Best Bowie knife and large knives

Jon StokesStaff - February 1, 2019

Reviews of the best Bowie knife and other large bushcraft knives for big-blade lovers.

[See the full post at: Best Bowie knife and large knives]

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hey dude, how is it possible to have 3 Busse knives in the pic at the top but not include a slot for something from that company?

 

Because they’re too hard to buy. You have to go to a knife show, or participate in one of their forum threads, or buy on the secondary market, or do some other thing to get specific models of Busses. So I can’t recommend a specific Busse because I can’t point people to a retailer when they can buy as many of that knife as they want.

In general, we just don’t recommend boutique custom stuff that is hard to get hold of. There needs to be a regular, reliable supply of the specific product (i.e. that exact model) we recommend that readers can have a reasonable expectation of getting their hands on before we can put it in a guide.

 

That’s a pretty good list. I like my Trailmaster. My Ontario RTAK is also good. The SOG Jungle Primitive has a mall ninja look to it but I use mine & it’s really a good knife for the price.

 

Thanks! The Trailmaster is a beast, for sure. What steel does yours run?

 

Mine is SK-5.

 

Nothing wrong with the cheap Chinese survival knives; they are what they are, and unless you abuse them severely, the cost outweighs the concerns about quality. It’s a knife, it’s sharp and it’s made of steel. I own three, because at 8 bucks a pop, it’s all good. Just sayin’. I have to live within my means, so it’s a Chinese survival knife or nothing. Apologies to Kbar.

 

Just to add some more Ontario to the conversation….Ontario makes a K-BAR competitor that is survival oriented. It is a little smaller but has some nice features and saves you a few bucks. I like it better than the RAT because of the big hammer butt end.

 

On the top photo, what are those two bowie knives on the bottom, or their brand I suppose? I’m looking for a full tang, big bowie, with a simple classic traditional bowie style if that makes sense. Something rugged and ready. Thanks!

 

Those are Fallkniven, from their Northern Lights series. They are amazing knives. You can’t go wrong. https://www.knivesshipfree.com/fallkniven-northern-lights/

 

Thank you!

 

I apologize for bothering you further but do you knave any lists or articles or favorites for those styles of rugged simple traditional big blade bowies that you like?

 

I don’t have an article or list of such knifes, unfortunately. However, the Japanese love these kinds of knives, so you can often find them at Japanese Knife Direct, and Hattori is especially good at them: https://japaneseknifedirect.com/Hattori.html

A favorite maker of mine for this kind of thing is Michael Andersson: https://www.alloutdoor.com/2014/04/21/knifemaker-profile-michael-andersson-custom-knives/

 

Ohhh those look nice. I think I might settle, not that it’s settling lol, for the Falkniven Northern lights line since they look so good and I haven’t seen one bad review about the quality and durability of the knives. Those are also good looking ones I may have to buy into haha.

 

I don’t know why but its hard for me to find those kinds of traditional bowies, that aren’t $20 with $20 equivalent quality. I don’t know if there is a genre for them or a key word im missing but I dunno. I’m glad I saw those falkniven bodies here though!!