One of a Kind Damascus Bowie, Stacked Leather Handle and Brass

One knife, one page, and no second one behind it. What you see in the photograph is the piece that ships, and when it sells the listing comes down. The blade is 10 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core. The handle is stacked leather, dozens of washers threaded onto the tang and then turned down as one piece, dark brown against cream all the way along.

Specification

The blade

Damascus over a high carbon core, twist pattern. The billet is heated, wound like rope and drawn flat again, so the layers come up as spirals under the etch. The etch goes to the edge and leaves no bare bevel. The pattern is decoration and says nothing about how the knife cuts. The carbon core under it takes the edge and holds it. Ten inches of bowie carries its weight out ahead of the guard, which is the point of a blade this size. Carbon greys with use and spots if it is put away wet.

The handle

Leather washers, cut and punched one at a time, threaded onto the tang wet and packed tight against each other until the stack fills 5.5 inches. Brass at the guard, brass at the pommel, and the stack squeezed between them. Then it is turned and sanded as one lump of material rather than a pile of discs, which is the only way the joints disappear. Dark brown and cream alternate, so the sanding shows a band pattern that belongs to the order those washers went on. Nobody stacks the same order twice.

The leather sheath

Vegetable tanned leather, cut to this blade's own outline rather than a rough size. The face is carved by hand, cut in with a swivel knife and shaped with punches, thistles and scroll work down the front, which is several times the work of stamping. A welt is sewn into the seam so the thread sits where the edge cannot reach it, and the stitching is done by hand. It comes off a belt dry.

Who it suits

This is for somebody who wants a grip that ends up shaped by one hand, theirs.

• Buyers who like leather over wood in the hand
• Anyone who wants the actual knife photographed
• People who carry a big blade and use it
• Collectors after a piece with no match

What comes in the box

• This exact bowie, sharpened by hand
• The hand carved thistle and scroll sheath
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

There is only one of these

The photograph is this knife on our bench, and nothing about it gets made again. Those washers went on in an order nobody wrote down, the twist in the steel landed where the billet moved under the hammer, and the thistles were cut into damp leather once. When somebody buys it the page comes down and there is no replacement to list.

Looking after it

Dry the blade and leave a film of oil on the steel. The handle is leather, so treat it like a boot, an occasional wipe of conditioner and no soaking. Do not leave it standing in water or bake it dry by a fire, since that is what makes leather go hard. Keep it out of the sheath in storage. More is on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade and around 30 characters fits, so a name and a date. We send a proof image before the laser runs and it adds 3 to 5 business days. On a one off piece we would rather talk it over and agree the wording and the spot first. The engraving page covers the rest of it.

Questions buyers ask

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Am I getting the knife in the photograph? Yes. That is this piece, and no other one exists.

Will it rust? It can. Carbon steel sits under the pattern, so dry it and oil it.

Does a leather handle wear out? It wears in. High spots polish where your hand sits and it darkens over the years.

Can it get wet? A soaking now and then is survivable. Living wet is not. Dry it away from heat.

Can you build me an identical one? No. The banding depends on the order the washers stack, and the etch never lands twice.

For a grown handle instead of a built one, the Damascus bowie with the stag and turquoise handle is the other big piece here, and the Damascus kukri in ram horn puts the weight further out. The rest sit in custom builds, pattern welded blades under Damascus steel, and every knife we make together.