Aaron Wilburn’s BodyGuard pushes the performance bounds of a hard-work knife.
ABS master smith Aaron Wilburn produces spot-on precision works of art. His mosaic damascus is gorgeous, yet he still likes to make hard-working blades. The BodyGuard is one of the latter. It’s no frills, just tuned 52100 steel and textured non-slip Micarta handles.
A lot of knowledge is poured into these heavy-duty knives. It’s a little on the larger side for an EDC, but once in your hand, it’s very hard to use anything else. I’m all about the feel of a knife in your hand and the sharpness of its blade. Aaron’s BodyGuard is spot on in both fields. So, let’s get to cutting with the BodyGuard.
Skiving 8-ounce leather, the author found the slight curve to the belly of the knife let him roll rapidly into each thin slice.
To start, I executed a simple slice of paper to check the fresh edge. The BodyGuard sheared smoothly and quickly, with the edge showing itself on the aggressive side, meaning you could hear each slice. I had to move fast with my fingers so no nicks would occur. The knife’s balance felt correct while cutting.
Next, I was on to some single-walled cardboard. The BodyGuard was slicing so fast and so sharply that none of the cuts distorted the cardboard. This is due to its full flat grind. The Cerekote coating helped, as well, reducing drag. Once more, the edge was notably audible and forceful through the material.
The BodyGuard’s plunge lines were spot on, uniform in depth and angle. This is always a sure sign of a well-made knife.
I pulled some scrap 8-ounce leather to skive. The BodyGuard made quick work of it. The slight curve to the belly of the knife let me roll rapidly into each thin slice. It was a fast enough pace that I managed to put a nick in my fingernail. The textured canvas handles proved very grippy and had a comfortable feeling. With the leather on its edge, I made more cuts, happily segmenting it without removing any of my flesh. Each cut gave me a nice crunching sound. Very sharp edge.
Laying The Wood
Using a leftover piece of pine, I did some whittling for a firestick. I ended up with thin curlicues and thick curlicue. All cuts were smooth, like they were from a carving tool. Its handle provided a positive grip on this more challenging medium and ensured smooth cuts. The finish took some wood smears, as expected, but the edge was still like a razor.
The BodyGuard was no hack in testing its edge against whitetail deer antler. The author littered his shop with antler fragments, however, the knife’s edge remained pristine.
Subsequently, I gave the BodyGuard a beating or I should say a batoning. Using a piece of seasoned hackberry, I batoned the blade into it to split some kindling. I found the false edge was ground almost too sharply; it wanted to stick into the baton piece of wood on the first two whacks. No issues after that with the BodyGuard making short work of the chunk of hackberry. I did notice the ends of the handles were a little sharp on the inside of my palm during this exercise. A few wipes of 400-grit sandpaper removed the edge. Again, more wood smears on the Cerakote, but the coating was 100 percent attached. Excellent job.
After some hard material, I tested the knife’s edge retention on 1/2-inch sisal rope. Man, does the BodyGuard cut, crunching through 200 cuts of the rope in record time. The edge felt like it was getting sharper with every slash. Even after all that, the knife remained extremely sharp.
The BodyGuard was no hack in testing its edge against whitetail deer antler. The author littered his shop with antler fragments, however, the knife’s edge remained pristine.
Finally, it was time to get busy on a whitetail deer antler with 30 hard whacks. All that did was send antler chunks all over my shop without even a micro nick on the edge. That demonstrated excellent heat treatment. And the edge still felt razor sharp.
The last step was to retest the edge on paper. The BodyGuard seemed to slice even faster after all its use. Smooth cuts through the 20-pound-bonded with no tear outs. Enough said and cut.
Bottom Line
I just make a minor softening on the end of the handle. Otherwise, the BodyGuard from Aaron Wilburn is in the top 1 percent of the knives I’ve tested. It will handle civilian, hunters and military chores with ease. Hats off to the maker.
