Knife

[Chris Evans]

David,

The differentiator between a `cuchillo” and a `cuchilla’ (feminine gender) is primarily by the extent of the blade’s belly, the more pronounced ones belong to the last mentioned class. Often the differentiation is not easy to make because `cuchillos’ also have a belly and a significant overlap exists.

`Cuchillo/cuchilla de campo’ generally refer to sturdy utilitarian knives of substantial size and does not refer to a specific traditional sub-type of regional knives. Domenech acknowledges in this thread, post #27, that he arbitrarily made up this class of knives in his book Dagas De Plata: http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros...riollos-3.html.

Domenech’s rather late and narrow definition is not necessarily shared by others, as exemplified by this knife from the renowned Argentinean blade smith Gugliotta: http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros...o-rustico.html
And all of these are considered also `cuchillos de campo’: http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros...-de-campo.html


So if we use Domench’s definition then it cannot be a `cuchillo de campo’ and it must be either a mere `cuchillo’ (knife!) or a `cuchilla’ (a knife with a pronounced belly). However, I still class it as a `cuchillo de campo’ or perhaps a `cuchilla de campo’

Since the genre made its appearance rather late, I would not be surprised if it is not simply a local rendition of what we would call a `camp knife' and hence the name.

Cheers
Chris Evans