The original Bowie knife owes its popularity to Colonel James “Jim” Bowie who used the knife at the legendary Sandbar duel in the Mississippi River. It was claimed that Jim Bowie’s brother, Rezin designed the knife that was used in the duel, which was smithed by Jesse Cleft but John, the older brother refuted it asserting that it was of a blacksmith named Snowden who made the knife specifically for Jim. Presently, research has shown that the original Bowie knife underwent a lot of revisions as Jim Bowie himself improved its design.
The first knife made by Cleft at Rezin Bowie’s request is similar to the Spanish hunting knife of the 1800s. Its blade is described as 24 cm long, 0.64 cm thick and 3.8 cm wide. It was a simple straight-backed knife with no clip point or hand guard of simple bolted wood scale handle.
It was the knife smithed by James Black that is the most famous version of the original Bowie knife. The Sheffield Bowie which was mass produced in England is its present day equivalent. But the version most accepted as the original Bowie knife has a blade of at least 15 cm long with a width of 4 to 5 cm and at least 4.763 thick. The strip of soft brass or copper metal inlaid at the back of the blade was believed to catch the opponent’s attack while others contend it was to absorb shock and help prevent the breaking of poorly treated blades.
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