Was the 'original' Bowie knife forged from a meteorite?

reply to post by tsawyer2
There is no way that the original bowie knife was forged from a meterorite it is not possibe for that it may be but it cant be done i think it was made from old forged steel that was found in a hill someplace

I've done blacksmithing with meteorites - to be honest they are crap material.

Generally a mixture of zinc, iron and nickel.

When I began pounding them flat and forge welding them together they began peeling apart.

After pounding about 6 of them together, all of the nickel and zinc began flaking off, reducing the mass of my material by about 60%.

Needless to say unless its a damn good quality space rock - The bowie knife was probably good old earth steel.

Maybe a galactic pommel from space - just for good measure.

Ogre Slaying +3


Blessings

-GM

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


Could James Black have gotten round these problems in the way he processed his metal from meteors, maybe this was why he was so secretive, maybe he had achieved what others couldnt.

Im not picking at your post, just genuinely curious.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


Its totally possible and entirely dependent on the purity of the meteorite. Like I said, I still ended up with a nearly pure blade of iron, but I had lost over 60% of the impurities through the forge welding process.

If he had enough meteorites, he could have just kept folding and welding until he had a solid ingot of space iron to turn into a blade.

I suppose he could have smelted them into a bar to extract the impurities before hand, although it seems like a lot of work to focus into "The original bowie knife" when so much high quality iron ore was readily available.

He probably did it - but it would not have been his first.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


Thank you for that...........interesting

It seems as though Black's method didnt really see success until the Bowie knife, at least not enough to make him his fortune. Now im wondering if his lack of success in the beginning was due to the effects like you mentioned, impurities etc.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


I mean look at it this way. I could pay 500 dollars and buy a ton of meteorites, smelt them or forge weld them together into an ingot over several days. In this modern day of meteor collections, transportation and global networks of communication and sales, its much more doable then in his time.

Or I could buy perfect steel and begin the process immediately - Likely what he did.

Even in this modern world it would be expensive and lengthly to smelt, prepare and modify the meteorites into any form to create a blade especially a long one like the Bowie.

I'm willing to bet that after he had established his bowie company that he began the romanticized personal process of working with "metal from the heavens"

I certainly have, and let me tell you - Its a blacksmiths hell.

Its more then probable he made one at some point - but the first? hmmm doubtful.

Originally posted by Catch_a_Fire
reply to post by kettlebellysmith

 

I had wondered if the story came from a movie myth

If we could trace the tale back to the days of those movies then that would be the most logical answer, if however the tale originated closer to the days of bowie then i would suspect it has some truth in it.

I just seem to have hit a brick wall in the search for any evidence denying or confirming any truth to it.

I've seen a meteor knife. The metal was grey from a distance but multicoloured when looked at closely. It was once lost on a compost heap for a year and didn't rust. Meteor metal has been used since metalworking began. The feeling of such a knife transcends usual knife feelings.

The legendary fame of the knife may be evidence that it was one of these very special blades.