LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – With Sunday as National Inventor’s Day, it’s a good time to bring up a classic Arkansas inventor who put the Natural State on the innovation map early on.
As the legend has it, James Black (1800–1872) was responsible for crafting the first Bowie knife at his blacksmith shop in Washington, in Hempstead County in 1831. The knife was made popular by legendary frontiersman Jim Bowie (1796–1836) who later died at the Alamo.
Only in Arkansas: Historic Bowie Knife
According to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Encylopedia of Arkansas , Black had perfected the necessary multi-step process used to forge the knife. This led to him having a reputation as a quality knife maker, which Bowie sought out.
A Bowie knife is known for its trademark curve near the point and a handguard to keep the user’s grip from slipping.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a Washington, Arkansas, newspaper article in 1841 credited Black with forging the first Bowie knife for Jim Bowie. This is important, as others have taken credit for the knife’s design and initial forging, including Bowie’s brother Rezin who said Jesse Clifft made the first knife out of a file at his shop in Louisiana.