So here’s my review of this wonderful knife...
Introduction
Bowie knives have interested me since my childhood. Ever since the wooden knife that my father carved for me when I was five years old, through the films of my youth such as “Crocodile Dundee” and “Rambo”, my interest in large knives was shaped and has accompanied me through life in one form or another ever since. Since I have always been interested in martial arts, and since blade arts in particular have been a huge part of my personal interests over the last 14 years, I’ve been increasingly interested in bowie knives from a "sports" or "martial arts-related" perspective. And with all the "practicability" that one thinks to be found in the physical or material aspects of the martial arts, every truly practice-oriented martial artist will agree that after a certain amount of "practice" the mental or spiritual aspects become increasingly important. This thought is intended as a starting point for reviewing a weapon that was sent to me by honorable forum member The Levin Lance, and it’s my honor to do so. The design is entirely his own and, in my eyes, represents a perfect alliance of form and function.
The Levin Lance entrusted the design to Nepal blacksmith Purna Darnal, founder of Great Gurkha Khukuri, who has made many great pieces design by The Levin Lance in the past (anyone who reads this forum regularly, will know what I'm talking about). Brother Levin asked me if I would be willing to review his design and had it shipped straight to me from Nepal when it was finished. The knife arrived here safely packed and well oiled, the travel time was just a few days from Nepal to Germany. Throughout the making process Levin Lance provided me with updates, photos of the forging and assembly which was very cool (of course also quite teasing) and gave an insight into Purna's work. I wasn’t quite aware at that point, that what I was looking at was the completion of a long journey, the search for a perfect, my personal bowie knife. It’s even more amazing though, that The Levin Lance had ordered a matching piece for himself, which he will be posting about in the near future. I am very much looking forward to read more about his thoughts on his beautiful and effective design, which was so well realized by Purna Darnal.
Historical overview I don't want to dive too deep into the history of the "bowie knife" concept in general. Books have been written about it and films have been made about it. It is clear that the "Bowie" still exerts a special fascination on many people today and that the concept of the "Bowie" contains one myth after the other. In my opinion, the specimen presented here represents the perfection, a symbiosis of these myths. But even more, this piece is a perfectly designed and executed self-defense tool.
Full Disclosure I have to start by saying that I've been impressed by Levin's designs for a long time. So I felt very honored when Levin asked my opinion on this piece by offering me the opportunity to hold it in my hands and try it out. I was also curious to see how Purna Darnal would implement his design. Having rotated quite a few Bowies through my ever-changing collection, while admittedly not high-end, I feel I can draw on some experience with a number of comparative pieces. I presented some of these knives in this thread:
Furthermore, my perception of the subject is strongly influenced by a martial artist's point of view. While I would never call myself a knife expert and am skeptical of most public knife experts, I've had an hour or two of knife sparring under my belt and know a bit about what it feels like to meet real knives in confrontations. So please forgive me for what some may find to be an obscure perspective on the piece presented here. A knife can be a very personal item, and looking at it is certainly a very subjective matter in many ways.
Initial impressions The knife arrived securely packaged and the packaging was easy to open. Even before I had completely freed it from its packaging, my hope was reinforced that within moments an excellent execution of Levin's great design would nestle in my hands. A short time later, I wasn’t able to put down the knife for hours, admiring its virtues, dry handling, sweating from joy, excitement and all the dancing this beauty was wanting.
Specifications see table below for measurements
The BladeThe Levin Lance has based the blade on the famous Hell’s Belle design by Bill Bagwell (Bill Bagwell is a legendary knife maker, unfortunately he passed away at the beginning of last year...
However, the profile also has something of the Cold Steel Laredo, which I also like very much. It seems a bit like a very successful mix of both, which I really appreciate, but it has a character all of its own. It is forged out of 5160 high carbon steel, mirror finished.
For me, the blade is the ideal length for a Bowe knife and combines all the advantages that Bowie knives are known for as combat knives in an ideal way, in my opinion. The point sits perfectly in line with the center line of the handle, so that the power is transmitted optimally with a straight thrust. The blade is narrow enough to penetrate very deeply. The tip is sharp, penetrating soft targets with ease, yet not too fragile to snap on a bone or other harder object. The clip is sharpened to a length of 18 cm, long enough to facilitate the full depth of penetration needed to reach vital organs from all angles relative to an opponent. The famous backcut is supported not only by the long, slender and perfectly balanced blade but also by the sharpened back edge itself. The back edge has steep bevels, very robust, and they meet perfectly, sharp enough to cut thin paper. They meet at a strong, sharp point, which is perfectly sharpened to rip tissue with a back cut from various angles.
A full hit with the front edge’s sweet spot could certainly inflict massive damage to any body part, contributing to the quick end of an ongoing fight. The blade geometry offers an ideal compromise between cut and thrust performance along the entire length. The cross section is complex. The thick, tapering spine is slightly rounded at the back, which helps to reduce drag in the target material. The saber grind is just ever so slightly hollowed, which helps a lot with penetrating in the cut. The hollow grid runs out towards the point, giving meat to the tip. The main edge grind is acute − the blade is very sharp and finely honed. The blade and edge are straight, with no twists or ripples. It passed all tests with flying colors and, even after dozens of cuts, stabs and slashes into my test materials, neither point nor edge had suffered any damage whatsoever, and the edge was still sharp enough to cleanly separate thin paper in a push cut. Steel and heat treatment are great.
