this bowie style (Western 49, etc) where the blade widens as it goes...looks cartoonish to me...but sorry to hear this.
 
jlauffer said:
Never really cared for this bowie style (Western 49, etc) where the blade widens as it goes...looks cartoonish to me...but sorry to hear this.
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The w49 style does look a bit "Aaarrr matey", but I miss mine for chopping stuff up. It was a fun design. Hope to hear the quality improves on the finishing of the cold steel version.
 
Yeah they need to move production of their stuff like this to Taiwan the quality would be much better , this looks too much like a tin can...
 
A bit curious about the edge angle. The Wild West bowie is a relative large knife which is designed not only for cutting but also for chopping. If a knife is designed for chopping then it might be sharpened at a bigger edge angle to ensure the edge's strength is sufficient to endure hard use---while this would reduce the sharpeness. Maybe CS made a relatively bigger edge angle on this compared to their other products.
 
deadzonepatrol said:
Yes, aesthetically speaking, makes the knife look too "fat".
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Compared to the "regular bowie" but this is:Styled like the iconic big blades featured in Western TV shows and movies, our Wild West Bowie is a noteworthy American classic. I really see them as separate branches of the same family. I think they are both cool just wish the quality was higher on the CS WWB but I suppose for that price??
 
nephron said:
. I think they are both cool just wish the quality was higher on the CS WWB but I suppose for that price??
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I dunno, you can get quality big blades from Ontario or Kabar for around the same price, so not sure I accept that as justification. I mean an Ontario SP-10 Marine Raider Bowie, with a 9.75 inch blade of 1095 steel, and made in America no less, is one damn good knife, and it'll cost you $55 or so. Now I admit, the wood scales on the CS blade are nicer looking than the kraton on the SP10, but hey, it's also $40 more expensive, so I'd expect something a little sexier.
 
I've really trying to warm up to mine, but I'm thinking of returning it. Although I don't consider myself a "Cold Steel fanboy", I do own quite a few CS products, and have been a customer for a long time. So maybe I am. But usually I am satisfied with the overall quality and sharpness of their product, but this bowie just has me wondering. I hate to see CS put out products that fall short of their usually excellent standards. And their name is conspicuously absent from the knife! Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I'd rather pay a higher price and get a quality knife. Perhaps the metal is of decent material, but I'm not impressed with the factory edge. I have come to expect hair-popping sharpness right out of the box. Even the box that it is packaged in looks cheap. Cold Steel, don't fail us now!
 
It's a shame that you folks have had bad examples. I expected a bowie that was close to the original W49 quality. If not better. Seems CS outsourced to one of their lowest tier manufacturers for production of a classic design. Strange to see cold steel contract such a bad bargain.
 
Hey guys, just wanted to address the "guard issue".

The hand guard is brazed on. It will come loose with EXTREME duty. For example, Advanced Knife Bro bashing it into a huge log when missing his chop and hitting the guard directly on it, full swing. That is the only documented case of the guard coming loose and it was considered abuse.

Yes, the blade is not marked with us. Usually people complain about our branded blades having too big of markings, etc. so we didn't blast it with logos. Seemed unnecessary.

The packaging is pretty standard for our large fixed blades, swords, spears and such. It is the most protective and cost effective packaging for them. Packaging costs up the cost of the knife and we don't want that.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
Yes, the blade is not marked with us. Usually people complain about our branded blades having too big of markings, etc. so we didn't blast it with logos. Seemed unnecessary.
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If that's true, why is this india made bowie the only new cold steel knife without a cold steel marking? You went from large logos to nothing, just on this particular knife.
 
jux t said:
If that's true, why is this india made bowie the only new cold steel knife without a cold steel marking? You went from large logos to nothing, just on this particular knife.
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We have many products without markings, generally the India made products don't have them. We make over 45 swords and knives there that are unbranded. It adds to the character by keeping them as historically accurate as possible without crowding them up with logos.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
We have many products without markings, generally the India made products don't have them. We make over 45 swords and knives there that are unbranded. It adds to the character by keeping them as historically accurate as possible without crowding them up with logos.
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In your earlier statement, you said that you (CS) didn't blast it with logos because people usually complain about your branded blades having markings that are too big.

That is a nice step. Can we expect to see more of the regular cold steel line having little to no markings then?
 
jux t said:
In your earlier statement, you said that you (CS) didn't blast it with logos because people usually complain about your branded blades having markings that are too big.

That is a nice step. Can we expect to see more of the regular cold steel line having little to no markings then?
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Unlikely, as of now we have no plans to change the markings on the majority of our products.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
Unlikely, as of now we have no plans to change the markings on the majority of our products.
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Question; do you feel that this Wild West Bowie is up to the Cold Steel standards of quality that your customers have come to expect? If so, why can't mine shave hair right out of the box? Most of my other CS knives can. And do you feel that the quality of your India steel is equal to other CS knife steels?

Thanks
 
johnnywizzo said:
Question; do you feel that this Wild West Bowie is up to the Cold Steel standards of quality that your customers have come to expect? If so, why can't mine shave hair right out of the box? Most of my other CS knives can. And do you feel that the quality of your India steel is equal to other CS knife steels?

Thanks
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Just as a heads up, almost none of Cold Steel's India made blades come sharp, not the swords, not the knives. Many of their machetes do not come sharp either, nor do their tomahawks. This is absolutely not the first or only example of a CS blade not coming sharp.

Also, LMAO at the branding thing. "We didn't brand this because we know customers don't like the branding" then when asked if that means they are gonna reduce it on other things, "NOPE". So in other words, "when it comes to branding, we don't really give a **** about what the customers want, but for this specific product we don't brand anyway, we're gonna try to sell it as us doing it because its what customers want!". Hilarious.
 
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