Cold Steel 97BWM12S Bowie Machete with Sheath

Don't be fooled by the price or people who say this is a novelty knife. The bowie design is obviously well proven as an outdoor knife and the 1055 steel on this is very strong and functional. Easy to sharpen but holds a good edge. This thing is built to take a beating. It has a just the right amount of flex if thats what you want to call it but it's still thick enough and stout enough to stab. Its also full tang. The factory edge on mine was not that great but after running it through my work-sharp I hacked down 2 oak saplings about 8inches in diameter and then several limbs just to see how it held up and you could tell no difference on the edge at all. Ive done a lot more chopping since then and after putting that first good edge on it I can resharpen it with just a stone in a few minutes. It would make an excellent and durable survival knife because while a full size machete would be much better for constantly chopping a ton of vegetation this blade CAN do it while also being stout enough and sharp enough to do tasks that you'd use a bowie knife for like skinning or defense. It's still really light for what it is (less than a pound) and I carry it every time I'm in the woods. It's just a good all around workhorse for whatever comes your way. The finish on mine has actually held up great so far and none of it has come off. I also see some reviews where people didn't care for the sheath but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's stitched and riveted together with a tip guard that's also riveted. It's not floppy or thin like a lot of machete sheaths, it's thicker and feels well made. I haven't had the knife move around at all. I would like to see the retraining strap positioned lower on the handle so that it eliminates the possibly of it sliding upward in the sheath and exposing any of the blade but so far that has not been an issue at all. I have a lot of knives in different styles and price ranges but if I could only have 3 this would have to be one of them for the durability and ease of sharpening. No complaints from me for the price! **2 year update** Still loving everything about this knife. I've used it for 2 years now and most of that use was splitting lighter pine for fire building. And believe me I have split a ton of it and used it to process wood while camping. I also used it when skinning a deer and hacked the leg bones off at the joints no problem. This knife is still going strong and has held up great. No chipping on the blade or damage to the handle at all. The finish is actually still looking good on mine too which is rather shocking. I've touched the edge up on my Worksharp maybe 4 times in the last 2 years. A belt sharpener will put a convex edge on a blade which makes it a great chopper that won't chip. I've been impressed with this knife to the point that I purchased 2 more. I haven't used them, I just wanted some extras incase they ever stop making them. The sheath is still working great and this blade so light weight and easy to carry on your belt but packs a ton of usefulness. For the money this is probably my best knife purchase ever.

Sixteen dollars! I paid sixteen dollars for this thing and I am amazed that you can get this much knife for such a small amount. Out of the box it had what I would call a "machete edge". That is, it was ground, but not sharpened. And the grind, both bottom and top, was even and well done. It turns out that the 1055 steel is quite easy to work with. The top edge was really rough and I used my AccuSharp to work the edge into shape. But I also had to go over it lightly with a small triangular file to smooth out the burrs. Not wanting that upper portion of the blade to be too sharp, that little bit of clean up work (five minutes) brought it into the condition I wanted. The bottom edge was more finished than the top, but not very sharp. So the AccuSharp came into play again and when I thought it had done all it could, I reached for my favorite sharpener--the Rada. (Actually, when used in tandem, those two little beauties will handle almost any blade you have.) I pulled the edge through the wheels of the Rada, oh, maybe 50 or 60 times, slowly and deliberately, not using much downward pressure. End result: an edge that glides through paper with that nice, "swishing" sound that a keen edge will make. You can shave your arms, etc., if you want, but I will stick to the paper test, thank you very much. The handle is quite comfortable and "grippy", although I did need to trim off a little flashing along the mold line, hardly enough to notice. The sheath is of good quality--heavy fabric with several rivets, a nice plastic tip (no drain hole, but you could drill one easily enough ) and a retaining strap with a real button-snap. I have a knife collection of modest size (assuming that several dozen fixed blade knives can be called a"modest" collection) and I think I am reasonably qualified to give an opinion on this CS product. Here it is: You won't find a better knife for $16. Ever. Period. This is an amazing product that can be had at an almost ridiculously low cost. I put maybe 15 or 20 minutes of my time into bringing those edges around, and this thing is sharp! Devoting a little time and effort in cleaning it up, you'll be very happy with what you bought. For sixteen dollars!