The HandleThe beautiful rosewood handle is impeccably finished, evenly fitted with no sharp edges and no gaps. It is not slippery, even with damp or wet hands (one of the few handles that I tried that needed no tennis grip tape to bring the blade into full action – that says something, lol). While following the theme pattern of the design, the handle offers excellent ergonomics in a variety of positions – may it be forward edge down or edge up, saber or hammer grip, reverse grip edge in or edge out – the knife is ready to be used to full potential. It’s really the most comfortable and secure handle I’ve ever had on a bladed weapon. It allows the knife to be held steady at all times, grip changes work without problems. At no point you feel any discomfort with this handle, just plain secureness and control over the protruding blade. The knife is very quick to draw and to handle with full power and literally sucks itself into your hand. When cutting, the grip shape allows the fingers to be relaxed for a short time, which greatly increases the impact energy (giving "snap" to a cut - the ability for quick and powerful snap cuts is what makes a good bowie special compared to other blades, along with the backcut, of course). The forces are ideally distributed in the hand when striking resp. thrusting from all angles, you never feel as if you had to hold on to the knife. After the impact during a cutting strike, the knife quickly finds its way back into perfect alignment in the hand and to be ready for further techniques. The coffin hilt also helps to pull out the blade after a stab into a dense target medium, quickly. Death is a moment, it always lurks and lasts forever.
The handle encloses a sturdy stick tang, which I prefer to other constructions due to saving of weight and balance. A steel ferrule reinforces the handle at its narrowest point below the hand guard. You never feel an unpleasant shock or vibration when striking, the surfaces are comfortable in the hands and yet offer enough feedback to always know where the blade is pointing. The handle fits my size 10 hands just absolutely perfect.
Last but not least, a hit with the angular butt-end would not be a pleasant event for the recipient. At the same time, this handle does not run the risk of getting tangled up in clothing when carried or drawn. In short, we have a superbly executed coffin handle that not only does work well but reminds the user he has death at his hands.
The GuardOn the artistic-aesthetic level, the steel crossguard is another characteristic element of the coffin theme. But functionally it in no way stands back to the seriousness of the subject. It will punch a hole into a skull, gives ample of protection to the hand, and while pointy, runs no risk of getting caught up in clothing.
Handling characteristicsWith these short blades, strong stabbing power is desirable, while maintaining the potential for great slashing and cutting power is the essence of a bowie. This blade offers all of that, an ideal orchestration of the desired elements. It has the ergonomics and balance of an excellent fencing knife. The Coffin Nail moves without effort. If the term “extension of the hand” has a meaning, this is the definition. It's not too heavy, which is very important in dueling with short blades in particular. Still it has plenty of power. It's precise and quick to aim, may it be cut or thrust, yet offers enough weight in the right places to deliver powerful swings. The backcuts and snap cuts come super fast, the energy needed to stop the movement is minimal and it transitions from one technique into the other fluidly, to play a symphony of death. This is a reasonably robust knife that is very secure to hold, quick and powerful to move, and very variable to carry as well as quick to draw - be it in forward or reverse grip. The overall length is ideal for a man of my size, if you would want to carry a knife that is as large as possible and be concealed.
Test cutting For testing, I started with slicing thin paper, then moved on to the harder targets before coming back to the thin paper. After all the tests and dozens of cuts and stabs into the harder targets, the knife was still in the same condition as before – just perfect. No bending ar deformation of the tip, no loss of the edge’s sharpness, no rattling to the components, no bends, twists, whatsoever, nothing. Just pure fun to test this.
My main cutting target consisted of a dowel of one inch diameter fir wood thickly wrapped with soaked newspaper and four layers of tough denim on top. This target was held in one hand while being cut and stabbed at with the other. I feel this comes pretty close to realism. The edge and tip got buried deep into the fir wood, multiple times. It had no problems at all with the target.
The thrusting target was a block of Styrofoam, covered with eight layers of cushion foil, and then covered with eight layers of tough denim. The knife had no problems with thrusting, and penetrated the Styrofoam block up till the start of the swedge with each thrust and stab, from many angles and different levels of power input.
ConclusionsPros:See everything above. It also came with a well-done, well-fitting, sturdy leather sheath. The sheath holds the knife with a perfect amount of pressure, the blade can be drawn with one hand only, but does not slide out when held upside down. It has a removable frog, the knife can be carried in many positions with this sheath.
Cons:Lol, what can one think of
The Bottom LineI can say without exaggeration that The Levin Lance has realized my ideal of a bowie with this knife – in fact he designed a better knife than I was even able to dream of. He’s that good of a designer. With talent, with knowledge. He made me a huge gift with this piece and being invited to review it. I have to thank him for solving my quest of finding my personal bowie. My knife is his knife. It’s great to know that great gentlemen will be having the other one of the pair at his place, by his side.
Brother Lance gave me a knife that would’ve been my top choice to have by my side, may it be as a fictional character, travelling on a Mississippi steamboat of the 1830s, or during some situations of my real past life, having worked as a bouncer for many years. The ideal knife for self-defense and perhaps impressive enough to not have to close a coffin. Without a doubt by far the best bowie knife I've ever had the pleasure of using. The perfect harmony of form and function, a piece that uplifts the spirit and humbles at same time. A both aesthetical and practical piece of art, a wonderful tool of defense and a masterful tribute to Bill Bagwell and the Bowie mythos in general.