Quality 'Crocodile Dundee' like Bowie knife?

dks · **Reply #60 on:** July 24, 2015, 07:12:48 AM

The price of the outback has been the same for years.
It is more expensive than Ontario etc, but it is the only copy of the Dundee knife that has been in production for years, with good reviews and a decent price. I think they sell plenty....

If you want the Dundee knife (to use, or just to look at) then go for the outback, as nothing else will give you the same feel/look.

If you just want a Bowie then there are good options from $30 upwards.

The stacked leather has been know to shrink in dry climates, but it can be sorted out with some oil, though mine has not had any issues.

KaBar has some classic knives with stacked leather, if you want something US made and classic.
RR also has some cheap options.

Eblackmore · **Reply #61 on:** July 27, 2015, 02:47:31 AM

Ive done a few after I made one for myself, but the materials are crazy expensive so its rare anyone can afford to commission one with all of the bells and whistles and usually leave the croc and kangaroo off of them or have me tweak the design. Did one with an antler handle that looked pretty nice. The outback is probably as close as you can get production wise, but Im not a big fan of the 440 and threaded pommel for a user knife. The dundee knife was the first knife I ever went nuts over and started me down the road to collecting them and then making them, so I said to hell with it and did the research and made myself one as close as I could out of 1075. The crocodile for the sheath and kangaroo lace set me back a pretty penny but it came out looking pretty sweet.

Outback in Idaho · **Reply #62 on:** July 27, 2015, 02:56:28 AM

Quote from: Eblackmore on July 27, 2015, 02:47:31 AM

Ive done a few after I made one for myself, but the materials are crazy expensive so its rare anyone can afford to commission one with all of the bells and whistles and usually leave the croc and kangaroo off of them or have me tweak the design. Did one with an antler handle that looked pretty nice. The outback is probably as close as you can get production wise, but Im not a big fan of the 440 and threaded pommel for a user knife. The dundee knife was the first knife I ever went nuts over and started me down the road to collecting them and then making them, so I said to hell with it and did the research and made myself one as close as I could out of 1075. The crocodile for the sheath and kangaroo lace set me back a pretty penny but it came out looking pretty sweet.

Like the looks of yours better than the Outback. Not much into mirror polished blades and plated parts. Yours has that shiny can use look. Do like most of the Outback's grip materials but that blade guard on theirs is ugly and looks uncomfortable.
Not a fan of 440 Stainless either, though a quality blade would be around $650+.

Priced the Cudeman 220L shipped about $80. Think will wait to find something on flea-bay, or find something more locally.

Outback in Idaho · **Reply #63 on:** July 27, 2015, 06:24:17 AM

Seen this attractive William F. (Bill) Moran Bowie knife over on eBay. Read on a Wikipedia post that one of his knives sold for $30,000 on an auction, but was probably one of his rediscovered Damascus steel knives from the 60's.

In any case I'm probably way out of my league to even think of winning on this handsome William F. Moran knife, though I will be watching. This one will surely go to a collector. We don't have many of those here do we?

Smaug · **Reply #64 on:** July 28, 2015, 11:08:56 PM

I had a US-made Gerber bowie that I bought in the late 80s or early 90s. It had a coffin-shaped handle.

The blade was 1/4" thick at the back; it was a heavy beast. It was good for chopping, like a hatchet, but bad for anything requiring finesse. Whittling was out of the question, and it was too heavy for light pruning.

You'd be better off with a $25 sawback machete and an MT of your choice.

and yeah, bring some bear spray and leave the Chihuahua at home next time. I had a Chihuahua once, so I know where you're coming from. They're good companions at home, but pretty much any time you leave the house with one, they'll embarass you or get you in one kind of trouble or another. My wife used to insist on taking him on the plane with us to visit her family in Poland. We had to drug him, then he was a perfect little traveler.

raistlin65 · **Reply #65 on:** August 05, 2015, 05:54:42 PM

Quote from: zoidberg on July 22, 2015, 11:14:27 AM

Quote from: Xelkos on July 21, 2015, 10:39:07 PM
Was looking at KA-BAR which I thought would make decent knives, but their Bowies & machetes are made in taiwan. What the smurf?

I am the second owner of a Ka-Bar Large Heavy Bowie that was made in Taiwan.
And IMO it is a better product than a lot of the more expensive USA made equivalents.

+1

Beckers are really well made knives. At least, all I own (or have owned) have been. Like them enough that I gave my brother a BK7 for Xmas a couple of years ago. Hold one of the big Beckers in your hands, and you'll easily see it for yourself.

US made knives? Of the last six Buck knives I purchased, three had some kind of fit/finish/build issue. Speaking of Bowies, the last was the Buck Frontiersman which I purchased last year. From the factory, looked like the blade had been ground, and then reground given how much lower it is from the choil:

Go on the web, and you'll see that they aren't usually ground down like that. Yet, Knife Center where I ordered from checked and told me their entire batch was like that. I returned it. Last straw for me with Buck. I won't buy from them for several years until I find out if they have improved on their production quality.

Then this summer, got a SOG Tech Bowie. Made in Taiwan. Fit and finish was perfect.

So I think of knives kind of like people. Doesn't matter where they are from. Good knives are good knives, just as good people are good people