Damascus Steel Fixed Blade Hunting Knife Bowie Knife with Sheath

This knife is just an epic beast, of an 1800’s styled bowie. I love it. It’s very well balanced. It’s just so much better than other reviews nitpicking it. This knife as huge. So much bigger than i expected. It just feels very well made. I have been a knife “Connoisseur” for 40 years. Seriously since I was 5. I can not praise this knife enough. I f’ing LOVE this thing. So impressed. It balances right at the recasso. It’s a favorite in my collection.

Based on the knife I received and the price paid, I give this 4 stars. The blade is pattern-welded and has a nice feather pattern. FYI, "Damascus" is a commonly used term used to describe pattern-welded steel, but they are not quite the same thing. (True "Damascus" steel involves an entirely different process and steel.) The edge is ground properly and was quite sharp out of the box. The sheath is acceptable as well. My only issue is that although it's a full tang knife, be advised that the blade and tang are two different pieces of steel welded together near the hilt. So the tang is not "Damascus", but the blade is. That's not an uncommon thing to do amongst knife makers, but it would be nice if the seller mentioned it in the description. As long as it's has a strong weld, there should not be any issues with breakage. I'd give it 5-stars if it was made from a single piece of steel. Bottom line - considering the very reasonable price, you get what you paid for and more. Although it's fully functional, it's really a collector/display piece. Furthermore, Bowie knives were designed and carried to be used as fighting knives. They were popular in USA during the early to mid 1800s almost exclusively for that purpose. They are not the best choice for a camp/hunting knife or bushcraft. Yes, you can chop wood with them, but a hatchet is much better.

1) Shipped on same day. Promised delivery in 6-11 days, delivered USPS in 5 days.2) Professional packaging and knife and cutting edge were well protected.3) Sheath looks professional with double-stitching and additional leather embossing4) Knife well protected by oil; no rust spots; oil not excessive5) Blade and guard have beautiful feather Damascus!!!6) Handle has 6 pins and is perfectly fitted and finished7) Handle right above guard has fine wire wrapping with a brass accent - EXACTLY as pictured if you enlarge photo8) ONLY variation was edges of handle's exposed tang were not etched - just polishedExceptional value!!!

I have some knife making experience so my review will be based on what I know from experience.The first knife I received I returned due to a very obvious flaw in the Damascus pattern on one side of the blade and the handle tang was not ground in the same plane as the blade spine but was tilted slightly upward. It made the knife feel awkward in the hand. I have provided photos to show these imperfections. The second knife's Damascus pattern had less imperfections in the pattern and the handle tang is properly aligned, however the blade grind is not symmetrical. The grind on one side of the blade is .028 in depth along the cutting edge and the other side is .052 in depth. That is almost twice as deep on one side as the other so holding the knife with the spine down and viewing the knife with the point toward you and the handle straight away from you as if looking down a gun barrel the blade tilts off to the left. In other words the cutting edge of the blade is not on centerline with the blade spine. You can also see a definite difference in the depth of the grind on each side of the blade where the blade grind stops on the blade just forward of the hand guard.If it were not for these imperfections I would like the knife very much and given it higher marks. I do not have a Rockwell hardness tester so I don't know the Rockwell hardness. The blade does seem to have a nice edge and is satisfactorily sharp for an imported large Bowie knife. The Damascus blade quality appears to be typical of other decent imported blades. I am somewhat of a bowie knife collector and have a modest number of Bowie knives I have collected over the years.

The blade changed to a dark color, looks like it was taking on rust even though I was oiling it and cleaning it properly. And after cleaning and oiling, the feather patterning rubs off to a bear metal shine. And a crack in the blade appeared as well.

Great feather pattern.

Blade has a crack on it along one of the layers. Otis either a cold shut or a delamination.

Nice Damascus pattern keep well oiled or it will rust