Face Off: Custom Bagwell Bowie and Cold Steel Natchez Bowie | Handle Ergonomics | Movement Analysis

Bill Bagwell’s custom fighting Bowie knives are the stuff of legend. In this video I analyze the ergonomic handle design of my recent stag handle Bagwell Bowie acquisition, and how practicing with it in the fighting Bowie tradition, provides me with the right motor control cueing to effortlessly wield this magnificent custom Bowie knife.
As a study comparison, I also cover the Cold Steel Natchez Bowie, and how it handles compared to the Bagwell Bowie. The key takeaways: a master Bowie knife maker also makes a masterful knife handle, and how a knife handle makes all the difference between effortless movement and strained movement.
I hope you enjoy this video!

[@tomahawkchop7669]

I’m really enjoying this Bowie combatives content. I have not practiced in a long time but I dug out my old crossada trainers because of you. Keep it coming friend!!

[@RolandoEstocada]

Thank you and YES they’ll keep coming! 🙏🏽🔥👊🏽

[@Matchoo2]

Really a striking difference seeing the two together, your Bagwell Bowie looks mythical like Excalibur. Thank you sir 🙏

[@RolandoEstocada]

I think in many ways it is Excalibur. It is atypical of his blades yet it moves the way the master would have wanted.

[@robertpka7228]

He was an incredible master, both as a maker and a practioner. Thank you for sharing his work and your thoughts. 🙏

[@RolandoEstocada]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@michaelrizzo5523]

Great insight into how to make use of those horn curves! And I agree: The Natchez is impressive, but can get unwieldy in those quick directional changes. Looking forward to your take on the 1917!

[@RolandoEstocada]

🙏🏽🔥👊🏽

[@chrisnewport7826]

Your sensitivity in this will give you his words when handling it.

[@RolandoEstocada]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@TheKnifeJunkie]

That Bagwell makes me BOIL with envy. I mean, nice Bagwell!

[@RolandoEstocada]

You’re hilarious my friend! 😊😊😊😊. It was a pure accident that I found it at this past Blade Show! I still can’t believe it found me.

[@xKaidoh]

Do you think that because the cs natchez has a cable tang it greatly changed the way that it was meant to be used as opposed to Bagwell's tang. I know that Lynn Thompson preferred the snap cut.

[@RolandoEstocada]

More to do with the handle design. The Laredo has a cable tang and it is a real pleasure to work with. I’ve handled some full tang knives that have horrible handle ergonomics and I barely work with them.

[@mathewrculbertson]

I can’t wait!

[@RolandoEstocada]

24 hrs prior is the Natchez Bowie video, so this one is a good follow up on an idea I’m running with. 😊

[@abigailconverse695]

love your channel.. am considering making my natchez handle slightly narrower after the swell to allow better grip for the pinky (and back-cut) . this would also create a more of a teardrop for the pommel and increase grip as well for slashes and chops. Thoughts?

[@RolandoEstocada]

Thank you Abigail and welcome to the Rolando Estocada Channel! It would really depend on the dimensions of your hands (which you would know best). It would be very similar to hourglass handles that I have found on some Randall Bear bowies. Be mindful that there should still be enough swell at the bottom of the handle to cushion it into the palm for the thrust. 🙏🏽🔥👊🏽

[@chrisnewport7826]

Salamat. It does help. Can you make one yet? Need a Bagwell.

[@RolandoEstocada]

Not a knifemaker. Someday I’ll probably end up collaborating with a maker on a fighting bowie. Did you send me an email recently? [e-mail].

[@npenick66]

I came across your channel a couple of months back because I was searching for bowie vids. I'm curious if you do any training with a moro barong? My late wife's grandfather was a first gen filipino from the San Francisco bay area. When he was 16 he was shipped off to WW2, it was that or prison because he got in a scuffle with a cop and broke the cop's leg (guy was a legend, ended up a deacon in his church). His father made him a moro barong that went with him in the pacific in WW2 and through Korea. He passed away last summer and my wife unexpectedly passed this last January, since my wife was an only child my inlaw's are giving me the knife to hold onto for our son. I'm very curious about it's use and there's not a lot of vids of practitioners using them, mainly just amateurs playing.

