Tuesday, November 12, 2013

From the Collection

EK Bowie:



Purchased in the mid-1980's, when EK first produced this great knife. USA-made in Richmond, VA. Used to carry it regularly when hiking until my Randall #1 arrived. It's been in storage for a bunch of years now. The sheath had clear plastic liner sheets that became brittle over time and fragmented when I was inspecting it, had to use tweezers to pull the broken remnants out. Without the liner sheets the nylon webbing sheath is a bit flimsy, if I were to begin carrying it again I'd want to get a new sheath made, probably in leather. The micarta handle feels really good in the hand, especially after I broke the sharp edges by sanding it with Scotchbrite.

At one time during the 1980's EK was a major competitor in the military knife market, right up there with SOG, Al Mar, Cold Steel and other knife companies of that period. They over-extended themselves and had to go into bankruptcy reorganization, and have been quiet (but not gone) ever since. They still make knives, their website is here. They're making some great-looking knives, I'd love to have one of their Fairbairn-Sykes models.

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