ABS founding member Bill Bagwell has passed away
KNIFE Magazine is saddened to report the passing of legendary master bladesmith Bill Bagwell, one of the four founding members of the American Bladesmith Society. Bill became a full-time knifemaker in 1969 and is believed to have been the second modern bladesmith to achieve the making of pattern welded damascus steel. In addition to pattern welded steel, Bill also perfected cable damascus techniques and frequently used plain carbon steel in his blades as well.
Working from locations in Vivian, LA; Niceville, FL; Marietta, TX and a stint as the resident ‘smith at the recreated James Black forge in Washington, AR, Bagwell was influenced by early bowie knife designs and was keenly interested in knife fighting techniques. He built his reputation not only on his knives, but also on the knife writing he did for such magazines as Soldier of Fortune and Tactical Knives. He also authored a book: Bowies, Big Knives, and the Best of Battle Blades (2000). His knife combat techniques have even been taught as part of the Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg.
Two Bagwell fighting bowies. Top is an example of the “Hell’s Belle”.
Many of Bagwell’s bowies had long but well balanced blades that were very quick in the hand. His best known design is surely the “Hell’s Belle”, a slender coffin hilt with clip point blade and a C-shaped guard derived from the Bart Moore bowie. In the late 1990s Ontario Knife Co. offered a well executed production version of this knife and a couple more Bagwell designs, which have a strong collector following today.
A fiery and opinionated personality, Bill Bagwell pulled no punches and held strong to his convictions. This caused some rifts through the course of his career and has certainly denied him more recognition for his contributions to our community, but I don’t think that Bill cared. He was his own man, and all will agree that he was a skilled and dedicated bladesmith who made a hell of a fighting bowie and influenced a great many knifemakers and knife-fighting practitioners.
May he rest in peace.
Photos courtesy Sidra Bagwell
Lauria
So very sorry for the loss of Mr. Bill may he rest in peace. I hope he and my recently deceased brother Master Blade/bladesmith Chris Marks and the other gentlemen that recently passed away ring the anvil proudly in heaven.
Jeff Harris
Very good report, as usual! You tagged all the bases. Mark, you are an excellent journalist and it is an honor to call you my friend. Be well and stay safe.
Craig Lints
I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Bagwell several times in the last few months about some knives he made in the 80’s. He was very engaging and informative about each of the knives that we spoke about.
Thanks for a great article on Bill and acknowledging his contributions to the world of knife making.
RIP. BB
Ronald
When I heard Bill had passed away, I couldn’t believe it, he was the kind of guy who’d think would go down swinging his big Bowie knife. I first met Bill in 1980 and we became friends right off. We went on a couple of bear hunts together in Canada
I call his wife today and she is doing OK, she has a lot of Bills friends close by looking out for her.
He will be missed by many. RIP old friend
Jim stoddard
Very gratifying to see Mark’s respectful words here, and I mourn this gentleman’s passing as well. Until I acquired one of his early pieces and had the pleasure of attaining it’s history from Bill, I thought I’d satisfied the Bowie niche of my collection. It led me into a study & enthusiasm that I relish to this day, and I am proud to have engaged with the man.
May his family find peace, and his legacy thrive,
Jim Stoddard
Chris Z.
I inherited one of Bill’s 5x folded Hell’s Belle bowies and looked up Bill to see how to care for and operate the knife correctly. I came out to his house and he showed me his forge and spent a couple of hours of bowie training to supplement my prior experience. He was still amazing with his blades and didn’t hold back a bit with those training blades. Afterwards, Bill and I hit the range and he was ringing steel with his black powder 45-70 at 500 yds. like clockwork.
We had a great day and I’ve talked to him regularly over the years. I was getting ready to call him and let him know his Bowie is deployed to war again and still doing the work, this time with my son in Iraq.
He will certainly be missed.
Kevin
I am sorry to hear this. I have a copy of his book and he did indeed sound like someone who spoke his mind and believed in what he said.
Dan Stanberry
I am saddened to learn of Bills passing. We grew up together in North Louisiana ( Vivian) and rode motorcycles together in the early years. I worked at his parents bowling alley inn High School. Later on in life I owned the local Honda motorcycle dealership and Bill was starting to peruse his knife making skills. I have two of his very early Damascus blades. at that time only 4 bladesmiths in the U.S. were able to produce the process on a consistent basis.
Bill was certainly one of a kind and will be missed by those of us who knew him.
May he rest in peace
Dan Stanberry
Thomas Stearns
I just very happily inherited a Damascus knife from one of Bill’s childhood friends that was his 3rd Damascus knife he ever made. I am a huge knife fan/atic and will cherish this one as a favorite from a good friend Mr. Dan Stanberry. My dad was a founding Ranger instructor at the Florida Ranger Camp and I have a few of his knives that had seen some major action in Vietnam.