I also read where the Confederate D-guard Bowie knives were made from wagon wheel rims and springs. Those items were an excellent source of tempered steel. The D-guard Bowies ranged from detailed and finely made knives at gunsmiths and farm implement foundrys to crude examples made at a local forge.

During the war the Leech and Rigdon gunworks at Columbus Mississippi and the Nashville Plow Works made fine D-guard Bowies.