Robert Logan had a scrap to pull off his Tiny Fighter.
ABS apprentice smith and member of the Texas Knifemakers Guild, Robert Logan, has developed a varied catalog over his nearly nine-year career. His work in kitchen cutlery has raised eyebrows in some corners of the knife world. Yet, his smaller projects are certainly worth consideration.
Such is the case with Robert’s Tiny Fighter, a minuscule fighter whose detailed execution is hard to miss—even if it’s no larger than a penny. The knife measures a scant 2.875 inches in overall length, with a 1.6875-inch damascus blade (192 layer 1084-15n20). Setting it all off is a mammoth-ivory handle and a beautiful guard featuring engraving by Alice Carter.
Robert Logan
Robert has tinkered with miniatures previously, making a couple of dozen scaled-down versions of his Mini Cleaver Belt Knife. But the Tiny Fighter, he said, was his first crack at venturing deeper than a simple slab handle in a miniature piece. Without special equipment for the job, it was especially tricky.
“Honestly, the most challenging thing about making tiny knives for me is just holding on to them,” Robert confessed. “I don’t use grinding jigs, so just holding on to the thing to grind, it was hilarious.”
John Dennehy’s replica of his father’s Dan D Alamo Bowie, was accepted by the site on the 190th Anniversary of the historic battle.
We should always remember the Alamo, but 2026 is a particularly good year to keep the battle top of mind. It’s the 190th anniversary of the defining fight for Texas independence, and a fitting backdrop to a father-son knifemaking tale.
When Dan Dennehy donated his custom Dan D Alamo Bowie to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 1968, little did he know that a reproduction of the very same knife would be presented almost 60 years later to representatives of Alamo Trust just a few months before the historic anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo.
Made by Dan’s son John, the presentation reproduction is based on the original donated by Dan to the DRT in 1968. Save the engraving on the accompanying brass plaque. John did the entire repro project, which included 5/16-inch O1 tool steel like the blade material on his father’s original Dan D Alamo Bowie, and an embellished oak presentation frame.
Engraved number 5 of 10 by Pearce Richardson, the brass plaque reads: “Commemorative Dan D Alamo Bowie” over “In Honor of Those who Lost their Lives defending the Alamo in March 1836 and to the late Daniel J. Dennehy, Knifemaker, whose Alamo Bowie has proudly been on display at the Alamo since 1968.”
“It’s an honor that we can say we have knives from a father and son in our collection,” Alamo Senior Researcher and Historian Kolby Lanham said. “We are grateful to both Dan and John, two generations of knifemakers who chose to create works of art honoring James Bowie and the Alamo.”
John’s project started soon after his father’s death in 2011.
“The Alamo let me take pictures of Dan’s original knife in the spring right after his death,” he said. “I used those pictures and his knife pattern to make the reproductions. I wanted to jazz up the handle a bit since they are special editions with ivory Micarta and imitation ivory Micarta, along with some brass spacers for bling.”
From his own retelling of the story, Dan was inspired to make the donation during a visit to the Alamo, when he realized the historic site then didn’t have a single bowie knife. The namesake of the blade—Jim Bowie—was among the heroic men who fought and lost their lives at the battle.
The original Dan D Alamo Bowie is displayed inside the lobby of the Alamo Exhibit at the Ralston Family Collections Center, according to Lanham. John’s knife resides in the Alamo’s artifact vault.
There are other storied knifemakers whose works are displayed at the iconic Texas site, including a reproduction of the Joe Musso bowie by BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Gil Hibben.
A founding member of The Knifemakers’ Guild, Dan Dennehy was also a member of the Cutlery Hall of Fame and the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame, and for many years conducted knife-and-tomahawk-throwing demonstrations at the BLADE Show. John makes knives and sheaths and has conducted seminars on how to make sheaths at both the BLADE Show and BLADE University.
