Damascus English & Huber Style Bowie

Product Description for Damascus English & Huber Style Bowie

Maker: Stuart Smith, J.S. (click to see more by this maker)
Item num: 104540
*** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind ***
Blade length: 14.25 in.
Cutting edge length: 13.75 in.
Total length: 19.75 in.
Blade height (at heel): 1.86 in.
Blade thickness (near bolster): 0.28 in.
Blade thickness (at midpoint): 0.27 in.
Blade thickness (near tip): 0.13 in.
Item weight: 32.06 oz.
Shipment weight: 41.4 oz.
Blade: Damascus forged from 75Ni8 and 1080 carbon steels
Bolster: Antiqued bronze
Handle: Presentation grade Arizona desert ironwood with bronze pins
Sheath: Hand stitched leather sheath
Description: Getting to meet with Journeyman Stuart Smith is a real highlight of my trips to South Africa. Smith began making knives in 2000 after he took a class with Mastersmith Kevin Harvey. Stuart was immediately hooked and quit his job working as a salesman by 2004. Only a few years after that, in 2009, Stuart began teaching classes of his own. Among his many students is Neels van den Berg. Stuart has been very active over the years in the Southern African Bladesmiths Association (SABA) and the Knifemakers Guild of Southern Africa (KGSA). Stuart became an ABS journeyman smith in June of 2019.
James English and Henry Huber Jr are credited as the first American smiths to create a proper clip point bowie and are reported by some sources as a supplier of edged weapons to none other than Jim Bowie himself. They were only active for a short time (from 1831 - 1836) and operated out o Philadelphia, PA. They were most famous for their "Sheffield Works" line of knives. While the name most certainly took advantage of Sheffield, England's reputation English & Huber were creating some of the best knives to be found on the American market. This English & Huber inspired bowie is a truly exceptional example of Stuart Smith's work and is currently one of his masterworks.
Stuart forged the massive 14-1/4 inch clip point bowie blade from his own Ws pattern damascus. It is high contrast and shows tremendous skill at the forge. Double deep fullers travel along each side of the blade. The clip is brought just shy of a fully sharpened edge. The blade is convex ground as it approaches the cutting edge, ensuring tremendous strength and resilience.
The handle is a beautiful section of presentation grade Arizona desert ironwood (Olneya tesota). The guard, ferrule, and pommel are each made from antiqued bronze. Decorative hand domed bronze pins ornament the handle. The handle provides a tremendously comfortable grip. This knife has an excellent balance -- you'll have a hard time putting it down.
The bowie is accompanied by a hand tooled, hand stitched leather sheath.
Exceptional work throughout!


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