Mountain Man Bowie

[John M Cohea]

First bowie of the year.Mountain man bowie with sambar stag crown handle.The blade is 11 1/2" of forged leaf spring steel with heavy random rasp forge texture,laminated copper highlights,and antique finish.The guard is structral wrought iron from a grain mill built in 1872.The sheath is a very complex mexican loop style,and features a rattlesnake skin inlay.

Photo is by Buddy Thomason

 

[Indian George]

Sweeet

 

[HHH Knives]

John, Thats one fine looking piece of work there! Bravo!!

 

[McClellan Made Blades]

All I can say is WOW! REX

 

[Church & Son]

Awesome John, love that copper work...

 

[Kevin Cross]

Boy, that sure looks nice John.

 

[Wade Hougham]

Hey John,
The Bowie is perfect and the sheath is wayyyy over the top. They look great together. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to view your fantastic creation. Wade

 

[sfbreed]

Very, very nice. great match up between knife and sheath.

 

[UncleBillyKnives]

Wow! That is so cooool!

 

[Lagrange]

John that is a very nice looking bowie and sheath. It looks as though you brought it back in a time machine. Great job!

 

[Doug Humbarger]

You hit that one out of the park! Congratulations John exceptional workmanship.

 

[Ausbrooks]

That is awesome- I think what blows me away the most is that I have NO IDEA how you did it...highlights???Mexican Loop??????

 

[messerist]

Impressive Bowie. The sheath is a perfect companion. May I ask how you laminated the copper?

 

[Keith Willis]

Awesome work John!

God bless,Keith

 

[John M Cohea]

Impressive Bowie. The sheath is a perfect companion. May I ask how you laminated the copper?

Thanks Guys!The lamination is sorta tricky.After the blade is forged to shape,I texture it with a texturing hammer to give the copper someting ot "bite" to.Then let it cool and clean it completely free of scale.I wrap the blade with a thin copper foil,then reheat the blade.Coat the copper with some flux so it does'nt burn away and let it come up to heat.You want it to get hot enough for the copper to "flash", pretty much at the melting point.When it flashes pull it out and smack it with a rawhide hammer to get it to stick.If your lucky enough of it will stick to give it an attractive look in the end.Its sorta a cross between forge welding and making mokume.Lots of work but if you can get it to stick it has a dramatic affect on the finished blade.Since the quenching temp of the blade when hardening is below the flash point of the copper,it will survive the quench.