New York-born, Dan was always a Westerner at heart, John pointed out, known as “Tex” in the Navy and wearing cowboy boots and a hat most of his adult life. He also loved and revered the history of the Alamo, finding it as sacred a location as native Texans.
“Having one of his knives on display [there] was one of his most cherished accomplishments,” John said.
Fowler had a lasting impact on handmade knives and knife writing.
The cutlery world recently lost one of its most steadfast creators and philosophers. Ed Fowler, a man who epitomized the spirit of the custom knife movement, passed away on January 17.
Ed’s journey in the industry began in 1962. Over the following six decades, he became a driving force in the evolution of functional cutlery. While he didn’t invent the use of 52100 ball-bearing steel, he was arguably its greatest champion, popularizing the material alongside his then-controversial methods of multiple quenching during heat treatment. For Ed, a knife wasn’t just a tool; it was an ongoing experiment in maximum performance.
To the readers of BLADE Magazine, Ed was a household name. For over a quarter century, he penned his monthly “Knife Talk” column, which consistently ranked at the top of reader surveys alongside BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® member Wayne Goddard. His writings were eventually compiled into two essential volumes: Knife Talk I: The Art & Science of Knife Making and Knife Talk II: The High Performance Blade. Whether he was conducting demos at BLADE Show or teaching at BLADE University, Ed was always eager to share his findings with anyone who sought a deeper understanding of the craft.
A former ABS master smith, Ed eventually founded the High Endurance Performance Knife Association. This organization was a reflection of his own soul—dedicated to understanding the limits of steel and ensuring every knife reached its absolute potential.
Ed’s voice was unmistakable. In his writing, a knife was never an “it”—always a “she” or “her.” He spent his life in a relentless search for what he called “Excalibur,” his version of the perfect knife. He drew deep inspiration from the legends of the past, including Hall of Famers Bill Moran, William Scagel, Rudy Ruana, and the 19th-century bowies of Henry Huber.
He was perhaps most famous for his insistence on testing. Ed had no patience for makers or companies that didn’t put their blades to the trial, and he was never shy about saying so. This commitment to truth in steel earned him a fiercely loyal following. Many of his readers didn’t just follow his column; they traveled across the country to visit him at his Willow Bow Ranch in Riverton, Wyoming, to spend time in the shop with the man who helped define the modern high-performance blade.
Remembering Others The Knife Industry Has Lost:
Betty Dowell, Driving Force Behind Knifemaker Ted Dowell, Passes
B. R. Hughes, Pioneering Writer And Bladesmithing Teacher, Passes Away
After more than 40 years at the helm, “Mr. Blade” hangs it up.
It had to happen sometime and that time is now. After over 40 years of writing for and editing BLADE® Magazine, it’s time for me to hang it up as BLADE editor.
If you had told me when BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Bruce Voyles hired me in 1985 that BLADE would be the focus of my work life for the following four decades, I might’ve said, “Yeah, and Donald Trump will be president one day, too.” However, working for BLADE has been a blessing to my family and me, and I am most thankful for the privilege of having done so.
Why retire now? Last July, it hit me; at 72 I need to spend more time with my beautiful wife Susan and others who I love before I start leaking oil. So, my boss, Caribou Group Media Publisher Jim Schlender, and the rest of the BLADE brain trust started planning for the future of the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. The result: Elwood “Woody” Shelton, who has been doing a standout job as our online editor, will be my replacement as BLADE editor—and we think he will be a most accomplished one.
For the past several years Woody also has coordinated the BLADE Magazine Knife-of-the-Year® judging at the BLADE Show, as well as the factory knife judging at BLADE Show Texas and BLADE Show West. In the process and along with his online duties, he has become well-acquainted with the knife industry and those who drive it. Besides, he is captivated by knives like the rest of us.
