Customer Reviews

Winchester 22-41206 Large Bowie Knife with Sheath

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My wife got me this knife for my birthday because I mainly use small and mid-sized knives and have so far avoided getting a taste for the huge Bowies. She wanted to see if I liked this type without spending much. The answer is yes, I like it a lot.

It's massive and nose-heavy, with the point of balance right at the big full-finger choil in front of the guard. This weight-forward configuration makes the knife very eager to chop, and I immediately complied by destroying some lemons, potatoes, corn cobs, and an old pine 2x6. The edge was shaving-sharp right out of the box, but my abuse resulted in some bright spots where the edge was visibly dinged. I restored it in under a minute with an Accusharp carbide-V sharpening gadget.

The primary bevel is a half-flat or "saber" grind, which emphasizes strength over slicing. Still, the knife excelled at the above-named kitchen tasks, as well as slicing celery, bell peppers, and meat. It was not quite optimal, however, for dicing onions. The thick, heavy blade tended to bind in such firm material and was a bit fatiguing to use. Still, it got the job done, and I found the radically clipped point very nimble and handy for piercing. I only wished I had a coconut to split.

I have my doubts about the edge-holding ability of this knife, as it is made from obviously inexpensive 420-J2 stainless steel subjected to who-knows-what heat treatment, and I have managed to ding it up a bit initially. But it certainly isn't brittle, which would spell uselessness for a knife like this. I imagine that a few sessions with the Accusharp might re-profile the edge to a more durable angle, but only time will tell.

The package says it is made for the Winchester brand by "Carolina Knife and Tool," which I hear is a cheaper label of Gerber knives-- the Ford to Gerber's Lincoln, if you will. So I would imagine that they have some idea of how to make a good knife, even if they are doing it in China.

The handle scales are Pakkawood, an engineered wood laminate that behaves much like hardwood but is inert, which is to say that it will not move or shrink or crack. It's stained to look like rosewood and finished with a tough, glossy lacquer or polyurethane. Together with the brass guard and pins, it makes for a more attractive package than other inexpensive "survival" or "tactical" knives. My only complaint is the finger ridges, a bit of over-engineering that can only detract from the knife's versatility.

The sheath is heavy, stiff Cordura nylon with plastic reinforcement at the throat and two retaining straps with snaps. It's not too fancy, just a secure, durable, weatherproof sheath that rides nicely on the belt. It does have a few nasty bits of Hide of the Nauga around the snaps, which is no big deal.

I wouldn't hesitate to carry this knife in the woods, as long as I could also carry a sharpening gadget like the Accusharp or the Meyerco Sharpen-It to allay my reservations about the blade material. If you had to choose one do-everything backwoods knife, this really would not be a bad choice, as it is capable of heavy chopping as well as more delicate tasks like slicing vegetables. To step up at all in the Bowie market would require triple the price at the very least, and so I'd say this is a great knife for seeing if you're interested, and it'll get some work done while you're at it. It has certainly whetted my appetite for more of these big knives.

Let's get what I don't like about this knife out of the way first.

I don't like the finger grooves. The finger grooves on a knife never fit my hand, and get in the way with my preferred horizontal grip. The brass hardware was marred out of box, indicating poor quality control. The brass rivets and lanyard bushing were incompletely finished with burrs that irritated my hand, and the brass finger guard had a deep scratch.

The knife is not full tang as described, but a weaker spike tang with 2 rivets. This indicates the knife is more of a display piece than a real working bowie which should have a full tang and 3 rivets. This knife is adequate for cutting and stabbing only. Spike tang knives are weak at the blade/handle junction and prone to failure if stressed. If you want a chopper, a better choice would be a machete, (Cold Steel Kukri Machete with PVC Handle), or one of the uniblade options, (Cold Steel Bowie Blade Bushman, Black SK-5 Steel, Cordura Survival Shth).

Now I'll cover the good points.

I've posted a picture of the knife balanced on my index finger. The knife balances about an inch forward of the brass finger guard. The handle is light because of the spike rather than full tang. The balance is good for throwing or light chopping.

The best parts of this knife are the price and the edge it takes. I gave the blade a couple licks on my butcher's steel. I expected a soft, impossible to sharpen, 420 type stainless. I was pleasantly surprised that the sharpened blade readily shaved hair off my arm. I researched the steel used in the knife online without success. My best guess is a Chinese version of 440c, an easy to sharpen stainless with a good balance between price and performance.

The flawed handle is an easy fix with emery cloth. The spike tang indicates this knife may not stand up to heavy use. Despite these flaws, the low price and easy to sharpen blade make this knife a good buy.

