Postby Joe Talmadge » Sun Jun 16, 2002 9:54 am
Well, the answers will swing wildly, depending on whether you're thinking about a combat-utility style blade (e.g., kabar) or a more fighting-oriented blade.
I've been mulling over picking up a fighting bowie one of these days. The Hell's Belle exemplifies what I'm looking for, at least for the blade itself; unfortunately, my hands and coffin handles don't seem to get along. I'm guessing I'll end up asking a custom maker to make me a bowie that that general shape, a more hand-friendly handle, and probably maybe an S30V or 3V blade, so the edge geometry can be made scary thin. Hossom's stuff looks great but I don't think he's taking orders.
In the big working bowie class, in the under $200 class, I'll be looking at the RTAK, and the big Swamp Rat, the Trailmaster, and a couple others. For me, I have to handle all these knives first, because my hands are so particular about what they work with. I like the Trailmasters handles, but haven't handled the Swamp Rat or RTAK yet.
I don't have much use for the 6-8" combat-utility class knives. For backcountry use, I don't go with a jack-of-all-trades approach, that the kabar et al exemplify. Instead, I carry a high-performance small fixed blade (TTKK, Deerhunter, Spyderco Moran), plus an extra-big knife or hatchet for the big jobs.
Joe