Bowie Hunting Knife Characteristics

Bowie knife or more commonly referred to as a hunting knife specifically refers to a style of knife designed by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie and originally created by James Black.

Most frequently, a Bowie hunting knife would usually have a blade of at least six inches in length, some reaching 12 inches or more, with a relatively broad blade that was an inch and a half to two inches wide and made of steel usually between 3/16" and 1/4" thick. The back of hunting knife (the blade part) often had a strip of soft metal (normally brass or copper) inlaid intended to catch an opponent's blade, and also often had an upper guard that bent forward at an angle, also intended to catch an opponent's blade.

The back edge of the hunting knife (the curved clip point, also called the "false edge") was often sharpened in order to allow someone trained in European techniques of saber fencing to execute the maneuver called the back cut, and a brass counterpart was also part of the hunting knife having an important role in the protection of the hand.

The shape and style of blade was chosen so that the Bowie knife could serve usefully as a camp and hunting knife and tool as well as a weapon. Many knives and daggers existed that could serve well as weapons, and many existed that could serve well as hunting knives but the Bowie knife was designed to do both jobs well. Most hunting knives intended are only sharpened on one edge, to reduce the danger of cutting oneself while butchering and skinning the carcass of the catch.

Since the 1960s, Bowie knives with saw teeth machined into the back side of the blade appeared inspired by the Air Force survival and hunting knife.

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