Down Under Knives The Mistress Bowie Knife

The Mistress

13 Inch 440C Blade With Leather Sheath

The mission was simple: push the limits and make the biggest, meanest blade that can still be reasonably called a knife, without compromising balance and usability in the slightest. To accomplish this, we started with the dimensions and basic lines of a colossal vintage Bowie dating from around 1858 and started hammering out prototype after prototype until it looked and behaved exactly like we wanted it. Not the easiest or fastest development process in the world, but with a knife this size you just can't slap something together in a CAD package and expect it to work. You have to feel it to know when you got it just right.

The Mistress™ is our first curved back design, putting even more mass behind the arc of the blade right where it counts for unprecedented cutting and slashing power. To complement the shape we gave it a distinctive coffin handle and a massive S-style handguard machined from a monolithic block of solid brass. In a slight twist, during development we decided to reverse the S to a style more commonly found in swords of the period. When you hold it, you'll know why - in this size class, it just works better that way.

Finally, we contained this beast in our signature heavy leather scabbard patterned to match our very successful Toothpick™. No, we don't know why anyone would need to carry them as a pair, but if you're going to carry one in the first place, "reasonable" is probably not a concept you spend a great deal of time worrying about. In case you missed it, this is one hell of a knife even by our standards.

• Overall length: 450mm - 17 3/4"
• Blade length: 329mm - 13"
• Width: 67mm - 2 5/8"
• Thickness: 5,5mm - 0.2165"
• Weight: 832g - 29.3479 oz
• 440C dual heat treated (edge 58-59 RC / back 45-46 RC)
• Solid brass guard and pommel, genuine leather handle and floral pattern leather scabbard