Hi Mark! this topic is actually right up your alley, and I didn't know you were from the Ohio valley......at one time very much a western frontier in our country.
The topic of Jim Bowie, along with Davy Crockett and other figures of American folklore and history, is indeed fascinating, and the colorful hyperbole previously mentioned is unfortunately sometimes the nemesis of the historian. It must be remembered that this method of conveyance is often employed in oral history, which in times of profound illiteracy and particularly before developments of writing and alphabets, was the way history and tradition were preserved. With literacy, came metaphor, and this device became well known in literature, even in many instances in the translation of the Bible. In the close adherence to this literary 'style' and the mythology of the classics, virtually the only books around in early days, so followed the developing works of the storyteller and later dime novels.
In research on the the Bowie knife years ago, I acquired a copy of "The Iron Mistress", a colorful and fantastic story of this fabled frontier knife, I call it a story, rather than history as it includes fantastic tales, which served well for the later movie based on it, starring Alan Ladd.
Authors for many years struggled to find the historically based facts on Bowie and his knife, and I think that Norm Flayderman presented probably the most reliable data in his book, "The Bowie Knife", a beautifully produced book with more breathtaking photos of these and associated frontier knives than I've ever seen in one place! Coincidentally, he had just finished the book as I was doing my research, and I got my copy from him...unfortunately it is a pretty big book and I couldnt smuggle it into the 'bookmobile'
I cannot think offhand of titles that might address specifically Lafitte, but his friendship with Bowie would likely be mentioned in reliable biographies on him, and the Flayderman book, as always, has comprehensive bibliographies.
In my travels one of our favorite places is Old Washington, Arkansas, where the blacksmith shop of James Black still exists, though restored. There are resident blacksmiths still pounding out knives, and I spoke to one as he pounded on an old forge, it was almost surreal. This little town still has the antebellum houses, and dirt roads that were there are still around in places.
The blacksmith there, as he forged a red hot piece of steel, told me of James Black, the one thing to notice about his knives was that he always 'notched' his blades. This is a key note, as the Bowie brothers were involved in a number of 'enterprises' many of which were centered in New Orleans (which is why I cannot see why Bowie would not have known Lafitte). James was originally from Louisiana, and in those early days 'Tejas' was a wild Mexican frontier, exuberant from recent independance from Spain.
The reason I mention the notched blades (near the top of the back of the blade) is that this was characteristic of 'Meditteranean knives', its purpose unknown. Jim Bowie was very familiar with these knives and the techniques of the knifefighting from Spain and its ports, known as 'baratero'. The pirate king himself, Jean Lafitte, termed his nominally autonomous kingdom 'Barateria' referring to this dynamic characteristic of New Orleans in those times.
If the experience at the blacksmith shop was not surreal enough, driving into Mississippi, seeing these cities, going to the Blacksmith shop of Jean Lafitte's time in New Orleans and seeing buildings that were old by the time of Jim Bowie and Jean Lafitte was amazing. The pinnacle of it all was to visit the Alamo in San Antonio, and the incredible aura of reverence it maintains, even amidst the explosion of huge buildings amidst which it is nestled.
Aiontay, very good note on the use of the thumbnail, but I think this was more of a fighting technique than an actual weapon. Much as in 'street fighting' , there are no real rules in combat, especially hand to hand.
As noted, old bayonets were certainly present, just as many old military weapons were refurbished into all manner of tools and weapons.
It is important to remember that for all the modern technology of the times, post Revolutionary War and well into the 19th century, the bane of firearms was the lack of ammunition and powder. One of the main reasons that smoothbore firearms remained preferred by many among American Indian tribes is that powder was much easier to obtain than catridges in the later years of the 19th century after invention of percussion caps.
Good discussions on this are found in "Arming America" (Bellasiles), a controversial book, however with fascinating historical perspective, despite some seemingly politically motivated issues. Mostly the book talks about common assumptions about actual numbers of firearms in colonial America, how effectively they were used, and much emphasis on supplies etc.
For this reason in early times, the knife was essential on America's frontiers, and any old edged weapon, or even bladed tool, was crafted into ersatz forms of knife, as in the wilderness, it was depended on for utility, dressing game, and a weapon as needed. Guns were notably unreliable, and there were not blacksmiths nor gunsmiths readily available for mountain men or frontiersmen.
The flatboat men were likely better equipped, as thier very trade depended on constant visits to ports of call on the navigable rivers, and they were carrying supplies which included large numbers of imported tools and weapons from major cities.
All very best regards,
Jim