Puma Bowie Hunting Knife Review

Solingen, Germany, has long been recognized as a prominent knife crafting center. The craftsmen located there have developed a long-standing reputation for producing high quality knives. In addition, Puma Knives has long been a part of this German tradition of producing fine quality cutlery.

Thus, the Puma Bowie knife is a fine example of this German tradition it features an overall length of 11 1/2” with a 6”, California Clip Point blade made from 440C stainless steel with a hollow, saber grind hardened to 57-60 Rockwell.

In addition, this knife also features a stainless steel bolster with a single quillion and full-tang with naturally dropped, stag antler, handle slabs and it includes a fine quality leather sheath.

Like the Puma White Hunter knife, the Puma Bowie has always lived in my memory as a shining icon of what a production hunting knife should look like. In fact, when I was a kid, I recall that local hardware stores were very common and every hardware store you went into had display cases full of Case, Buck and Old Timer knives.

Occasionally, you would run across a special store that has a display of German-made Puma knives. Thus, just like every other budding knife aficionado, I too would spend countless minutes staring at those cases until I was forcefully dragged away by a parent. But, I never forgot the Puma Bowie knife and I have always wanted to own one ever since.

Puma Bowie Features:

In fact, the Puma Bowie is actually a very well-designed hunting knife with its 6” clip point blade made from 440C steel (one of my favorite knife steels) and its graceful edge and sweep. Consequently, this knife would be large enough to take on really large game such as hippo or crocodiles; and yet, hold an edge throughout the entire process.

Plus, with a 16% to 18% Chromium content, this steel is highly corrosion resistant. In addition, as a compliment to the fine steel blade, the Puma Bowie features handle slabs made from the antlers of the wild stag (similar to some of these small sized EDC blades) which are formed via a meticulous manufacturing process to make this knife a truly unique, one-of-a-kind hunting tool.

The said process goes this way:

• First, each scale is boiled, stabilized and dried over a period of weeks.
• Next, the slabs are individually cut and hand fitted to the knife and brass rivets are then used to attach the scales to the tang.
• Last, the rivet heads are filed and finally, the handle is burnished to a precise size and shape for optimal fit and function.

Therefore, the Puma Bowie will always live in my memory as a shining example of what a high quality hunting knife should be.

In addition, although owning a knife made in Solingen, Germany may no longer mean what it once did amongst knife aficionados, Puma Knives are still made with the same quality materials, meticulous hand-craftsmanship, and acute attention to detail that they always have been. Thus, we would be proud to own a Puma Bowie knife or any of their knives that they produce.