As for me, I will continue as a consultant for BLADE and chairman of the Cutlery Hall of Fame, coordinating the nomination and selection process of new inductees and serving as emcee at the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony during the BLADE Show, this year June 5-7 at the newly named Cobb Convention Center-Atlanta (formerly the Cobb Galleria Centre). As a result, I hope to see some of y’all there. I also hope to write on occasion for BLADE, as well as participate in other related projects.
What will I miss? Much more than I can cover here but the simple pleasure of opening each issue of BLADE I edited after it hits my mailbox will be one. Others will be all the great knives I have handled and written about and the thousands of fascinating folks I have met over the decades. Included among the latter are those knifemakers and their knives that I’ve helped shed light on by publicizing them in BLADE.
Among many knife VIPs the author has been privileged to know over the years include, from left, Ethan Becker of Becker Knife & Tool, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Steve Schwarzer and custom knifemaker Bill Herndon.
The highlights for me have been many. A few include visiting the Boker manufactory in Solingen, Germany, and seeing the wonders of nearby Cologne with Ziggy Felix, wife of Boker’s Ernst Felix, as my tour guide; exploring the Alamo with Cutlery Hall of Famers B. R. Hughes and Jim Batson; spending hours interviewing Cutlery Hall of Famer Bob Loveless in his Riverside shop; and my inductions into both the ABS and BLADE Magazine Cutlery Halls of Fame.
In addition to Batson, Hughes and Loveless, four other unforgettable Hall of Famers who molded the industry by the sheer power of their work ethic and personalities and who were my privilege to know include: A.G. Russell, who influenced the collecting community and custom and factory knife industries like no other; Bill Moran, the father of modern damascus and the ABS—some resumé, eh?; Wayne Goddard and his ability to explain details about knives, how to make them, steels and more so that even I could understand them; Frank Centofante guiding the Guild so successfully while simultaneously providing a constant stream of one-liners; the list goes on. Oh, and Ed Fowler, his sheep-horn handles, lifelong search for Excalibur, his dogs and pet rattlesnakes, etc. Need I say more?
I will miss them and many more, including having the lasting honor and satisfaction of helping in providing you with the world’s best knife magazine for so many years. See you down the road and, in the immortal words of the Reverend Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) in The Searchers, “Watch that knife!”
The latest American-made factory knives are sharp and sweet.
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Winkler Knives WK Belt Knife
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Rick Hinderer Knives XM-18 3.5″ Bowie
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Truly an American design, the bowie continues to inspire today’s makers.
While its roots may be from across the sea, ties to the makers of old Sheffield and elsewhere, the bowie is today distinctly American. And it has been for more than two centuries.
Made famous by BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Jim Bowie and the fabled Sandbar Fight, no doubt present at the Alamo where Americans fought and died for freedom, and seen in countless photos of soldiers going to war—posing with the burly bowie in a proud moment—the iconic knife was also immortalized on the silver screen with the classic The Iron Mistress and other films. There is no other style of knife that more clearly defines the American spirit.
“Bowies are the quintessential American knife, deeply steeped in the mythos of our collective history,” observed ABS journeyman smith Matt Parkinson of Dragon’s Breath Forge. Shawn Shropshire of SDS Knifeworks agrees. “The bowie is the most iconic or at least the most recognized of American knife designs,” he said. “At the time of the Sandbar Fight, there was no single pattern that was called a ‘bowie knife.’ It varied in size, blade shape and even materials. Cinema later created what most people now recognize as the bowie knife, something with a large blade, clip point usually, with a double guard.”
ABS master smith Lin Rhea commented, “I do indeed believe the bowie knife is America’s knife design. It was created to fill a need. The country was expanding and was very wild and without law and order. The average traveler in the lawless wilderness needed a reliable defense weapon that could be carried on their person, that never misfired and was less conspicuous than a sword. The fact that a large knife was used in self-defense by Jim Bowie in the infamous Sandbar Fight just boosted the design into the realm of legend.”