[@RolandoEstocada]

My friend, my sincere condolences to you and your family. Yes, I do barong training, but I haven’t quite found a suitable barong for myself. (I have a wooden trainer to train with). The Barong is like the Filipino Bowie - you’re tempted to use it like any other sword or knife but it has its own rules. Once I have a suitable Barong I will make a few videos. You can also email me at [e-mail] if you have any questions. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@ArizonaTengu]

Ahh I see. The Natchez for you feels uncomfortable with two fingers guiding the knife. That’s the only way I use the knife. I think, maybe, that there’s also probably some Falchion/Messer techniques that should be looked at for back cutting. The biomechanics are a little different than using a knife. Just my personal take, but I think sword fencing played a heavy role in the Bowie knife combatives. But I haven’t handled enough knives to make a definitive conclusion on how much influence there was. There isn’t much design difference with some falchions and bowie knives.

[@RolandoEstocada]

The Bowie knife methodology comes from (I believe mostly through conjecture) via Scottish Sabre. This is assumed because of Bowie’s Scottish background. A weapon has to settle into the palm so that the right kinetic chain fires in the right sequence. When the kinetic chain is off, there’s a constant cognitive effort to recalibrate. It is less about physical effort vs more about cognitive load. When a weapon fires off the correct kinetic chain, the cognitive load subsides.

[@ArizonaTengu]

@RolandoEstocada Mr. Bowie didn’t have the knife design that we have today, and the clip point is a development from various sources throughout the years. Just like Bill Bagwell contributed his take that has influenced modern bowie knife designs. That’s why I don’t know how much influence falchion/messer fencing played into historical to modern design. If the Natchez is closer to the historical examples. Then in my opinion there could be more falchion/messer influence. Modern bowie knives are more influenced by knife combatives since essentially nobody practices sword fencing for combat anymore. I can see what you’re explaining now that you have explained it. Perhaps my machete usage is giving me an unseen advantage. Using two fingers is the easiest way to do back cutting flow drills with the Natchez. Since the knife pivots more easily in the hand.

[@Kent4OughtAldridge]

I'm banking on the chances of the smith responsible for crafting Excalibur..... surname being Bagwell

[@RolandoEstocada]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@TrentCostello]

What knife maker do you consider to be the modern dat bowie king?

[@RolandoEstocada]

I have yet to finalize my opinion on this. 🙏🏽🔥👊🏽

[@TrentCostello]

Left me hanging

[@johnmutton799]

I thought you said Bagwell said the cold steel guard was no good for a fighting knife. Yet here is one the same shape. We all know a large guard is better just like on a sword. But they are very awkward to carry today, as we don't all go around with swords on our belts. More like a pistol. This is how they fought in history.

[@RolandoEstocada]

I consider this Bowie an educative tool to help me understand Bowie Combatives better, from a movement quality standpoint. I think Bill would agree that this isn’t one of this fighting Bowies. To him the Hells Belle was the ultimate.

[@gordonj.wallis2826]

I personally found the Natchez too blade heavy.

[@joco762]

Self driving knife, too cool.

[@RolandoEstocada]

Strangely it feels that way. The best weapons I have handled have that capability. This comment won’t get much visibility, but in one of my visits to train with Burton Richardson, he let me handle a sword given to him by Tatang Ilustrisimo. To say that the sword was self-driving…would be an understatement.

[@joco762]

Ha! I’m neck deep in Burton’s stuff. I’d love to check that out! I’ve got some antique sabers and they feel different from the replicas I’ve played with but they are far from custom for me. Been thinking about a fancy messer ( German pinuti lol )I don’t have to work so hard to drive.