Provenance 'Texas'

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

I have a reproduction of an style tomahawk and knife that I obtained some my years back and as memory serves me they were said to be reminiscent of early weapons of Texas.  The knife was labeled as a copy of a Alamo  coffin handled Bowie, while the tomahawk was referred to as a Tex Hawk.  Some years so back I showed these to an old guy who made some old style knives and Hawks and boy did he embarrass me!  He showed me some markings on the knife, supposedly proving that it was simply a reworked version of an old Cold Steel knife, a nice knife anyway, but not much like real knives of pre Civil War history.  As to the tomahawk he said it was real nice copy of something more like the Northern Indian tribes would have gotten as trade items from the French???  He claimed thet when fokes add on monikers such as Tex Hawk or Texas Coffin Handle they are trying to get us old Cowboy shoppers all excited and in my case it worked.  Is this really true?  He did tell me a few other ol stories but I will save them fer another day...

[Texas Joker]

I have learned that if you paint it black and add 'tactical' to the description you can charge at least 25% more.

 

And most of those lures are in that aisle to catch fishermen's cash not bass.

[Sedalia Dave]

People will say and do almost anything if it will allow them to ask for more money or increase the chances for a sale.

 

Metal hatchets (tomahawks) knives, pots, and many other objects were commonly traded to Native Americans by all sorts of explorers from multiple nationalities. One thing they all had in common is they were all made as cheaply as possible.

 

A little about Coffin handled Bowie knives. Keep in made that thousands of blacksmiths made knives and many incorporated their own artistic flair into the design and just as many copied someone else's design.

 

Coffin Handle Bowie Knife

Quote

A native of New Jersey, James Black (1800–1872) became famous for a particular style of knife called a “Coffin Handle” Bowie. Black, a gifted blacksmith, set up shop in the town of Washington in the Arkansas Territory around 1830. Some historians who specialize in the evolution of the Bowie Knife believe that Black made one or more knives for James Bowie. At least one James Black knife made its way to Texas. In the mid-1990’s, archeologists found a rusted relic of one Black knife in a campsite that had been occupied by the Mexican Army in 1836. 

 

On March 24, 2000, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, representing the Arkansas Territorial Restoration Commission and the State of Arkansas, presented a replica of a large coffin handle knife to Texas Governor George W. Bush to be displayed at the Alamo. James Black’s original Bowie №1 is owned by and on display at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas

 

 

 

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

Well one thing is sure, when we were growing up we reasoned out early on thet the smaller knives were better for squirrel and up to deer size animals BUT I did always figure that iffen I had to fight a bear over my fresh killed possum I would want the biggest Bowie ever made and perhaps a coffin shaped handle might even make thet ole bear think twice!!!

[El CupAJoe]

On 1/4/2021 at 6:17 AM, Texas Joker said:

I have learned that if you paint it black and add 'tactical' to the description you can charge at least 25% more.

 

And most of those lures are in that aisle to catch fishermen's cash not bass.

Requisite is an inferior steel in this method.