Sandbar Bowie?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

First, two questions if someone had the answers: 1) Did the early Bowies made like kitchen knives have distal tapers, were they on the blade and/or tang? 2) For that matter did the trade knives shaped like butcher knives have distal taper?

Second, here are some pages, I thought might be good to put with this discussion, from Gordon B. Minnis 1983 book American Primitive Knives 1770-1870. The author dates the examples these examples from 1830s to 1860s and had some theories on the regions they were produced in. I am particularly fond of the examples that have a central ridge like katanas and X-XII century central Asian sabers to lighten the blade on pages 72 and 78.

Just noticed I.P., nobody thanked you for sharing these great pages from this book, which are loaded with info! Thank you, my bad!
Its so much appreciated when people add references and detail like this!