In World at War, the Bowie Knife will not be lost on death, remaining with the player after death. In Zetsubou No Shima, the Bowie Knife reduces the time needed to cut through webs woven by the Spiders.
It is better than the starting knife as the player's melee will become more powerful. However, sometimes the player may not get it before it loses its one-hit-kill status, making it somewhat of a waste of 3000 points. The Bowie Knife does not feature in Ascension and Call of the Dead due to its replacement for a new melee weapon, the Sickle.
The Bowie Knife is very large, possibly one foot in length (by comparison to other weapons bought off the wall) and is anywhere from three to five inches in width (until the curve). Most likely made of steel, shined and a light grayish tint.
Locations
Der Riese - Opposite of the big door leading to Teleporter Z-C.(The door in the area near the power switch.)
Kino der Toten - In the theater seating area, to the right of the main doors, to the left of Juggernog.
"Five" - In the lab room on the left hand side when the player comes out of the elevator.
Moon - In the second floor of the labs, it is above the staircase frame leading to the third floor and must be jumped to. It is significantly easier to reach with the room decompressed, however a well timed sprint and jump can reach it with normal gravity.
Bowie knife in Shangri-La, seen through the Trailer.
The Bowie Knife on Call of the Dead, achieved on PC with console commands.
The chalk outline of the Bowie Knife.
The Bowie Knife in Black Ops III
Trivia
Upon purchasing the Bowie Knife, the character examines and comments on it before holstering it, leaving the player vulnerable to any zombies close to them. This is not the case in the mobile version of Der Riese.
In Call of Duty: World at War's game files, the knife is treated as a perk, however the achievement/trophy Perkaholics Anonymous can be unlocked even when in possession of the Bowie Knife and the player doesn't lose it upon death.
When the Bowie Knife is swung, a sound of metal being sharpened is heard, except when using the M2 Flamethrower.
The Bowie Knife has blood stains on it, even before any use.
Occasionally on the Nintendo Wii, it is impossible to buy the Bowie Knife off the wall after a player has bought it and died.
On Kino der Toten, the big teddy bear in Samantha's zombified room is holding a massive Bowie Knife.
The Bowie Knife is one of eight objects that are found in the "Fly Trap" easter egg.
In the Call of Duty: Black Ops version of Der Riese, the Bowie Knife is upside down and is lower than in Call of Duty: World at War.
In Call of Duty: World at War, the prompt to buy the Bowie Knife is not removed after the knife has been purchased.
A metallic sound is heard when the knife is bought from the wall when the character examines it, except in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, the player can select camouflages from multiplayer as the camouflage for the Bowie Knife in Local Zombies but not in online.
In online, all of the Campaign camouflages are unlocked for it by default.
A Bowie Knife can be seen above a doorway on the map Hunted.
Fidel Castro can be seen holding the Bowie Knife in the opening cutscene of "Five".
In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, it is possible to get the Bowie Knife in Multiplayer via using a glitch. However, the weapon does not appear unless doing the melee animation with it. The Bowie Knife also has its own icon in the kill feed.