I mean no dis Respect, but

[yablanowitz]

What were you thinking, Sal?

Let me rewind a bit.

I love Bowie knives. I have a bunch, some of which I've had for forty years. When Sal first mentioned the Respect, my curiousity was piqued. When I first saw pictures, though, instead of "I gotta have one" my first thought was "What is wrong with this picture?" Something just struck me as off, but I couldn't put my finger on what.

That feeling persisted for a long time, but thanks to the OpFocus discount (thank you for that, sir) I finally caved and bought one. The first thing that struck me when I received it was how similar it was to another Bowie I have, a custom by G. L. Drew.







After a comparing the two, it finally struck me what had been bothering me.



The blade is offset from the handle. Huh? Why? I know it doesn't matter to the function, but it bugs me anyway. Even better, the press-fit guard is lined up with the handle rather than the blade, meaning I'd have to replace it as well as the scales to fix what I find wrong. I haven't torn it down yet, but I probably will, to get rid of those big shiny silver screws if nothing else.

[Cl1ff]

To be honest, I couldn’t care less about that (doesn’t bother me aesthetically), but I am really interested to hear what else you think about it!
Is is comfortable to you?
Have you used it at all yet?... and if so, did it cut well? Stuff like that.
Just want to know personally because there isn’t a whole lot out there from others who have one.

[Bill1170]

I see many similarities between your two Bowies. The Drew custom appears to have slight recurve near the ricasso. The Respect has a pointier tip.

Are either of those two users? If not, it’s all down to aesthetics. If yes, how do they compare in use?

[yablanowitz]

The Drew does have a slight recurve, and since the blade is half the thickness of the Respect it cuts much better, but if I had to pick one to use for an axe, it wouldn't be Damascus. I find the handle of the Respect a bit small for a blade of this size and weight, one big reason I was considering replacing the scales anyway.

[Bill1170]

The Drew does have a slight recurve, and since the blade is half the thickness of the Respect it cuts much better, but if I had to pick one to use for an axe, it wouldn't be Damascus. I find the handle of the Respect a bit small for a blade of this size and weight, one big reason I was considering replacing the scales anyway.

I hear you on fat handles for heavy knives. Done right they inspire confidence. My most comfortable Mule Team handle (NOT a heavy knife) is an oversized handle I made from leftover cork flooring. The hefty grip is very comfy and cork is naturally grippy.

[Wartstein]

Hmmm...

1.) The slight offset probably makes for a bit more negative blade angle, which I´d really like.
It also means that the Respect will be a slightly better chopper

2.) I think the slight offset of the Respect looks cool, but that is totally subjective of course

What I prefer on the custom Bowie though ever so slightly: The shorter "choil" (don´t know the correct term at the moment)

[sal]

Hi Yab,

I'm sure you can find quite a few Bowies that are similar. I tried to be somewhat traditional.

sal

[yablanowitz]

I just wondered if there was some specific rationale that I was missing.

[Evil D]

This goes hand in hand with the blade centering thing. It's an aesthetic thing and I get it. It would just be more pleasing to the eye if either the handle were the same width as the blade or of the top of the blade were lined up with the top of the handle.

[Matt Deaner]

It might be strange to think this way but to me including that sort of function over form design decision is what makes it a Sal design. I wish I could try the respect with a straight in line handle to understand the decision though.

[Evil D]

It might be strange to think this way but to me including that sort of function over form design decision is what makes it a Sal design. I wish I could try the respect with a straight in line handle to understand the decision though.

What function does this offset serve though?

[Matt Deaner]

See this part of my post:
"I wish I could try the respect with a straight in line handle to understand the decision though."

[Wartstein]

It might be strange to think this way but to me including that sort of function over form design decision is what makes it a Sal design. I wish I could try the respect with a straight in line handle to understand the decision though.

I think the Respect design looks really cool and unique. I actually do like the "offset".
Generally, the Respect and the Province are two fixed blade I´d totally like to own.

[Wartstein]

This goes hand in hand with the blade centering thing. It's an aesthetic thing and I get it. It would just be more pleasing to the eye if either the handle were the same width as the blade or of the top of the blade were lined up with the top of the handle.

Do you want me to start another thread, this time about off centered blades? :p :p (J.U.S.T. K.I.D.D.I.N.G. of course)

[Evil D]

This goes hand in hand with the blade centering thing. It's an aesthetic thing and I get it. It would just be more pleasing to the eye if either the handle were the same width as the blade or of the top of the blade were lined up with the top of the handle.

Do you want me to start another thread, this time about off centered blades? :p :p (J.U.S.T. K.I.D.D.I.N.G. of course)

Don't make me swim to Germany mister :D


I just pay way more attention to detail than I probably should. When I took the ASVAB test in school (military recruiting related) they said I scored really high at finding patterns. I'm probably just borderline OCD.

[Wartstein]

Do you want me to start another thread, this time about off centered blades? :p :p (J.U.S.T. K.I.D.D.I.N.G. of course)

Don't make me swim to Germany mister :D

I just pay way more attention to detail than I probably should. When I took the ASVAB test in school (military recruiting related) they said I scored really high at finding patterns. I'm probably just borderline OCD.

Would be nice if you swam overhere and we could have a beer (after you beat me up for 15 minutes for starting certain threads :p )
But please not to Germany, you won´t find me there - for I live in Austria! (And, actually, you can´t swim to Austria - unless you are able to swim some river uphill as soon as you crossed the ocean )

/ And yes, perhaps we have pretty different OCD levels... which is just fine. :)

[sal]

I imagine we could alter the "offset" if we were to make another run, but I suspect that this will be a one run model.

sal

[Wartstein]

I imagine we could alter the "offset" if we were to make another run, but I suspect that this will be a one run model.

sal

Sal, perhaps you could explain why that "choil" (don´t know the correct term on a Bowie) is rather wide on the Respect?

Is it, because older traditionals looked more like that?
Or does it even further the purpose of that choil to retract the blade when it stucks into material?
Or did you just like the looks of that particular choil?

[Woodpuppy]

IIRC, that unsharpened portion of the blade between the edge and guard is the “ricasso”. I’m not really a fan of them in general; I’m not sure what they do functionally especially on a knife with a guard. I’ve heard them described as for the user to “choke up” on the blade.

[JRinFL]

The one thing I learned about Bowie Knives is that there is no one definitive style of knife. Sal's looks closer to some English style Bowie knives and at the same time very different from other English Bowies. I guess what I'm saying is that if we think we know what a Bowie "should" look like, we are likely incorrect!