Cool Customs: Denis Tyrell’s Ice Blue Bowie

Denis Tyrell’s Ice Blue Bowie Showcases The Journeyman Smith’s Skills At Forging A Blade And Stylizing A Knife

Denis Tyrell’s Ice Blue Bowie is one cool sub-hilt fixed blade—so cool, in fact, that it recently won The Bowie Knife Challenge shown on 18 different YouTube channels.

The 14-inch bowie features a near-full-flat-ground blade of Tyrell’s Snowflake mosaic damascus, a stabilized wood handle and hot-blued fittings of a twisted damascus. The bowie is in a takedown construction with the pommel nut securing the handle and guard to the knife.

Tyrell, who helped organize the challenge along with a friend, won the first challenge this past June too, which consisted of competing gyutos shown across 10 different YouTube channels. Each winner was determined by a vote of viewers watching the makers. 

You can search “Tyrell Knifeworks” on YouTube to watch the past challenges and see the knifemakers in action. You can watch Tyrell make the Ice Blue Bowie in all its glory below.

Tyrell Knifeworks

Tyrell is a journeyman smith who moved to California in 2001 from his native Canada. He specializes in custom damascus knives. From his shop in Livermore, a moderate-sized city on the Eastern edge of San Francisco Bay, Tyrell runs a series of forging courses. 

His courses range from introductory classes in how to forge or how to make your first damascus pattern all the way up to more intense fare. He teaches specific classes on mosaic and feather damascus as well as, one of his most popular courses, a course teaching folks how to make copper-layered damascus. 

For more information, go to YouTube, enter “Tyrell Knifeworks”, and look for the challenge of your choice.You can watch Denis make the Ice Blue Bowie in the video below.

Ice Blue Bowie Knife Specs

Knife: Ice Blue Bowie

Blade length: 8 inches

Blade material: Snowflake damascus

Handle: Stabilized wood

Fittings: Twisted damascus

Steels: 1095 and 15N20 (both the blade and fittings)

Overall length: 14 inches

Maker’s list price for a similar piece: $2,000

For more on the Ice Blue Bowie, contact Denis Tyrell, Dept. BL2, 1305 Boxwood Ct., Livermore, CA 94551 tyrrellknifeworks@gmail.com, tyrellknifeworks.com.

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