great review Vic, you linked alot of history there

I especially loved the beginning, because I've been interested in western bowies because my freind has one and its fun knowing more about his own knives than him. =]
he has that Exact one too.
it's a w-49 right vic?
do you know if yours was made after camillius took over in 91?
and also what toes the tang stamp say?
does it say boulder colorado, longmount colorado or camillius new york?

I did like the end too. =]
but the insight about more original bowies and kabars was really cool.
thanks vic. =]

I have several W-49 Bowies. Some are pre-Camillus carbon steel ones, some are later ones. Some have the large rivets, some the small rivets. The Western was used by some servicemen in the Viet Nam War, but they were not issued. Western, along with Kinfolk, Case and Collins did make some of the original WWII models.

ohhh, so you have a few, from different time periods.
thats really cool.
there discontinued now too.
very cool, didn't know they were used in viet nam.
thanks. =]

As you young folks say, "Back in the day", the Western and the Case were about all you could get in a standard production big American Bowie. There were others, but they were smaller. These were good cutters and choppers, but not nearly as rugged as today's Busse and Scrap Yard Bowies. They have a certain charm, though.

oh wow.
very nice collection there.
my friends is exactly like the one that says "western" on the sheath.
(the second from the right)

its great to know more about his knife than he does.
=]
lol
thanks for sharing those pics.

Good thread Vic. Shame I couldn't justify the LE, but one day I'll polish the ground bevels of my CG..

Great thread Vic, I really enjoyed reading this!

Horned bro I so dig those bowies!!!

Great pics and information Vic !!!

I know I shouldn't say this on here but I prefer the shape of the first one out of all those shown ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/footinmouth.gif" alt="" />

Being a fan of Bowie's Vic I thought you might have a couple from Mineral mountain hatchet works in your collection, his Survival bowie is a beast and his White river is plain scary !!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

awesome. i gotta get me one of the raider bowies now.

vic is becoming a huge influence on my bank account.

Here is a nice brit version of the military chopper.
[/URL
Another one.
[url=http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7191433]
Here is a nice veitnam era mini bowie.


These are my favourite old bowie style knives. The Hudson Bay knives unlike most bowies were an actual hard use bush knife not a weapon(although it did see some serious use as one) or a affectation.
[URL=http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5620302][/URL
These ones are very close the the DFLE in size and design.