I just completed this Large Bowie project for a customer that was looking to get a large size Bowie that had the performance properties of carbon steel. He previously had a factory Bowie of a similar size, but had problems with maintaining the edge, and some of the fittings had loosened.
The Bowie pictured above is the final result. The steel is 432 layer random damascus made up of 15n20 and 1095 carbon steel. I initiated some of the random pattern by putting a few grooves into the billet surface before I forged the bar to the final knife shape. The blade is 9 1/4 inches long, and the handle/guard assembly is 5 1/2 inches.
I also hand tooled and hand stiched the leather sheath. The leather is 6 layers thick at the mouth in order for the guard to sit nicely. I also seperated the snap rivet from the inside of the sheath by a full layer of leather to insure no scratching of the knife surface. The stiching was pretty tricky, about 20 feet of waxed linen thread. I only broke one needle in the process, although I switched to stronger harness needles early in the project to make sure they would stand up to the abuse.
Without a doubt, this is the best knife I have ever made, and I'm really happy with the final result. It makes me really look forward to my next project.