Vaquero machete

[AHite]

I recently acquired this machete from a friend's shop. I believe it is a vaquero machete from Mexico, and was made for a particular person not a random tourist. I really like the artwork, particularly the wolves. The blade measures 24" long, and is very flexible with an unsharpened edge. The handle is horn, carved in the likeness of a horse. The leather sheath is nicely done, with dark spots that I attribute to sweat (probably the horse's). The sheath looks like it was meant to be attached to a saddle.

The words, "Con Quidado" means Carefully in English, or With Care. On the other side it reads, "Que Soy Poblamo". A search on Google would translate this to "I am of Puebla" or "I am of the village". I welcome any fluent Spanish speakers to offer their translation. Mi Espanol is muy malo. There is what I believe is a name, "Luc", which makes me believe this was a personal piece. It's not a weapon per se, although one could sharpen up the edge, but used by vaqueros to hack brush, maybe other uses.

[Jim McDougall]

Most interesting item! and as noted in Woodward (1946) the term used for virtually all short to moderate length blade swords was 'machete' .This term was used consistently for the swords used in Spanish colonial frontier regions which have become known (since 1965) as espada anchas. Woodward notes that the charros of Mexico refer to their swords as 'machete'.

This form hilt seems to be like the turn back hilt style referred to in Adams ('85) as from Potosi regions, however in later years the makers in Geurerro and those areas west began zoomorphic hilt styles as far as Oaxaca. Years ago I got this large knife of similar form with what is referred to as 'scorpion point' in some references.

The scabbard style is traditional Mexican form which seems to go back to c. 1820s. While these are of course quite modern they follow the unique Mexican traditions in these edged weapons. Personally, I really like them a lot !

[Interested Party]

I like them too Jim. Your example looks like an old file?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

I like them too Jim. Your example looks like an old file?

Thats certainly very possible as old files were common fodder for blades through the 19th century, and certainly later as this one seems. There is not a great deal of information at hand on Mexican edged weapon making aside from random references in English, though some information may be in Mexican references.
This field is pretty esoteric and every so often examples like that shown here turn up offering more insights into consistencies that might have been in place. I thought the comparison to my example was notable.

Attached: a similar example of the horse head style, unfortunately no other notes recorded ,note guerrero'
My example of a 'potosi' type hilt (turned back pommel) per Adams (1985).
Potosi is north of Mexico City.
Guerrero is to west along coast with Oaxaca to the south where edged weapon making prevalent as well.

[AHite]

Thanks for the information! Great examples you have there. Any good guess as to the age of my machete? It seems that at some point in time the Mexican craftsmen turned from carving horn to carving aluminum to create figures on the pommel, especially on the tourist Bowie knives I have come across. I don't know if this happened post WWII with the easier access to aluminum.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by AHite

Thanks for the information! Great examples you have there. Any good guess as to the age of my machete? It seems that at some point in time the Mexican craftsmen turned from carving horn to carving aluminum to create figures on the pommel, especially on the tourist Bowie knives I have come across. I don't know if this happened post WWII with the easier access to aluminum.

Thank you for the kind words
Without hands on handling it is hard to estimate age, but Mexican artisans kept their craft going well through the 20th c. and the traditions remained imbued in the work. My guess would be WWII period but the charro in Mexico prevailed through much longer even to today (much in the way cowboys remain true to form here in Texas). Woodward (1946) well described the charro remaining through Mexico in his "Swords of California and Mexico in the 18th and 19th Centuries" with interviews with a Mexican charro he had done.
Interesting note on the carved aluminum!

Attached is my Bowie found in Tucson a number of years ago traveling through, clearly Mexican made with cactus hilt (the scabbard I added). The cactus is like items I have seen WWII era from Mexican border regions.