Parts of a Bowie Knife

Bowie knives are fantastically versatile, enabling you to accomplish numerous different tasks with a single knife. However, what exactly are all the features of the blade used for? This can be hard to understand, as you'll find bowie knives with different features from another. Part of the confusion is simply due to the modern evolution of the knife, while other models try to remain historically accurate. Here are a few features that you might find and need to understand.

Clip Point - Your bowie knife has one defining feature; it has a clipped point. This is the end of the blade and it looks like someone cut a section out of the tip. This is an important feature and serves several purposes. First, it serves to narrow the point of the knife, giving you greater control during use. Second, it ensures that the bowie knife has better penetrative (stabbing) power. As you might imagine, these benefits come in quite handy.

False Edge - The false edge of a bowie knife is the portion of the point that curves inward and upward from the point to meet the spine of the blade. This has little use unless sharpened (these are called Sheffield Bowies). When sharpened, the false edge allows for back cutting, but also provides better performance when skinning, gutting or stabbing, as it increases the tip's cutting surface significantly.

Your bowie knife might also include a runnel or blood groove. These are not found on all bowies, but serve a purpose nonetheless. The runnel, or blood groove, serves to release blood pressure from around the blade of the knife when the knife is inserted into an animal. This ensures that the blade does not become trapped and can be easily free on the reverse motion of the stroke.

You will find a bowie knife that offers features that fit your needs with a bit of searching. Make sure that you understand the different uses of all the blade areas, prior to making any purchase decision, though. This is the only way that you can ensure you get the right bowie knife for your particular usage needs.

Dylan Sabot is the owner of an online bowie knife store featuring the jim bowie knife as well as lighters for camping.

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