Buckeye Bowie / Hunter by Burt Foster, MS

[RogerP]

The bowie has been seen here before, but earlier this week the matching hunter arrived, so I thought I'd post up the completed set. For the dial-up users, you will find a link to the pictures here:

http://www.fototime.com/inv/27CD6E5B2574359



Specs on the knives:

* Handles of California buckeye burl;
* Blades of forged 52100 carbon steel ;
* Dimensions (blade length / overall length) - bowie : 9 1/4" / 14 1/8", hunter : 5 1/8" / 10" ;
* Dual finish on the blades - hand rubbed satin finish on the blade flats, mirror polished on the spine and underside of the choil;
* Spine and underside of choil rounded - not flat - for greater comfort;
* Guards / ferrules crafted from two-bar twist damascus, heat blued;
* Three domed pins securing the full hidden tang.

Notice that the blade profile on the hunter closely matches that of the bowie. Even though it is about half the size, the lines, proportions and overall flow translate well into a compact package.



Here we can see a close-up of the blued damscus fittings on the hunter:



And on the bowie:



Both knives bear Burt's traditional date stamp with the year of manufacture bracketing the master smith stamp. I think this is a terrific feature as it creates a historical record that forms an indelible part of the artifact itself. It sure would be easier to accurately date some of those wonderful antique bowies had bladesmiths in the middle and late 1800's shown such foresight.



One of the real treats that come with every Burt Foster knife (apart from the superb fit and finish for which he is renowned) is an absolutely top quality custom sheath crafted by the maker to complement the knife. Here. Burt made the hunter sheath to closely match that which had been supplied with bowie:



Not a bad match for knives made nearly a year apart, wouldn't you say?



As always, it was an absolute pleasure working with Burt. His high level of skill, his passion for his craft and his consummate professionalism ensure that he will be one of those makers with whom I will always have a knife (or two) on order.

Roger Pinnock

[TikTock]

Awesome!!!! Those are some amazing knives right there

(taking notes, haha!)

[MtMike]

Either one would be a treasure by itself -- as a set they are superb 1

Mike

[David Johansen]

Roger your collection is just AMAZING!! I'm amazed you can get anything done, I would probably sit all day looking these beauties over and over Of coarse I'm sure you do plenty of that as well. Thanks for sharing those exquisite knives!!!

[Montejano]

Extraordinary knives.


Montejano

[RogerP]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Roger

[Vladimir]

Very clean and nice work !
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Vladimir Burkovski www.knifearts.com