Regardless of whether a frontiersman carried a simple pocket-sized folding knife, a skinner, a camp knife or a full-sized fighting blade, he generally went “heeled” with some sort of cutting tool. Most carried two or more knives—each for a specific purpose. However, of all the various types of knives used in the Old West, none has gained the fame and reputation of the Bowie. On the frontier, any knife with a blade of seven or more inches in length qualified as a Bowie, although i


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