Satans's Lace Bowie
Bloodwood Belle
Well, since the time Flickr disappeared all of my images hosted there, I have not yet trusted, nor established an account with, another image hosting service.
I see that Greg Covington just posted a couple of images, (Thanks!) and while the Belle I mentioned above, which has an oak handle, is not one of the two Bowies pictured, I did also order, and recently receive, the “Satan’s Lace” Damascus Belle, as shown in the top picture.
My Belle with the oak handles is a massive blade, ready serve as my sword in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, with its hand-and-a-half-sized handle. The Belle with the Satan’s Lace Damascus blade is sized more like a typical fightin’ Hell’s Belle, but is notably more stoutly-built than the Ontario-made Hell’s Belle.
Yes, I really should photograph my several Bowies, and figure-out how to start posting images on-line again.
Last edited by Rex G; 03-16-2018 at 04:27 PM.
Interesting! Thanks for posting this, and, of course, welcome to the forum!
Any of your three Bowies, in my possession, could be seen as a grail-quest Bowie. Each seems to be a perfect fit, even though they vary in size and mass. The larger of the two Belles has the mass to be heavy-duty chopper, yet the distal taper and balance of a fightin’ Bowie. I see no reason, at this point in time, to commission a custom blade.
Quick-and-dirty, in harsh light, the two Belles, captured by this I-Pad. I had to first chop-down the tree. OK, not really.
ETA: Ugh, a horrible image. I used Lucid to soften the shadows, but am not sure it helped, overall. Will do better with a real camera, later.
Last edited by Rex G; 03-16-2018 at 05:41 PM.
Attachment 24491
OK, same lame image, but tweaked just a bit differently. No way to fix the out-of-focus parts; gotta get focus right at the time of the shot. At least I now know how to post an image.
Last edited by Rex G; 03-16-2018 at 05:49 PM.
OK, a quick-and-dirty snapshot, straight-out-of-camera JPEG, with an external Speedlight flash mounted on top of the camera, with the diffuser panel flipped down, and no editing. the center of the beam being aimed at the Damascus blade helped mitigate the glare just a bit. I used a 60mm macro lens, though not at macro distance, to minimize distortion. To do this right, I would have more than one flash, off-camera, at about a 45-degree angle, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, or so.
At top is the early Covington Bowie, with the Osage Orange handle, described by Greg in his post. This is a bit over 6" in blade length. I can conceal this one relatively easily, tucking the sheath under my belt, behind my left hip, for right-hand cross-draw, or left hand cavalry draw.
Second from top is the Hell's Belle forged with Satan's Lace Damascus. The blade is about ten inches in length. I have yet to try concealing this one, but it is about the same length as my Ontario factory-made Belle, so concealment should be possible, with more attention to the cover garment.
At bottom is the oak-handled Belle, the oak from an old barn, and the blade forged using a large file. This one makes a swords want to run and hide. This Belle is not the back-up weapon; it relegates the pistol to back-up status. Well, OK, there is some hyperbole in the preceding two sentences, but this beautiful blade will do more than just make holes.
Last edited by Rex G; 03-16-2018 at 09:28 PM.