Comments on the Book

Well I have nearly finished reading the Kirchner Bowie knife book. I wanted to say that it is good from front to back cover, all the more valuable as a reference since mr Kirchner points out where myth overshadows truth. Where fact rises its ugly head he still prints it even though it might go counter to established fables or flowery legend. One very importand point is that in those days a bowie knife was more than the equal of even a colt revolver, or the predominant double barreled muzzle-loading pistols. One story in particular, the attempted assassination of the Sect of State Seward, illustrates the difficulty of an unarmed man overcoming one armed with a knife. In this fracas several people are very seriously injured and the assassin still escapes. One final point. Many martial artists who teach knife defense as a sideline are fond of quipping: "expect to get cut." Well many of these characters in this book do get cut, some of them several times, many of them suffer permanent injuries, disfigurement, or deformities as a result. The good guys do not always win. So the next time your sensei says: :just grab his knife and do this, or that," you might want to rethink who you learn knife fighting/defense from.
This Southwest Style Bowie was hand forged by Matt Lamey

Bit By the Bowie Bug?

First impressions can often be wrong. For some reason a description of the book Bowie Knife Fights, Fighters and Fighting Techniques by Paul Kirchner turned me off buying it. That was a big mistake. I finally bought a copy from Paladin Press and I am having a great read of it. It has 376 pages of well annotated tales of Bowie knife usage and the men who made it both Legendary and often Disreputable. Scalawags, murderers, thieves, slaves and slave hunters, Southern Aristocrats and redneck butchers: the Bowie knife was an equalizer when few men carried Colts.

I am only a third of the way through Mr. Paul Kirchner’s book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history or use of this iconic American weapon. The amount of research required to put together a book like this is daunting. If there are any shortcomings at all to the book it is the lack of photos. It does have a number of nicely done sketches to illustrate a few of the stories. If its Bowie knife photos you want you will need to spend a king’s ransom ($80 or more) for the book “The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American legend” by Norm Flayderman. Flayderman’s book is also worth the money if you are a true knife aficionado. I would suggest buying both books and spending the coming winter reading them. Then once you have consumed them purchase the two books on Bowie Knife techniques by Dwight McLemore and you will have caught a serious case of the Bowie Bug. It only gets worse because I can steer you to a few custom Bowie Knife makers and fine instructors to suck the last penny out of your life’s savings. Just teasing, sort of. Once you catch the Bowie bug there is no known cure.

Storm Clouds continue to gather

There are so many things I want to say, and that need to be said, or do they? As Glenn Beck would say, "Do your own research." Check out the powers of the new "Super Congress," see how comfy you feel with the way things are going. Personally, I'm more worried than ever. Oh by the way, one little detail.....guess who has reserved the power to cast a tie breaking vote if the six Democrats and six Republicans are deadlocked?? So in actuality it is a committee of six Republicans and seven Democrats.