Wrapped up in fact, fiction, myth, legend and lore, the bowie is a constant in the theme of adventure and survival. Although it does exhibit common attributes—among them impressive size—across the design, there are variations on the theme. To this day, the bowie remains a favorite form of expression for custom knifemakers who tip their creative cap to the history of the design and imprint their own skill, expertise and perspective on this truly American blade.
Barbary Coast Bowie
Matt Parkinson’s California-style bowie is deadly dapper. He describes it as “graceful and sleek,” featuring his own wootz steel and sterling silver bolster, pommel and guard. (SharpByCoop image)
Parkinson chose the San Francisco theme to highlight his take on the classic bowie. Representative of the days of the Barbary Coast and the rough-and-ready youth of a nation stretching from sea to shining sea, the idea captivated him.
“I have long been intrigued with the California- or San Francisco-style bowie,” he remarked. “They are graceful and sleek in a way that many bowies are not. In designing this particular piece, I looked at as many examples of this style as I could, both originals and contemporary. I didn’t copy anything but tried to match the design cues I saw in the originals that made them so iconic.”
Matt’s San Francisco Bowie features a 6.25-inch blade, an overall length of 11.75 inches, a bone handle and generous applications of stylized silver in shell and pin. “The blade is forged from my own wootz steel,” he noted, “and the bolster in front of the guard was cast, as was the shell pommel, and the guard and frame are all fabricated from sterling silver.
“One of the things I most admire about the California style bowies is the uniquely American lineage. Much of the bowie styles we think of are influenced by the Sheffield and London makers …This isn’t the case with the California makers. The knife they made for the 49ers used local materials and was a show of wealth, as much jewelry as a weapon. I kept these ideas in mind in making this one. The cow bone was a logical choice and a nod to local materials, as was the choice of sterling silver over nickel.”
Antiques Actualized
Aiming for historical accuracy circa-1830 style, father-daughter makers Josh and Karis Fisher pull off this dynamic duo. Josh’s bowie (left) was inspired by an original Schively-Perkins piece, while Karis (right) crafted a rendition of the Daniel Searles bowie. (SharpByCoop image)
The father-daughter ABS master smith duo of Josh and Karis Fisher share their own interpretations of the bowie with a pair of stunning knives touching the past. Each took inspiration from circa 1830 bowie designs: Josh the Schively-Perkins and Karis a Daniel Searles.
“I kept my reproduction similar to the original and as close in size as I could, so it would look and feel like the real knife,” Karis said. “I was mostly working from photographs, which made studying overall design really important. I also made a few changes to incorporate my own style. I left off the original silver pins and did hand checkering instead. I also changed the ferrule and butt cap. I didn’t use silver wraps. Instead, I used a combination of liners and spacers to match the original while adding my own style.”
“A few techniques that I used on my bowie were hand-checkered African blackwood on the handle and the silver ferrule and butt cap that I had to silver solder together, which was a challenge. It’s definitely a functional knife,” Josh reported. “While it’s on the larger side, it’s very well balanced due to the silver wraps on the ferrule and pommel.”
Capturing the notion of the bowie’s place in Americana, Josh related that his work in 80CrV2 carbon steel and sterling silver is true to such spirit. “It is a reproduction of an actual antique bowie knife,” he stated. “In my opinion, a bowie is a large fixed-blade knife, at least 10 inches in blade length, that is on the thicker side. I think typically they should have a clip point, but there are some exceptions as you can see in mine and Karis’s bowies.”
Small & Spruce
James Fleming’s gentleman’s bowie is diminutive in comparison to others but no less representative of the style. The damascus blade is complemented by an ancient walrus ivory handle with a nickel silver spacer and Parkerized steel bolster. Overall length: 11.5 inches. (Jocelyn Frasier image)
Working at Wasteland Forge, ABS journeyman smith James Fleming has produced a gentleman’s bowie, diminutive in comparison to others but no less representative of the style. The 6.5-inch damascus blade is complemented by an ancient walrus ivory handle with a nickel silver spacer and Parkerized steel bolster for an overall length of 11.5 inches.