So far happy with it. I wanted a low cost option to toss into my vehicle or my backpack when hiking and to clear trails when driving off-road (so low hanging branches or shrubs don't scratch up my SUV anymore than necessary, haha.) The handle to me is just right - fills my hand and has great traction without any significant 'hot spots.' It came with a serviceable edge for a chopping tool but like most people probably will, I touched it up myself and it "bites" and cuts very nicely now. It's light but has enough weight behind it to have some chopping power. The point is wickedly sharp (due largely to the sharpened "swedge" or "false edge" on the top leading edge of the blade.) If I had a complaint, it would be that I have often seen this type of handle (plastic, molded around the "tang") break when subjected to heavy work. To me it would have been possible to make this a true 'full tang' implement with the metal running all the way through and handle scales glued/screwed/riveted to each side. It would be much more durable and probably would not greatly increase cost. Just me. The sheath is very nice although you may want to get a more durable one of those too if you intend to use this knife frequently or long term. I could see it fraying over time. Overall, great value for $30 or so.

I like this knife. Just know what it is. It is a machete chopped down and ground to look like a Bowie knife. It doesn't balance like a fighting knife, but is blade heavy like a machete. I did not find this to be much of a problem as it balances only two inches forward of the guard. The blade is a foot long hunk of carbon steel. While not hardened as much a other knives (as it is still a machete), it holds a wicked edge and has decent edge retention. The edge is rough, but evenly ground. The spine is ground, but not sharpened. I put a rough edge on it, and finished the main edge on my edge pro. The black enamel seems tough and gives an even matte black look. The handle is a classic design with "nubbin" on the pommel. The tang is full length, and in fact can be seen through the lanyard hole. It is black plastic and deeply checkered. If you hold onto it, it will hold back. The sheath is a nylon webbing affair with a plastic insert and outer plastic tip guard. The blade is held in place by and web band and snap. The belt loop will accommodate mot belt widths. The sheath is simple, but of decent quality. Overall a real beast of a bowie. A great value considering its cutting and chopping abilities. Could be pressed into a defensive purpose easily, and would be a effective as a machete. Perhaps more if the pine i sharpened. Great value and good quality. Would recommend.

This machete/knife is nothing beautiful at all to look at (actually kind of ugly), but it is highly functional. The blade is a full 12 inches with a tang that goes fully to end of the polypropylene handle. This is extremely important for strength. I feel this blade is unlikely to break off at the handle. I'm a tall, lanky female and the handle fits my hands perfectly. The steel metal edge has obviously been ground down to a sharp edge leaving metal shavings attached all along the length of the blade edge. It is however, very sharp and I handle it with due respect. When looking at the black painted blade from the side, the texture of the metal looks very similar to a wood grain and one might even think it was a piece of painted wood but it definitely isn't. I think it will rust, but still that's no big deal with this blade. Some steel wool should remove it but since it's carbon steel I can't expect it not to rust up if left exposed to the elements. The sheath that comes with it is pure basic functionality - black nylon with a band and snap to hold the hilt. I bought two of these knives, one for me and one for my husband. I don't know if I'll ever use my knife but I like knowing it's nearby if I ever need it. We go camping a lot and I will take it with me then. Girls! If a bad person ever tries to attack you and you pull one of these babies on him, only a true fool would continue the attack! This thing could chop a head off or at least do some extremely serious damage to anyone stupid enough to try to attack someone defending themselves with this knife.

