I love big, fixed blade knives – you can do more with them, than a smaller knife when out in the field camping, hunting or surviving. However, I don’t like a fixed blade knife that is too big, either – they are too heavy to carry and too heavy for a of chores as well. About 25 years ago, my lovely wife, bought me a Gryphon Knives M-35 fixed blade knife. It is one of the best of the best, Bowie knives I’ve had the pleasure of owning. Sure, there are other Bowies that are better – but not “that” much better – an not even close to this one for the price. I like this M-35 so much, I now have a brace of them!
The trend these days for a lot of American cutlery makers are having their knives produced in Taiwan (free China), and to a lesser extent, in mainland China (the oppressive PRC). You may have read that Seki City, Japan used to be the world leader in top-of-the-line knives. Today, not many knives are being made in Seki City. One reason is, that having knives made there is a very expensive proposition. Then again, you are getting some outstanding cutlery. Many Japanese warriors of the past had their Katanas made in Seki. They demanded the best!
Cutlery Shoppe, in Meridian, Idaho is run by Jeff Loffer, and he’s a really good guy to do business with. I used to make a lot of trips to his then walk-in shop, and we’d visit a lot. He knows quality blades and tools. 15 years ago, I moved from the east side of Oregon to the west side. So I haven’t had a chance to visit with Loffer. He no longer has a walk-in store – too bad. However, you can check out his extensive line of products on his up-to-date website – and be prepared to spend hours poring over his products.
The Gryphon M-35 Bowie is made in Seki City, Japan so you know its quality from the start. My original M-35 came in a ballistic Nylon sheath – current knives come in a nice black Kydex sheath – and I’m not sure if one sheath is preferred over the other – six of one, half a dozen of another. The M-35 has a 7.5-inch blade, made out of AUS-8A – and I really like this stainless steel material It is a steel that is akin to our own ATS-34 stainless steel. AUS-8A is not only affordable, but extremely tough. It takes an edge and holds it a good long time, and it is rather easy to re-sharpen this steel. The blade of the Gryphon M-35 Bowie is bead blasted in a nice soft non-reflective finish.
The handle is black Kraton – a hard, but not too hard rubber grip – I like it – a lot! There is no upper guard on the knife, as you might expect from a Bowie-type knife – and this knife doesn’t need it – with no upper guard, it makes for a much easier fixed blade to wield for various survival chores. This is a full-tang blade, and as the end of the butt, is a nice lanyard ring – comes in handy in many circumstances and weather conditions – if you attach a lanyard to it.
Of course, the upper front portion of the blade has that famous Bowie “swedge” to it – not overly done, as you might find on many Bowie-type knives. And, let’s be clear on this, no one knows for certain what the original Bowie Knife looked like that was designed by legendary knife fighter, Jim Bowie – who died at the Alamo.
The M-35 comes razor-sharp, right out of the box. And in many years of using mine they held an edge a good long time, very easy to re-sharpen as well. There is a finger stop on the bottom of the grip, so that your hand won’t slip off the grip, forward onto the blade – nice! The Kraton hard rubber grip is also deeply checkered, and that gives you an even better grip on the knife under adverse conditions. The M-35 only weighs in at a mere 11.8-ounces – so it is lightweight and easy to use all day long.
You’ll note in one of the photos with this article, that I keep one of my two M-35 Bowie Knives, attached to my military A.L.I.C.E. gear. I’m not a real strong believer in carrying a bayonet. I don’t see myself leading a bayonet charge against enemy soldiers. However, I do picture myself in an End Of The World scenario, where I’d be carrying some type of AR-15] rifle or carbine, and part of my gear is my A.L.I.C.E. pistol belt with everything needed to survive for several days out in the wilderness – along with my BOB (Bug Out Bag). A really good fixed blade knife can make the difference between surviving and dying.
I’m old school, in that, I grew up with a military A.L.I.C.E. pistol belt setup. It just seems to work better for me than some of the more modern combat gear. The buttpack alone is a great piece of kit – you can carry all manner of survival gear and food inside one of these packs. And, there is room for a good fixed blade knife on my pistol belt. Every full set of web gear needs to have a fixed blade knife of some sort.
In a survival situation, I would prefer to have a nice small camp or military shovel, and that makes life a lot easier if you have to do some digging – for whatever reason. Yeah, you can use a big fixed blade knife for digging. However be advised you can easily ruin a knife – it doesn’t take much effort to break-off the tip of a knife, by digging and hitting some rocks. And, to be sure, you will dull the blade on any knife in short order, and a dull knife isn’t of much use to you at that point.
During my testing of the M-35, I put this blade through every type of test I could think of. The testing included my usual thick blackberry vines – live ones as well as long-dead one. The dead vines are actually much harder to cut through with a single swipe of any knife. However, the M-35 made very fast work of this test. I cutting polymer rope – a very tough chore for any knife – many knives will simply slide right off this slick rope – the M-35 made quick work of this test. Cutting open cardboard boxes – a piece of cake. Then stabbing this blade into stacked cardboard – thick cardboard – and I couldn’t quite “stab” the knife up to the hilt – but it came close. I even tried my hand at throwing the knife to see if I could get it to stick in some long-dead trees – never could make it stick – not the fault of the knife – it was my lack of talent more than anything.
I wouldn’t ordinarily use this particular knife for hand-to-hand combat, but I wouldn’t feel under-armed at all. For such a big knife, it is very quick in the hand, when practicing some knife fighting moves. I used to teach knife fighting to some of my Black Belt martial arts students – those who wanted to learn this type of fighting (i.e. fighting for your life). The M-35 is quick in the hand, as I stated, much faster than you’d think it would be. The black Kraton hard rubber handle made sure the knife didn’t slip out of your hand. That would not be a good thing when going hand-to-hand.
One test I rarely do is getting my hands wet or greasy and then see how well I can keep a grip on the knife – the Gryphon had no problem staying in my hands when using it – the deep checkering on the handle was a real joy to use. I also did some chopping on some fallen trees – not a good thing with just a knife – an axe is better for the job. However, I was able to chop some kindling for a fire started.
There are so many so-called “survival knives” on the market that it can make your head spin. Many of these survival knives are nothing special or based on fictional movies – and they just don’t work very well. Bigger isn’t always better if you ask me. The Bowie knife design has been around for almost two hundred years, and while we’ll probably never know what the original Bowie knife looked like, we have all manner of Bowie pattern knives out there to pick from, and some makers believe bigger is always better – and many of those knives don’t even come sharpened, but they look great – on your desk.
The M-35 is one of the absolute best deals in a knife of this type, and it can double for many tasks you might put it to work for. Right now, Cutlery Shoppe is selling the M-35 for only $99.99 – and this is one steal of a deal if you ask me – for so much knife. You can also purchase the knife alone for $50 if you have a sheath that will fit it. I’d go for the knife with the sheath – you can’t go wrong. And Cutlery Shoppe has always been known for fast shipping and great customer service. You’ll really appreciate this knife once you get it in your hand.