Seeking recommendations for a good working mans Bowie for under $100.

[Echo40]

My brother has been looking for a good Bowie knife with classic styling that he can use for a variety of tasks which won't break the bank. It doesn't need to be excessively fancy or have some sort of mytical pedigree like being hand-forged by some guy in the mountains, it just needs to be a rugged, reliable, durable knife that will hold an edge and won't wear out in short order.

Nowadays so many knives get bad reviews for being junk, complete with vague comments of how "better knives are available" or shill comments about how X Brand is better with a pic of the world's fanciest display knife which obviously can't be taken seriously because you can probably take the cheapest knife in the world, shine it up real nice, sit it on a piece of red velvet, snap a few pics, then place it inside a glass display case and it'll hold up just as well as that $350 knife that also just sits inside a case. (And no, sticking it in a tree stump, snapping a few pics, then sitting it inside a display case forever doesn't make it's supposed durability any more valid either.)

My brother just wants an inexpensive yet high quality working mans Bowie, so if anyone can suggest such a thing, I'd appreciate it.

EDIT: Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

My brother has chosen the Buck 119, so no further responses are necessary.
__________________

 

[6518John]

Buck 120 . . .

 

[JJEH]

Buck 119, made in USA.

https://www.buckknives.com/product/119-special-knife/0119FAM01/

 

[ContinentalOp]

How about Ka-Bar? They have some bowie-pattern knives for under $100.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Cold Steel marauder knife is a Bowie type of knife and it's 60 or 60 dollars.
Cold Steel also makes a "Wild West Bowie" for around 100 bucks. $139 MSRP - I just checked. So on Amazon or other websites or knife stores it will be less.

I'm a big fan of Cold Steel knives - I admit it.....

And, since I'm poking around, I see that Cold Steel makes two different Bowie machetes for under 40 bucks.

I don't recollect them being so inexpensive - I beleive I still have this one somewhere:

This is Cold Steel's Laredo Bowie - but MSRP is around 300 bucks and on line you might see them for more!

 

[ContinentalOp]

Speaking of Cold Steel...

In addition to looking for online deals, you can also contact them about factory seconds. I have a factory second Recon Tanto that cost about half the retail price, IIRC. The only flaws I could find was a snap installed backwards on the sheath and a small cosmetic flaw on the blade finish that doesn't affect function.

Might be worth looking into.

 

[Drm50]

A Military Kbar is a big knife but not compared to some they ate selling today. Western use to make a big Bowie of good carbon steel. Really to big to be of any use as a knife. What ever you pick after you are satisfied with the blade, make sure it’s a functional handle. Slabs are best for most uses.
The fantasy shapes and handles on some of these big knives makes them useless for anything.

 

[Buick]

EK model 5 available on Amazon.

 

[dave1918a2]

Cold Steel is the way to go. They have a coffin handled bowie for about $140 and it will be a workhorse. Or scrounge around fleabay.

 

[clang444]

Ka-Bar is hard to beat.

 

[Echo40]

I'm actually a big fan of Cold Steel myself, and carry a Cold Steel Ti-Lite VI. My brother likes them too, but he told me that the Bowies on their website were all either too modernized in appearance for his taste or cost more than he wanted to spend. (He really wants one with a classic appearance and either a wooden or horn grip, no Aluminum or Zytel.)

 

[Injunbro]

Ontario makes some nice ones for around $75 on fleabay. The one in my truck has chopped wood, split wood, sharpened stakes for over 10 years w/ zero damage.

 

[Goblin]

Boker Plus has a nice one with black micarta scales, about $140.

 

[Echo40]

So far my brother likes the Buck 119 most.

 

[Hapworth]

So far my brother likes the Buck 119 most.

The Buck, then, is probably the way to go -- they're an established, quality maker.

A fun feature on their website is you can customize the 119, but that does increase price, and as usual you pay retail from the manufacturer, less from retailer.

By the way, I'd be very wary purchasing any knife on Amazon or eBay; counterfeit knives (some very hard to tell) are a serious issue, and you're probably better off buying from a trusted retailer from Buck's list or one of the several dedicated online knife stores.

And just in case your brother decides he might want to spend a little more after all -- when I decided I wanted just one traditionally-styled, hard use, no joke Bowie, I picked up a Defender from this guy and it's a work of functional art from another era: RON_LACLAIR.html

 

[Marshwheeling]

If I wanted a Cold Steel bowie right now, I’d get the Bowie-bladed Bushman. Otherwise, Kabar USMC fighting/utility knife, Buck 119/120., both biggish knives with clip point blades. I have both of those, but no particular appreciation for the style. If I really wanted something along those lines, I would probably go with a Becker BK9, a really big knife with a clip point. In fact, that is a knife I would probably buy sooner or later anyway, Bowie or no.

 

[Pondoro]

Buck 119 is iconic and they keep the price reasonable. The tip is thin if he plans on treating it rough. I don't use a knife as a hatchet but using a knife to chop is the style these days. So more modern knife designs (including some from Buck) are more robust in the tip.

It is ironic - when I was a kid in the '60's the Boy Scouts taught us how to splint broken bones and walk out of the wilderness, also how to eat roots and leaves without getting poisoned. But knives were knives and you carried a hatchet for chopping. Now days it is stylish to fancy yourself walking into the woods and chopping down small trees with your knife, because it is "all you have." I am sure the Boy Scouts no longer teach splinting bones and eating random plants!

 

[Dlm357]

Becker bk9, the king

 

[richcory]

I like Cold Steel, but the last 4 haven’t left the factory very sharp.

I’d go Buck knives all the way. 119, 120 or 124.

Best of luck
Cory

 

[k22fan]

Since he plans to turn it into a used knife right away, I'd start with a used knife.

In the last year or two I bought two Case knives with 6" blades from pawn/gun stores that I like dropping into while I'm in the area visiting relatives. For $40 I got an old one with a leather washer handle and the large fullers that are usually associated with Marbles fixed blades. For $80 I got a stag handled Kodiak. Obviously neither are in collector condition. You do not know what you'll run across until you shop.

Black plastic handled 100 series Bucks are common. The 119 I bought about 1970 went on a lot of hikes with me. It is a good knife. The handles have the advantage that after a meal you can immerse them with the other dishes.

Most of the Cold Steel fixed blade knives I see in stores are too large, flashy and expensive for me. Their "Carbon V" steel has changed over the years but for a long time it was just Camillus' standard 1095 carbon steel. Camillus made the knives. I like Camillus' pocket knives but renaming the most common knife steel does not make a wonder steel worth paying a bunch for. Military specifications called for 1095 steel in their Mark I fighting knife, popularly called the Ka-Bar. Good steel? Yes. Spectacular? No. An old used less expensive Case, Western or Camillus will serve just as well.