Explore the classic clip-point bowie knife from apprentice smith Robert Burns of Wilderness Ironworks.
ABS apprentice smith Robert Burns of Wilderness Ironworks wanted a project that would take him back to the roots of being a bladesmith, and appears to have satisfied that desire through his classic clip-point bowie.
“My goal was to combine the ancient and the contemporary,” he wrote.
For the ancient, he started with iron ore from Minnesota and iron sand from Connecticut. He smelted the two into bloom steel, which he then refined, “my goal being to make a steel fine enough that it could potentially pass for modern damascus”—thus the “contemporary.”
To augment the “ancient,” he used a “historic mix from the Bronze Age” for the bronze for the fittings.
As Robert noted, the knife is true sole authorship, from starting ore to the finished sheath.
More Custom Knives:
- Pat Antuzzi’s Hand-Knapped Fixed Blade
- Matt Aaron’s Blacksmith’s Automatic Folder
- Jordon Berthelot’s Integral Hunter
- Rhidian Gatrill’s Safety Hunter Reproduction
NEXT STEP: Download Your Free KNIFE GUIDE Issue of BLADE Magazine
BLADE’s annual Knife Guide Issue features the newest knives and sharpeners, plus knife and axe reviews, knife sheaths, kit knives and a Knife Industry Directory.Get your FREE digital PDF instant download of the annual Knife Guide. No, really! We will email it to you right now when you subscribe to the BLADE email newsletter.
