Sandbone Hand Forged Damascus Bowie Knife with Dyed Camel Bone Handle & Leather Sheath | Hunting and Camping Bowie Gift | RK-488

Six inches of blade, eleven inches overall, and a handle of dyed camel bone that has been cut, fitted and polished by hand. The Sandbone is the mid sized Bowie in the range, which for most people is the useful size. Big enough to have authority in the hand and short enough to wear on a belt all day without thinking about it.

Size is the thing people get wrong about Bowies. The famous ones in the museums and the paintings are enormous, but the knives actually carried on the frontier were mostly in the five to seven inch range, because that is what fits a working belt and a working day. The huge Bowie was a presentation and duelling object. The knife that got used to skin, butcher, cut leather, whittle, split kindling and eat dinner was closer to this one, and the pattern survived because the medium size did every one of those jobs well enough.

This one is forged, hardened, ground and fitted in Memphis, Tennessee, and it arrives sharpened, in a fitted leather sheath, with free shipping inside the United States.

Specifications

The clip, the false edge and why hunters keep buying this shape

The defining feature of a Bowie is the clip, the long concave sweep cut out of the top of the blade near the tip. It exists to solve one problem: how to put a fine, controllable point on a blade that is otherwise big and heavy.

Cutting steel away from the top of the blade drops the point down toward the centre line, so the tip goes where your hand is aimed rather than riding above it. It also thins the last two inches, which is what lets a six inch blade do delicate work like caping a head or opening a hide seam without tearing. And it removes weight from the far end, which is why a Bowie feels quick in the hand rather than nose heavy.

The clipped section is called the false edge, and on a hunting Bowie it is usually left unsharpened or only lightly ground. That is deliberate. An unsharpened false edge gives you somewhere to brace a thumb when you choke up for close work, and it keeps the tip stronger for prying and puncturing. Underneath, the belly stays long and full, so the working edge keeps the slicing and skinning ability the size gives you.

At six inches this covers the whole hunting sequence. It will open and dress a deer, skin it, break it down and then cut the cord that ties it to the rack, and it is short enough to control inside a body cavity, which a nine inch blade is not.

Why Damascus and not stainless

This is real pattern welded Damascus, not an etched print. Layers of 1095 high carbon and 15N20 nickel steel are forge welded, folded and drawn out, so the pattern runs through the full thickness of the blade rather than sitting on the surface. It cannot be sharpened away or polished off.

Field work makes the case for carbon steel better than any argument. Hide and hair are abrasive, and a soft stainless blade will be sliding rather than cutting halfway through an animal. At 58 to 60 HRC the 1095 holds a working edge through the whole job, and the nickel in the 15N20 keeps the blade tough enough to take being levered against a joint without chipping. The honest cost is that blood and damp will mark carbon steel, so this knife needs a rinse and a dry the same evening rather than a week in a wet sheath. We set the whole trade out in Damascus versus stainless.

Dyed camel bone in the hand

The handle is camel bone that has been dyed and then polished, and bone behaves very differently from wood. It is harder and denser, it is close grained rather than fibrous, and it takes a much deeper polish than any timber will hold. It does not absorb oil the way wood does, so it does not need feeding on a schedule, and it stays dimensionally stable in damp weather instead of swelling.

What it does share with wood is that it is a natural material with its own markings. Bone carries faint mottling and its own density variation, so the dye sits differently in every piece and no two handles come off the bench the same colour. Look after it by keeping it out of long soaks and away from direct heat, which is what dries and checks bone, and give it an occasional wipe of light oil to keep the surface from going chalky. The same routine we set out for natural handles in wooden handle care covers bone, horn and antler.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it.

Bone is one of the best engraving surfaces in the catalogue because it holds a crisp fine line and the cut shows pale against the dye. The blade flat takes a rune line just as well if you would rather keep the handle plain. Everything is cut here before the knife is packed. See the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

Wipe it dry, oil it lightly, and store it out of the sheath for long periods so trapped moisture cannot work on the steel. After field use pay particular attention to the shoulder where the blade meets the guard, because that is where blood collects and where rust starts.

Sharpen the main edge at around eighteen to twenty degrees per side, sweeping through the belly so the curve gets even contact, and leave the false edge alone unless you want it sharp. A 1000 grit stone resets it and a strop finishes it. Detail in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Forged in Memphis

We forge in Memphis, Tennessee. Steel is worked hot, quenched, tempered and ground by hand, the bone is fitted here, and the sheath is cut and stitched to this finished blade rather than to a template. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue.

Processing runs one to two weeks because a person makes it. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are open for seven days from delivery.

A note on handmade variation

This Bowie is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so the knife that arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Every billet moves differently under the hammer, so the Damascus figure is unique to your blade, and dyed bone takes colour unevenly by nature, so the tone and the mottling will be their own.

The dimensions, the steel, the hardness and the build are the same on every one. The grain, the tone, the pattern and the exact profile are not, because each is worked by hand from natural materials. That is the point of it.

Frequently asked questions

Is 6 inches enough blade for a deer

More than enough, and easier to work with than a longer one. Six inches will open, skin and break down a whitetail or a hog comfortably, and it gives you far better control inside a body cavity than an eight or nine inch blade. Length only helps once you start chopping.

Is the false edge on the clip sharpened

It is left unsharpened on this piece, which is standard for a hunting Bowie. That gives you a thumb rest for close control and keeps the tip stronger. If you want it sharpened, say so on the order and we will grind it before the knife ships.

Will the dyed bone fade

Not in normal use. The dye penetrates the bone rather than sitting on top of it as a paint film, so handling polishes it rather than wearing it off. Long term direct sunlight will lighten almost anything, so do not display it in a south facing window.

Is it full tang

Yes. The tang runs the full profile of the handle with the bone fitted either side of it, which is what lets the knife take twisting and levering during butchery without the grip working loose.

How does this compare to a skinner

A skinner has a shorter blade with a deeper belly and almost no point, optimised entirely for taking hide off. This Bowie gives up a little of that hide efficiency and gains a usable point, more reach and enough mass for camp work. If you only ever skin, buy the skinner. If you want one knife, buy this.

How long until it ships

Processing is one to two weeks while the piece is forged and finished by hand, with engraved orders at the longer end. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are open for seven days after delivery.

What is in the box

• One Sandbone Damascus Bowie knife
• Leather sheath
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse the rest of the range in Bowie Knives, Hunting Knives and Damascus Skinner Knives. The reasoning behind the materials is in the guides.