LaClair Defender Bowie?

3Feathers · December 26, 2012, 05:43:00 PM

Anybody carry one hunting?If so what have you used it for?

Cyclic-Rivers · December 26, 2012, 10:24:00 PM

Defendering????

sorry couldnt help myself

Kris · December 27, 2012, 11:09:00 AM

Unnecessary weight IMO. They are cool though!

Kris

Ray Hammond · December 27, 2012, 08:25:00 PM

I carry a Bowie - not one of Ron's but its a cross draw nearly parallel to the ground sheath and the knife weighs very little

Hunting hogs on the ground in thick cover creates the need for it and I hunt better knowing I'm prepared for nearly anything that might happen.

Last time out I harvested 100 river cane shafts, found a fat lighter stump and chopped some big pieces off it and slid em in my pack- it's a lot handier than you think

gvdocholiday · December 27, 2012, 08:36:00 PM

I prefer tomahawks for carry woodsman tool when hunting. Hand forged, polled, and acid finished. A harder cutting edge hammer welded into a softer meat. Creates great weight retention with extreme durability.

Mine was forged by mainline steel works.

atatarpm · December 27, 2012, 08:39:00 PM

I do not as yet have one although I will shortly. I was not going to answer this un till I saw that you were getting no replies to your question. knives of that size are used in all types of survival situations they can be used to chop wood, split wood, plain wood, and most importantly inflict heavy damage to a dangerous advisory in one single blow. For most people that may be of little uses on the last one, but if you read Ron's story for the knife and if you travel where I travel you will most certainly find that this knife has many uses that you [for lack of a better term] can only dream about or consider in your worst nightmares. All of that said it is better to plan for a problem and not have it then to have a problem and not have a knife large enough to handle it.

Roger Norris · December 27, 2012, 08:43:00 PM

I carry my LaClair Bowie most days that I am in the woods. I use it as a hatchet and machete. Love mine. Very durable, made for real work.

ron w · December 27, 2012, 10:29:00 PM

You can do anything.....with BIG knife!!

D.Ellis · December 27, 2012, 10:40:00 PM

I agree with the above. You can make small cuts with a big knife but you can't chop a tree down with a little one

. I have been carrying this one I made for a while now.

Darcy

Zmonster · December 27, 2012, 11:09:00 PM

Tim,

If I had one (I will eventually) I would use it for anything I needed a knife for, cause it would be the only knife I'd carry. I've been minimizing my carry items little by little, and I think a large knife could fill the tab between a knife and a hawk or small axe. Good luck and be sure to post pics when you get one. Im still undecided on which to get. Ron keeps making the choice harder by making more options. i love them all. Large knife threads always draw me in.

Stumpkiller · December 27, 2012, 11:34:00 PM

Hardly as impressive and certainly lighter - I bring along a pair of Fiskar's ratcheting pruners.

Clearing branches quietly, gathering kindling, lopping squirrel & rabbit legs when dressing, clearing saplings around a shooting lane. I seldom carry a blade over 4" unless reenacting or doing some experimental archeology with a flintlock.

Pruners won't fell an orc or an attacking heathen sauvage, though.

If I'm real worried about alternative defense I bring a .38 Spl w/125gr or a chopped .45 ACP. w/230gr FMJ. Why bring a knife to a gunfight?

Ray Hammond · December 28, 2012, 05:57:00 AM

Charlie I wish we had the pistol option but you can't pack a sidearm a lot of places when you bowhunt. I have those pruners- Gerber right? Love mine

Ron LaClair · December 28, 2012, 11:41:00 AM

The caption on this picture "could" read,...

I can take your ear before you blink....and I'll do it just for fun.

Ray Hammond · December 28, 2012, 12:01:00 PM

Haha!!! NOW THAT'S a NOIFF!!!

chanumpa · December 28, 2012, 01:12:00 PM

My buddy Walking Eagle just forged me on out of an old horseshoers rasp.I have to finish the grip of which is going to be out uf a moose eye guard.I better get off of here and get to work on it.Thanks for needed motivation.

3Feathers · December 29, 2012, 09:57:00 AM

Recieved the Defender as a christmas present.Will carry it when ever in the woods stumping or hunting.What a beautiful tool.......................And made in the USA.

December 29, 2012, 10:52:00 AM

I have a Damascus Bowie with an 8 inch blade that I wear at times when I am feeling optimistic. Once this year, while heading out to hunt, we stopped at our usual gas and eat place. A woman, that has seen me dozens of times with my normal 5 inch bladed hunting knife over the years, took one look at the Bowie sheeth and complained to the management. I really do not understand why some women get so excited over a couple of extra inches. The shorter custom job would do everything the longer one would, except for chopping down a small tree.

Zmonster · December 29, 2012, 12:23:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
I really do not understand why some women get so excited over a couple of extra inches. The shorter custom job would do everything the longer one would

Haha. Yup. In many ways

Tim, congrats on the new blade. Lets see some pics.

fujimo · December 29, 2012, 01:31:00 PM

guys look at me sideways when they see my carry knife, but like many others here i believe a big knife is more versatile.
i sadly dont own one of those beauties that you lucky guys have. but this is what i use. an 8" laplander reindeer herders knife. given to me by a good friend of mine from Norway.

absolutely amazing steel, just takes a few swipes on a leather strop , and it is hair poppin' sharp. i will chop and trim shooting lanes, and it will still retain its sharpness.
i have never had a steel like that befor!!

just a small anecdotal footnote on knives and gunfights.. and i am not being contrary or ignorant here,
(just some first hand experience)- and i know the comments are all made tongue in cheek. anyway.
i am originally from S.A.- and spent my time in a regiment there that looked at things a little differently. and we always maintained the expression- "dont bring a gun to a knife fight- you will lose!!"
the average civilian encounter occours at about 6 yards- give or take a little. a skilled bladesman will cover that distance and dispatch his apponent, befor he can draw, cock and get a shot off. remember a knife is always locked and loaded!
dont get me wrong, i am a hand gun kinda guy, and in the old country we all packed 24/7.- the wife, even my 80 year old mother- she could shoot the eye outta fly at 100 feet with her pistola!! :eek:

just not anymore in our new peace loving ,and eternally polite environs :D
anyway just some blah blah- not stirring up a nest .

some truly beautiful knives, and maybe one day i will be able to own one like that!
i sure like the knife that D.Ellis just casually dropped in there- what a skilled craftsman- really very pretty- and practical.

December 29, 2012, 02:42:00 PM

Considering what is happening on the east coast from the a certain Glock toting female California Senator, I wonder when the registration of our bent sticks and sharp blades is going to come.