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Thread: Buying/Commissioning A Bowie?

  1. #21
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wondering Beard View Post
    I have an Ontario Knives Hell's Belle (the all black one) and it is plenty to give one a hankering for a real custom one. Personally, I'd just order from Bill Bagwell and wait however long is necessary.

    P.S. the coffin handle may look clunky but it works extraordinarily well in the hand.
    I have an Ontario Hell’s Belle, ordered when they were still being made. The original sheath is not suitable for carry, being far too tight. I am not so sure it can be loosened without ruining it, and have been considering options, including ordering a leather Rowe sheath, or Kydex from Mike Sastre. You are correct; the coffin handle does work very well.

    A maker named Covington has indicated that he has Bill Bagwell’s blessing to use the secret Bagwell heat treat. He used to be local, near Bagwell in SE Texas, but went quiet for a while, and then re-emerged in a new area, and makes the Hell’s Belle. He lists on evil-bay, from time to time. Whether he takes orders for a Bowie sized to fit the user, I cannot say. I hope to learn more.

    I am tracking a pre-owned Covington Bowie, en route through the USPS, from a collector in NJ. This Covington blade is not anything like an HB, being much shorter, about 7” in blade length, and with a different handle contour.

    Regarding Bowie sizing, Bill Bagwell wanted to know a specific dimension of a user’s physical size before making a custom Bowie. I believe my copy of his book was turned to mush by Harvey, but a new copy is en route. Another method I have found, on-line, uses the user’s measurement from inside the elbow joint, to the inside of the bent middle finger, a measurement that also tends to match the dimension along the inside of one’s thigh, the sizing of the sword used by the Biblical Ehud.

  2. #22
    Gray Hobbyist Wondering Beard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rex G View Post
    I have an Ontario Hell’s Belle, ordered when they were still being made. The original sheath is not suitable for carry, being far too tight. I am not so sure it can be loosened without ruining it, and have been considering options, including ordering a leather Rowe sheath, or Kydex from Mike Sastre. You are correct; the coffin handle does work very well.
    The sheaths were indeed of poorer quality. For a production Bowie like that, I'd go with Mike Sastre rather than nice purpose made leather.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rex G View Post
    A maker named Covington has indicated that he has Bill Bagwell’s blessing to use the secret Bagwell heat treat. He used to be local, near Bagwell in SE Texas, but went quiet for a while, and then re-emerged in a new area, and makes the Hell’s Belle. He lists on evil-bay, from time to time. Whether he takes orders for a Bowie sized to fit the user, I cannot say. I hope to learn more.
    I hadn't heard of him, as I became less interested in Bowies a long time ago, I just haven't kept up. I hope he does them right.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rex G View Post
    I am tracking a pre-owned Covington Bowie, en route through the USPS, from a collector in NJ. This Covington blade is not anything like an HB, being much shorter, about 7” in blade length, and with a different handle contour.
    With a 7" blade, I'd go straight to a Randall 1-7 with the back edge sharpened (I think they normally all are but I'm not sure). It used to be that you could call their shop up and asked what was in stock and order; I don't know if they do that anymore.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rex G View Post
    Regarding Bowie sizing, Bill Bagwell wanted to know a specific dimension of a user’s physical size before making a custom Bowie. I believe my copy of his book was turned to mush by Harvey, but a new copy is en route. Another method I have found, on-line, uses the user’s measurement from inside the elbow joint, to the inside of the bent middle finger, a measurement that also tends to match the dimension along the inside of one’s thigh, the sizing of the sword used by the Biblical Ehud.
    I remember that now that you mention it. it was one of the things that made Bagwell's work so interesting. It's been a long time since I opened up his book, maybe I should do that again. I didn't know about the biblical part though.
    " La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
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  3. #23
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    The pre-owned 7” Covington Bowie arrived today! Sweet! It feels much more like a chopping-oriented camp Bowie, than a fighting Bowie. The swedge being left unsharpened tends to confirm this. For reference, I have a 7.25” Bagwell Bowie, that is much more like a fighter, that I bought pre-owned, about 15 to 20 years ago, before real Bagwells became so collectible. I also have a pair of Randall 1-7 knives, for reference. This Covington is much more of a chopper than the Randalls.

    To be clear, I am not saying that all Covington Bowies are heavy-built choppers. This is the only one I have seen, and even Bill Bagwell, himself, if I recall correctly, wrote of the differing types of Bowies, depending upon their intended purpose. While this Covington is indeed heavy, it is superbly balanced.

    It is true that the Randall 1-7 is an excellent 7” blade, probably the logical and practical evolution of the Bowie concept, as the older Randall printed catalog indicated.

