Cold Steel Natchez Bowie Knife
Quick Summary:
This is a great knife to take into the bush or into training; it’s sturdy, long, and locks securely into its sheath.
If you’re looking for a more modern combat knife, then this might not be the style of weapon for you, but if you need a blade that you can use in a pinch on the trails; then give this bowie knife a try.
Selecting a Good Bowie Knife.
The bowie knife has a long, storied history that has been shrouded in legend. For the most part, most date the history and the name of this uniquely American weapon to James Bowie, a legendary knife fighter who died defending the Alamo. Whatever the blade’s origin, the bowie knife is one of the best knives for self-defense and camping.
Unique Features of the Bowie Knife
It’s important to note that the bowie knife serves best as a fighting blade or as a knife for camping. Many outdoors people tend to use bowies as pack knives, but this is far from optimal because of the fact that bowies are heavier than standard pack knives. Also, if you need to use a bowie for its intended uses, having to open your pack to retrieve it reduces its efficiency.
When looking for a knife of this type, always expect it to be heavy. Since it was designed as a fighting knife, you’ll want a thick blade that can take a couple of whacks. As a rule, the more expensive a bowie knife is, the more for decoration it is. A good, functional bowie is designed to be strong and ready for use. Typically, blades are made of carbon steel and have a quarter-inch stock.
The Cold Steel Natchez Bowie 01 Steel Knife
In my opinion, this is the best bowie knife that a camping enthusiast can own. When it comes to construction, this bowie knife is sturdy enough to take a few strong hits and also has some great design and sharpness. It’s thick at the stock end and comes honed to a razor sharpness right out of the box. It’s also one of the best balanced knives available on the market currently.
What Makes This Knife so Great
- Sheath – Nothing is worse than a sheath that is too loose.
Bowie knives are dangerous, so if it isn’t secured firmly in your sheath, you can drop your blade and cause injury. Fortunately, this blade comes with a great sheath that locks the blade in place, so that it’s secure. This locking system happens in the sheath’s collar, and it firmly holds the blade by the guard, so that there are no overhanging edges to dislodge your bowie.In addition to this security, some models of bowie knife have sheaths that hug the blade too closely. This is the primary cause of a bowie knife becoming dull too quickly. If the sheath’s inner wall touches the blade when you put your knife away; you’ll wear down the finely honed edge. The sheath is held onto your belt buckle by a nylon loop that secures with a Velcro strap. While this isn’t the most secure system, it’s still hard to dislodge.
- Handle – The handle of this blade appears to be made of wood, but is actually faux coco bolo and looks absolutely beautiful.
This faux wood handle is ergonomically designed to fit most hands and is capped with metallic a metallic pommel. Quite a lot of the heft is in this section of the weapon, and it’s because they balanced this area of the blade very well to ensure that the bowie feels so good in your hands.
- Blade – The blade on this bowie knife is of excellent quality.
Firstly, it has a full flat grind that adds a good amount of weight for slicing through targets. Secondly, Cold Steel utilized a silk finish on the blade that looks attractive and won’t wear down after extended use. Interestingly enough, the blade’s sides actually are reminiscent of a chef’s knife. The double edge or the swedge of this blade is very pointed and thick. If you need to thrust with this blade, you’ll have no problems with potential breakage.
- Cross guard – Provide a simple level of hand protection in combat.
While I hope that you never have to use this blade in an actual life or death situation, Cold Steel did a great job of making this cross guard thick and protective enough to deflect incoming knife attacks.
Dimensions
The blade on this knife has a length of 11-3/4 inches, which is significantly longer than those that you’d find on other types of combat knives. As a matter of fact, this type of length is characteristic of bowies and will give you a lot of reach, should the need for reach arise.
The handle is about 5-3/8 inches, which when combined with the blade, makes the entire knife a full 18.5 inches from pommel to tip. This makes this a very large bowie knife that will provide lengthy cutting surface as well as more than enough grip for most sizes of hand.
Bowies are thick enough to resist damage. As a matter of fact, some people consider this type of blade to be a miniature sword. The Cold Steel Natchez’s Blade has a thickness of .31 inches, which is thicker than the bowie knife standard of a quarter-inch thickness.
When it comes to overall weight, this knife weighs a very well-balanced 24 ounces. It definitely has some heft if you intend to wave it around, but it’s also light enough to use easily on the campsite.
Materials
A good, modern bowie knife will be constructed of carbon steel, and this knife is no different. The Natchez is composed of SK-5 high carbon steel that is heat-treated and mar tempered in a style that ensures that the blade is strong. The sheath is crafted of kydex; the same material that’s used in many top-of-the-line gun holsters.
The pommel and cross guard are made of a strong brass that’s thick and damage resistant. This area can accumulate scratches from time to time but that’s level of damage can actually look attractive on a weapon like this.
What to Consider Before Your Purchase
You don’t have to spend a thousand dollars for a great bowie knife and this model is a perfect example of that. That being said, some trade models of bowie knife are better. Typically these aren’t mass produced and can only be found in specialty shops. These types of knives are very “no-frills” and are probably a bit closer to the original knives that were wielded by James Bowie in the late 1800s.
That being said, this knife is of impeccable quality and is strong and sharp enough to last through many years of practical usage. Asian-made bowie knives have gotten a bad rap in recent years, and while this Cold Steel product is crafted in Taiwan, its quality is amazing.
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