Making a Bowie Knife | From Forge to Finish

This knife was a popular style back in the American Civil War era, particularly the 1800s. I thought it would be a fun challenge to try this iconic blade style out for myself, and I wasn’t disappointed! Though the edges of the handle are sharper than blade styles you would see nowadays, it fits and feels comfortable in the hand and makes a great fighter and camp knife design! I went for a full forging of the blade to get more out of the material I had, and it’s just my preferred technique. This knife was a blast and took about 15 hours of work to make, so please subscribe!
Blade and guard are acid-patina’d 1095, pins are mild steel, and the handle is wenge. Shoot me an email if you want to buy this one, it’s available!
Follow my Insta for more day-to-day content: @todd.with.a.hammer
And as always, thanks for watching!

[@Edwinthemountainman8454]

Nice old west build man love to see more old west knife builds

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks for the feedback! I loved doing this one and trying out this style, I will be sure to look into some more popular blades from that era!

[@Edwinthemountainman8454]

@@ToddKoch looking forward 👍

[@michastahl]

If you don’t mind a tip, after you’ve normalized your blades put them in a vinegar bath over night. That’s what I do and it takes almost all the scale off. Makes clean up a lot easier. Also will take any rust off that might develop. Makes my belts last longer on my grinder not grinding through that hard scale

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks you I’m always open to tips! And that sounds awesome, I’ll have to try it because grinding the scale off is always such a chore haha! I appreciate it!

[@user-lb6iq9ur7v]

Cool like the coffin handle

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks! I really liked this build it was a fun one!

[@CliKnight]

I just found your channel by happenstance. I must say,"I am really enjoying learning with you". Great Job ! Thank you...

[@ToddKoch]

Glad to have you! I’m definitely just talking you all along for the ride as I ride too haha!!

[@TheStephencraig01]

Nice job. The pins make a nice touch

[@michaelmosley254]

Young man you do some nice work and just having a one by 30 thats all i use most of the time its all i can afford but it gets the job done

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!

[@chuckbowie5833]

That looks very nice! I think a false edge would've made the lines even more handsome though!

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks! I was considering a false edge but I haven’t practiced those a ton yet, but I’ll be sure to try to incorporate one soon!

[@McGowanForge]

Blade looks nice man, one thing I'd say going forward is you don't want a 90° shoulder on the tang, you always want it to be round out to avoid snapping

[@ToddKoch]

I appreciate the advice, I didn’t know that! That would make sense though, I have had a few knives fracture at the tang.

[@Ruggie2.0]

This is rlly awesome, im late for the hype but im tryna get into forging myself. Had a quick question, i noticed u dont fold before actually creating the blade structure. Is it not necessary to fold?

[@ToddKoch]

Hey no such thing as being late to the hype haha! I didn’t fold for this one because I don’t tend to do that, but folding can help with strength of the blade and help remove imperfections in the metal. However, with a billet like this that is a machined and sourced alloy, you can depend on it not having that many options imperfections. So if you know the metal is good, folding isn’t really necessary!

[@Ruggie2.0]

@@ToddKoch Gotcha, tysm mate! Appreciate it

[@SchysCraftCo.]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@ToddKoch]

Thanks!