Bowfishing Knife (Floats too)

J

J.McDonald Knives

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Well after a few years I finally put my ideas onto paper after doing research to find the handle material and posted up ideas for the bowfisherman to vote on. This is what we came up with and I tested it with mild steel and cork used for duck decoys. Tapered the blade almost to a complete point and beveled it. Slapped on the corked and tested before shaping and then after shaping with the aluminum taped to the blade and it floats with about 3/4" of the pommel above water. Will be dipping the pommel 3 times in Lure Lac blaze orange. For the blade I will be using 1080 since the guys hate stainless steel and the cork is going to be Grade B cork from www.pickybastardcork.com and paint is from Bohning Archery. Here is the CAD drawing I did of the final knife and then the mock up knife minus the aluminum. What do yall think? Waiting on tax return so that I can order the cork, aluminum, and paint.
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BowfishingKnife2.jpg

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Yes it floats good too. The 2 wrenches are for 1) 1/2" wrench for tightening or loosening the nut on the reel seat to take it off, 2) 1/4" wrench to tighten or loosen the tips on bowfishing arrows, http://www.backwaterbowfishing.com/onlinestore/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=41 The whole knife was done in collaboration with a lot of bowfisherman on another forum I frequent. The tip wrench is incorporated into the bottle opener to save some space and make it not look like its swiss cheese.
 
What will you use the knife portion of the blade for? Those are some pretty significant cut outs in the spine of the blade creating the wrenches. They also contain some some sharp corners that could cause some stress cracking. I would worry a lot about the strength of the blade in those areas.
 
1080 is a good steel and I'm not knocking it, but I'm just wondering if it's correct steel for this application. I noticed you are making it to float. Us this just a precautionary in case it gets knocked into the water? I haven't went to the website to read your thread yet, but I will when I get the chance. I was also wondering about the hatrid of stainless steel. I bet if you researched a little, I bet you could find a material to better suit your purpose. I'm not trying to rain on your parade and I hope it didn't come out that way.
 
Mathsr said:
What will you use the knife portion of the blade for? Those are some pretty significant cut outs in the spine of the blade creating the wrenches. They also contain some some sharp corners that could cause some stress cracking. I would worry a lot about the strength of the blade in those areas.
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I was thinking along the same lines. My first thought was to make the blade without the cutouts. Then just make a small wrench with those two cutouts in it (one on either end) that can fit in a pouch on the sheath. Other than that I like the shape and the idea of it being able to float.
 
Is it just me or is the bottle opener backwards??

I like the idea of the cork handle. I'm not so sure it won't turn out to be one of those ideas that works better on paper than in real life. I haven't had an issue with needing my knife to float but can see the desire for that attribute. Would love see the final product.

SDS
 
The knife part will be used for cutting bowfishing line, rope, etc, as well as cutting arrows out of fish, cleaning the meat off of gator gar and any other fish they wish to clean. I too am a little worried about the cutouts but only trial and error will tell. If I have to radius them a little to relieve the stress it won't take but a few minutes to make the change in AutoCAD. The guys wanted all those tools in the blade for easy use. I also did the bottle opener that way so that it wont catch on the sheath as they put the knife away. If they have to spend a little longer pulling it off the sheath just to try and put it back in because it caught on bottle opener it could cause them not to make the shot on a fish. In a tournament, numbers count, so those few he missed from having to fiddle with the knife could cost him the tournament.
 
it looks to be a good specialty knife design. it's not dainty by any means but you won't climb a vertical cliff Rambo style with it and that is fine. I'm interested in hearing how it works out for those guys.
 
Sounds like you thought it out pretty well and built it to what the future owner wants.

I'd still like to see it when it is all done and ready to go.

SDS
 
Thanks guys. I'll post the results of the field testing in about a month or two from now.
 
SDS said:
Sounds like you thought it out pretty well and built it to what the future owner wants.

I'd still like to see it when it is all done and ready to go.

SDS
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Not just one person, but many people want it exactly like it is.2thumbs
 
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