Wonderful, one the best bowies I have ever owned. I have six other bowie knife, as well as the Marbles bowie machete. This is better than any of them, Comes sharp, has nice blade thickness with little flex, and has reach at almost 18" overall. This will be great for self defense, it is long, menacing looking, and the sharp tip can penetrate thick clothing. Even though it comes sharp, it does not hurt to give it a few strokes with a knife sharpener. It's made of high carbon steel, 1055 medium grade, and is easy to sharpen.. Was not planning to buy it at the time, even though I had always wanted one, but It was only $15 when I saw it though, and I could not pass that up. I suggest everyone who wants one buy it at this affordable price. UPDATE: So I have had an opportunity to test this knife with other bowie knives and machetes of all types, I have over 30 in my collection. It may not be as large, it fits better in the hand than the Cold Steel Magnum Kukri, larger and tougher than the Marbles Jungle bowie knife machete, even better than the replica machete used in the "Book of Eli" movie, in fact, if I could only have one knife in the "zombie Apocalypse", this would be the one. Sharp, heavy, and well proportioned, almost 18" long, double sided blade, and made out of 1055 hard carbon steel. I will handle almost any demand of the bush or urban combat, even just yard work at your house.

I mean, it's a machete, so the steel is not a very strong steel, the blade is fairly thin, and it is pretty lightweight. But it;s kinda good for a short machete. I repeat, its a short machete, a little shorter than the 14 inch tramontina and longer than the 12 inch, so in the range. it does hack pretty nice, and stabs good, but the tip broke off when I stabbed a pine tree about 3 times. broke about 2 mm maybe? so I just sharpened the whole blade to sharpness. anyways, I havent tried it out too much yet. the $39 it goes for now is high for a price, I would say about $20 or 24 or so would be the right price. less than $30 though.

This knife is a beast and for me it was worth every penny. I used it to hack about 40 square yards of very over grown thorn brush some vines easily over 2 inches in diameter and it performed flawlessly with only one small chip about 3 inches above the handle when everything was said and done and that was with the factory edge (which is a utility edge hich really surprised me . For ~$20 you get a 12inch blade of 1055 carbon steel its reasonably thick for what it is albeit a little thin for my taste, a checkered rubber type handle with a lanyard hole and a beavertail (little teardrop shaped protrusion at the end of the handle) which really came in handy with hard swings, a cordura sheath with belt loop its a little flimsy but gets the job done and i think it will last. The swedge on the clip point is partially sharpened and can be honed to a decent cutting edge with some effort and patience. Overall im very satisfied with my purchase and would reccomend this knife to anyone looking for a utility or self defense blade

Für eine Machete zu kurz, für ein Messer ist die Klinge mit 2,8mm Stärke zu schwach und zu flexibel. Die Schneide war mit Lackflecken verschmutzt, welche ich mit Lacklöser entfernen musste. Auf dem Klingenrücken befand sich ein Grat, welchen ich abpfeilen musste. Zudem Musste ich ein paar Plastikfransen vom Griff abpfeilen. -Altbekanntes Prozedere bei Macheten von Cold Steel. Die Schärfe ist ab Werk super gewesen, die Spitze ist sehr spitz. -Ich denke aber, dass die Spitzte beim ausgiebigen Gebrauch abbrechen wird.

Its a good machete retains sharpness but the tip should be treated properly it bends easily

Great knife, can't wait to get it out in the bush for some choppin. Bevels arrived pretty much perfect, sharpened top at the tip. should be good. It's disappointing that the Ad is misleading this is the new generation in 65Mn which is no problem - puts it closer to 1065 steel. I'm 100% fine with it being manufactured and produced overseas. Make sure you're accurately telling people what they're buying as others are not so carefree with their hard earned $$$'s

She's straight & ground well....I'm happy Update Nov/2025...I quickly ordered 2 more....2nd one was from SA as well however the 3rd one was the Chinesium Mn65 instead of 1055; that being said the Chinese one was flawless...thicker blade steel and perfectly ground & finished....I'm gonna beat the Chinese one mercilessly and make Joe X proud lol ;)

I would love to have given it 5 stars, the only fault in the machete is the oil used to preserve the steel has damaged the powdercoat substantially in two places.