What Lengths Do Bowie Knife Blades Come In?

Bowie knives have been renowned or more than two centuries, thanks to their versatility, durability, resilience and tremendous power. However, if you are in the market for a new knife, you will need to know what length blade to look for. What lengths are bowie knives traditionally? What other lengths are these blades available in? What is the right length for you?

You will find that bowie knives come in blade sizes ranging from a compact six inches all the way up to a full two feet. This tremendous range of sizes is testament to the wide range of uses this blade design can be put to without damaging the knife. However, what size is right for you? In order to answer this question successfully, you will need to know more about your intended uses. While bowie knives are well known for their versatile nature, different blade lengths are more suited to different tasks. How do you determine what's right?

Six to Eight Inches - Six inches seems to be the magical number. This blade length is long enough for a wide variety of different tasks, but is not too long for tasks such as cleaning and gutting fish, skinning game or whittling. However, you will find that blades with this length blade are not the ideal solution if you intend to chop things with them (bone, sinew, muscle, wood, etc). For jobs such as this, you should opt for something a bit larger. The eight-inch range is an ideal option for those seeking personal protection, while still ensuring that they can make use of these blades for utilitarian purposes.

Twelve to Fourteen Inches - These are enormous blades. You'll find that a bowie knife with a blade in this size range is truly formidable. Whether used for clearing brush or for personal protection, these knives are more than handy. However, you will find that jobs requiring precision cutting are not so easily accomplished and that you might need to carry more than one knife with you for the different tasks that you will encounter. However, bowie knife blades in this size range are quite sturdy and provide tremendous resilience for hard use.

Larger than Fourteen Inches - You will find bowie knife blade lengths exceeding fourteen inches by a wide range. Some are even over two feet long. However, these are truly more like a machete than a knife and have fewer uses than their shorter brethren do. Of course, they do make impressive displays, though!