gaucho knives

Rick · 13th July 2008, 02:08 AM

You asked ..........
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/search...earchid=200244
Enjoy .

Nagawarrior · 13th July 2008, 03:16 AM

Here is my Gaucho knife. Not sure of age, but it is sure pretty. I like.

chevalier · 13th July 2008, 03:36 AM

very nice indeed.

A. G. Maisey · 13th July 2008, 03:50 AM

Although I'm primarily a keris person, I also have a pretty large accumulation of gaucho knives. Know almost nothing about them.

Gonzalo G · 13th July 2008, 08:10 AM

A. G. Maisey, I feel that there are different worlds in the matter of edged weapons comming from the spanish speaking countries, and the weapons comming form other countries. The formers being less known and collected. I never understood why, since they have a very rich diversity, and La Fábrica de Armas Blancas de Toledo or other places where edged weapons were produced, there was a great tradition in weapons of the highest quality in the world, even imitated by Solingen. There are still some places where that tradition survives, like Argentina. They even have a forum dedicated mainly to the making of these and other styles of edged weapons, maybe the best in the spanish speaking world:

http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros/

In spanish we use the concept of "armas blancas" (whithe weapons), meaning edged weapons made from iron or steel, but not from other materials. We don´t have the general concept of "edged weapons", in which stone or bronze weapons could enter.

We can speak about knives used mainly by the gauchos, but those were not used only by them, but by all the argentineans and uruguayans, mainly from the countryside. The gaucho was a poor cowboy which usually couldn´t afford knives mounted completely in silver. Those were knives used by the middle and hight classes. They are still made in the form you see in the above picture, mounted in silver or in leather. This kind of knife specifically, is called "puñal criollo". The smaller ones are called "verijero", as they were carried not in the back, but in the front, near of the private parts or "verijas". The puñal criollo come from the mediterranean knife, with elements from the canarian knife.

Maybe the most local and gaucho knife is the "facón", a very big "knife" from 35 to 80cm long, the longer ones called "facón caronero", as they were carried under the caronas, a part of of the harness of the horse, which resembles more a moor horse seat, different from the horse leather and wood chairs used by other peoples. Other edged weapons used by the gauchos were the daga (dagger) and the cuchilla. They were usually weapons without too much fancies, unless used by upper classes.

There are some good books about this wepons in spanish, written by Abel Domenech, an erudite and collector from Argentina. I can recommend two of his books on the subject: "Dagas de Plata" (Daggers of Silver) and "Del Facón al Bowie" (From the Facón to the Bowie"), but the first is more specific on the subject. I can even invite him to participate in this forum, if the administrators and moderators belive it convenient to the discussion over this subject. Maybe he is the best specialist in this kind of "knives" (if you can call "knife" to a 80cm edged weapon), in the whole world, yet he is a very unpretentious and nice man. Not very common.
My best regards

Gonzalo

PS: Rick, I pulsed the link, but it gives "No Matches".

13th July 2008, 02:08 AM	#1
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,336	You asked .......... http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/search...earchid=200244 Enjoy .

13th July 2008, 03:16 AM	#2
Nagawarrior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Inland Empire, Southern California USA Posts: 160	Here is my Gaucho knife. Not sure of age, but it is sure pretty. I like.

13th July 2008, 03:36 AM	#3
chevalier Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 119	very nice indeed.

13th July 2008, 03:50 AM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	Although I'm primarily a keris person, I also have a pretty large accumulation of gaucho knives. Know almost nothing about them.

13th July 2008, 08:10 AM	#5
Gonzalo G Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Nothern Mexico Posts: 458	A. G. Maisey, I feel that there are different worlds in the matter of edged weapons comming from the spanish speaking countries, and the weapons comming form other countries. The formers being less known and collected. I never understood why, since they have a very rich diversity, and La Fábrica de Armas Blancas de Toledo or other places where edged weapons were produced, there was a great tradition in weapons of the highest quality in the world, even imitated by Solingen. There are still some places where that tradition survives, like Argentina. They even have a forum dedicated mainly to the making of these and other styles of edged weapons, maybe the best in the spanish speaking world: http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros/ In spanish we use the concept of "armas blancas" (whithe weapons), meaning edged weapons made from iron or steel, but not from other materials. We don´t have the general concept of "edged weapons", in which stone or bronze weapons could enter. We can speak about knives used mainly by the gauchos, but those were not used only by them, but by all the argentineans and uruguayans, mainly from the countryside. The gaucho was a poor cowboy which usually couldn´t afford knives mounted completely in silver. Those were knives used by the middle and hight classes. They are still made in the form you see in the above picture, mounted in silver or in leather. This kind of knife specifically, is called "puñal criollo". The smaller ones are called "verijero", as they were carried not in the back, but in the front, near of the private parts or "verijas". The puñal criollo come from the mediterranean knife, with elements from the canarian knife. Maybe the most local and gaucho knife is the "facón", a very big "knife" from 35 to 80cm long, the longer ones called "facón caronero", as they were carried under the caronas, a part of of the harness of the horse, which resembles more a moor horse seat, different from the horse leather and wood chairs used by other peoples. Other edged weapons used by the gauchos were the daga (dagger) and the cuchilla. They were usually weapons without too much fancies, unless used by upper classes. There are some good books about this wepons in spanish, written by Abel Domenech, an erudite and collector from Argentina. I can recommend two of his books on the subject: "Dagas de Plata" (Daggers of Silver) and "Del Facón al Bowie" (From the Facón to the Bowie"), but the first is more specific on the subject. I can even invite him to participate in this forum, if the administrators and moderators belive it convenient to the discussion over this subject. Maybe he is the best specialist in this kind of "knives" (if you can call "knife" to a 80cm edged weapon), in the whole world, yet he is a very unpretentious and nice man. Not very common. My best regards Gonzalo PS: Rick, I pulsed the link, but it gives "No Matches".