“I wanted to make a knife that capitalized on the mosaic damascus pattern,” James explained. “I think the gentleman’s vest bowie complements the pattern. The knife is pretty recognizable as a bowie. It’s not as large as a regular bowie but has the same look and purpose. It fits the term ‘vest bowie’ perfectly. It is small enough to be concealed but large enough for defense in any western saloon. This is the kind of knife you’d see stabbed into a poker table after accusing someone of cheating at cards!”
The damascus pattern came from Fleming’s experimentation with Mareko Maumasi’s pattern-making process. He named it “Nazar,” which translates from the original Turkish as “evil eye.” He added, “I was also inspired by Lin Rhea in the way he makes his fittings. The nickel spacer is domed around the guard and bottom spacer, and it’s hammer textured to give it a nice look and feel in the hand.”
Mammoth Achievement
Attracted to larger bowie designs, Gene Kimmi pulls it off with a giant gem. Featuring ladder-pattern damascus—fashioned from dies he made himself—the 15.25-inch behemoth is further bespoke with a crosscut mammoth tusk handle. (Jocelyn Frasier image)
Gene Kimmi was intentional with his contribution to the bowie’s visual discourse. “I have always had a liking for the larger bowie knives,” he remarked. “When I made some laddering dies for my press, I knew one of the first knives I would make out of ladder-pattern damascus would be a large bowie. This one has some clam-shell type filing on the guard that I haven’t done before. The handle is heirloom/museum fit to the guard also.”
Gene’s bowie features the ladder damascus in a 9 7/8-inch blade and crosscut mammoth tusk handle with G-10 black pinning for an overall length of 15.25 inches. “The design is easily recognizable,” he asserted. “Anyone who sees it instantly thinks bowie. The lightness and the fit to the hand are attributes that everyone who handles it comments on. The uniqueness of the mammoth tusk handle adds to the beauty of the damascus. When I think of a bowie knife, I see a straight-backed blade of at least 6 inches. Limits can be pushed on the style and attributes of a bowie, maybe because of the mystery of the bowie knife’s beginning.”
User-Friendly Fighter
Shawn Shropshire wanted a bowie that not only looked sharp but also worked with the user. What he cooked up was this stag-handled beauty. With a 7.5-inch blade of 1084 carbon steel and a user-friendly bronze guard, the knife is easy to carry and manipulate. (Jocelyn Frasier image)
The famed Randall Model 1 provided some context for Shropshire to fashion his bowie of a 7.5-inch, 1084 carbon steel blade and stag handle with bronze bolster and an overall length of 12 inches. The proprietor of SDS Knifeworks blended the pattern with a desired functionality.
“I love making the larger versions of the bowie knife that many people think of, but as much as I enjoy them, they just aren’t very practical,” he reasoned. “This size and style is much more useful and easier to carry. It’s still a classic-looking pattern and functional without being so large that it is cumbersome and difficult to carry. I love the classic-looking lines paired with the look and feel of natural stag.”
After perusing photos of historical blades and the work of other makers, along with hours using a sketch pad, Shawn was pleased with the result. “In my opinion, this particular blade would have been right at home during the mid-to-late 1800s and at any time considered a bowie knife,” he advised. “I think most people today might refer to it more as a fighter because our notions of what a bowie knife is have been heavily influenced by cinema. The movies usually represent bowie knives as larger than life. Some were but many were not. I do think this blade hints at the history of what an American bowie is with the overall shape and the stag grip without instantly screaming ‘bowie knife.’”
Throughout the creation of his bowie, Shropshire kept user friendliness front and center. Aside from visual appeal, he designed it for easy carry with shorter “legs” on the guard and a coined spacer to help break up the smooth lines it exhibited.
The Legend Continues
The bowie theme lives—in thought, folklore and tangible craftsmanship. Staying true to its American heritage, the style has gained lasting fame and a following the world over.