  4. #24
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    I remember a bagwell SOF article of recommended blade smiths. I don’t remember everyone on it but Jim Crowell and jerry Fisk were on it

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Bigghoss View Post
    This guy does some nice work.

    https://www.tmhuntcustomknives.com/



    I second this. Todd doesn’t some stellar custom knives including Bowies. I’ll try to link some pictures after.

  6. #26
    RexG, did you get the Covington that's been on Ebay for a while? If so, it was a nice looking knife. I've got a small 9-10" damascus bowie from Greg Covington. When I got it, it had an oosic handle that was a little short for me. I found his contact info and he agreed to rehandle it for me as well as make a nice sheath for it.

    I don't believe that he is making knives anymore. There have been several people that I'm aware of that apprenticed with Bagwell over the years. One was a retired GSP trooper whose name escapes me...Jimmy something? I handled some of his work at Blade numerous years ago but it didn't have quite the same feel as a Bagwell.

  7. #27
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by drummer View Post
    RexG, did you get the Covington that's been on Ebay for a while? If so, it was a nice looking knife. I've got a small 9-10" damascus bowie from Greg Covington. When I got it, it had an oosic handle that was a little short for me. I found his contact info and he agreed to rehandle it for me as well as make a nice sheath for it.

    I don't believe that he is making knives anymore. There have been several people that I'm aware of that apprenticed with Bagwell over the years. One was a retired GSP trooper whose name escapes me...Jimmy something? I handled some of his work at Blade numerous years ago but it didn't have quite the same feel as a Bagwell.
    If you mean the relatively short-bladed Covington, with a burnt Osage Orange handle, that was repeatedly re-listed, yes, I got that one. I got it from a collector in NJ, who seemed to be thinning/down-sizing. He liked the knife, and thought he would keep it if it did not sell, so he kept that same firm price through multiple re-listings.

    Greg Covington is, himself, an evil-bay seller. He seems to still sell one or two of his knives at a time, but he does not always have things listed, and there are large time gaps in his feed-back profile, so he may not be actively making knives anymore. I managed to communicate with him, through the evil-bay messaging system, so maybe I will learn more.

  8. #28
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    To update my above post, it seems that Greg Covington is still making knives. I do not (yet) know if he accepts commissions.

  9. #29
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    I did not say anything earlier, in order not to jinx the package while USPS* had it, but I just took delivery of my Greg Covington-forged Hell’s Belle. Beautiful. This one could be my “grail” knife.

    I did not commission this one, so it was not custom-sized for me, but it handles wonderfully. I do not perceive any way it could be a better fit. This Bowie is notably heftier than the production version of the Hell’s Belle sold by Ontario, and the handle fits me better than the Ontario version. This Bowie was one he made, and posted on evil-bay. I just happened to be interested in the subject of forged Bowies at the time he listed it. I had no idea he was an evil-bay seller until I saw the listing.

    *I always worry when waiting for an important package, especially if being handled/shipped via USPS.

  10. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Rex G View Post
    I did not say anything earlier, in order not to jinx the package while USPS* had it, but I just took delivery of my Greg Covington-forged Hell’s Belle. Beautiful. This one could be my “grail” knife

    Hey guys....Greg Covington here.

    Rex....the osage handled knife that you have has an interesting history. It was the first knife that Bill Bagwell walked me thru all the heat treat and testing...to what he considers ideal. It was also "double extra forged" from steel that Bagwell told me to use. It was done in the theme of his old "Combat Special" knife that can be seen in the old catalogs. I remember one of the tests was to lay a penny on a log and chop thru it with no ill effect to the blade.

    Bill's heat treat is something I incorporate to my Bowies....but I add in a few extra things because you have to find a medium to what works best for you. I was very fortunate to have Bill teach me this stuff and gift me with the notion of carrying on with what he's done. He said something to the effect that he shouldn't take all this info with him and he'd like to see it go forward. Bill's an absolute legend....but not so much that he wasn't interested in the way I was doing things and picking my brain as well....as I remember about using a hydraulic press, making damascus with it, and especially canister damascus.

    I work full time as a CAT Scan tech and have so for 30 years....I've always had the dream to go full time but then there is reality...insurance, family, etc. As a result I have started to limit my orders and really prefer to build the Bowies and sell them when they are done. Odd as it sounds, it lets me work more freely with materials and let's the knives kinda go where they go...and I think results in a better Bowie.

    I also have to have free time in the shop to do other knives that I get inspired to make. I do alot of Vietnam era themed blades.....SOG's, Randall style, and the rare Nguyen Dan knives.

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