I have had this knife out of the package now for about 45 minutes and I have to say that I have been picking it up over and over and looking at it closely.
There are no visible defects anywhere on the knife or sheath. I do not care much for the Winchester name on the blade but it does not impact the function and
is merely cosmetic. For the $20 plus change that I paid for this knife I have to say that I am well pleased with it. So pleased in fact that I have already put
in an order for 2 more. Keeping in mind that this is not some custom made super steel alloy $300 knife I believe that the quality is very good.
So what if you have to put a stone or a steel to the blade now and then. It is well worth the money, not tax, and maybe free shipping if you buy more than one or other items.I find the finger grooves fit my hand (extra large glove size) just peachy and if your hands get wet, or bloody, you might be glad that the grooves are there.
My only possible complaint might be the thin material of the two straps which hold the knife in the sheath. The could be a little more substantial since
they will get a lot of use but they are probably tougher than they seem to be and will be adequate.

I plan to give away these extra knives to my friends when I need a cool "guy gift". Even if they have no practical use for such an knife it is
a bad to the bone blade that has real major machismo appeal. I do like knives and have quite a few including the Kabar combat knife that I was issued in Danang, Viet Nam in 1970. I am no stranger to working blades and this one fits the bill. You can use it and abuse it without worrying about damaging your expensive drawer queen custom made knife. I plan to carry mine when I go ground hog hunting or into areas where there are a lot of wild berry bushes which you might need to ease your way through. You can buy this knife and feel like you made a good deal for yourself, you could do a lot worse.

Dennis "Doc" Thornton

Knife seemed fine, decent handle and good feel. The blade snapped off at the hilt the first day I took it out and it is now a piece of junk that I will be trying to return.

this knife looks awesome... but it sucks it is indeed full tang but the tang is tiny and crack within the first two hours of use. i was batoning through medium hard wood and it snapped in half i do not recommend this knife if u plan on chopping or batoning with it spend ten more bucks for the jungle primitive by sog great chopper and splitter

I loved this knife. It looked, felt and worked great for a while. I thought the handle was very comfortable and it held a decent edge. I hacked many a tree down. My son was using it while we were on a hiking trip also hacking trees and grazing a few rocks which dinged the edge up pretty good - this saddened me. Then it broke in half while he was chopping a small branch held in his hand. I saw it happen and couldn't believe my eyes. The tang snapped where it meets the blade and the brass guard went flying. After inspection, the tang was surprisingly thin. I'm talking about the distance from the finger groove side of the handle to the back edge of the handle - it was barely wide enough to cover the width of the brass rivets. Now, I have to say, my son could probably destroy an Abrams tank in a few short minutes but it was still a sad moment to see my beloved Winchester die. At least it left this world doing what it loved to do! We cremated it in the camp fire. The blade turned red and we bent it all up. The wood handle burned away and the brass melted. Good-bye old friend. RIP! I won't buy another one because the poorly designed tang is too dangerous and I couldn't bear to lose her again. Oh, by the way, I bought it at Bass Pro Shops not Amazon. I gave it 4 stars because I really liked it and it did chop down lots of trees. :-(

i bought this knife for 20 bucks at wallmart at first i thought it was cool but when i used it oh man it couldnt hold an edge or cut a small stick this knife is bad its a waste of 20 dollars dont buy it if you want a good knife then here are some good cheap american made knivesBuck 0119BKS-B Special Fixed Blade Knife[[ or [[ASIN:B001H53Q6M KA-BAR Full Size US Marine Corp Fighting Knife, Straight this one is made in china but its cheap and very durable and wont break and is also a throwing knife11" Full Tang Fire Starter Hunting Camping Knife W/flint and also this winchester is not made by gerber its shipped by gerber and i dont mean to offend you guys who like this knife but i say you should get one of these.

I got this as a Christmas gift i got to say i loved it. it was awesome i went out side and cut up some old 2X4's and some water jugs "well to be honest i cut up ever thing i saw" i tried throwing it. it did great but i messed a few times and the Handel hit the board a few times so when i threw it the next time the tang broke right around the hand guard i was kinda disappointed so instead of throwing it away i super glued it back together "not to use" and just put it on my wall because well its a damn bad ass knife so only 4 out of 5 because it is a great knife but most likely due to my fault it failed luckily i got another large knife for Christmas "i wont be throwing this one as much" so im covered for now but i will be buying a new one

The Knife I received was very much worth the price. The knife was already very sharp right when I opened it. The sheath for the knife is pretty good quality as well. I can't wait to put this knife to work. Overall, great knife, for a great cost.

The knife was exactly as describe and I received it very quick. We took it hicking it was very handy for multiple task.