What Can A Bowie Knife Cut?

Knives are made for cutting and the bowie knife is no exception to that rule. However, when it comes to determining exactly what a bowie knife will cut, it can be rather hard to determine the exact answer. This is, perhaps, due to the fact that different types of knives are good for cutting different sorts of things. Your bowie knife might be ideal for cutting through bone, sinew and muscle. Alternatively, it might be better used to cut through the delicate underbelly of a fish, through the thin skin of a tomato, or through that animal hide that you want to save and use.

While the answers to these questions are undoubtedly important, they cannot be answered specifically for all bowie knife designs. You will find that quite a wide range of factors must be taken into account in order to determine just what can and cannot be cut. What are these factors? You'll find three factors of immense importance. These are blade material, blade size and blade sharpness.

Smaller blades like those mentioned previously are designed for precision and are usually more capable of holding a razor edge. If you were to attempt to chop bone or heavy wood with these, that edge would wear out quite quickly (and the chance of you injuring yourself is great). However, if you were to use these blades for something like skinning the carcass of a deer or elk, their value quickly becomes apparent. Smaller, sharper blades are much more suited to cutting through material where delicacy and exactness are important. This might be a tomato, or a freshly caught fish, a chicken breast or a large buck.

To sum up, bowie knives are capable of cutting through any variety of different materials. You'll find, however, that what you cut will have a significant effect on the blade's edge, as well as on the knife's longevity. The size of the knife is directly related to the materials that you should attempt to cut.

As you can see, there are numerous factors that go into determining what you should use that bowie knife to cut. While you can most certainly cut almost anything with the blade, the wrong uses will find you spending far more time with the whetstone than you might wish.