A little navaja

[Chris Evans]

Hi Fernando,

I must admit that I also wondered about the "Jun" quite a lot. I am afraid that I can only speculate. To even attempt answering that question we would need to know more about that cutler's genealogy, as well as family and business history.

You know, it is very hard to add much that is meaningful to Forton's work, save perhaps on contemporary navajas. It is my opinion that Forton pretty much wrote down what knowledge is readily available on navajas in olden times. To go beyond his work would require and enormous amount of research, and not just within Spain either, for the story of the navaja takes in Portugal, France and Italy as well.

With the above said, we very much need an update on his book, perhaps one with better technical descriptions, for example on the origins and function of the "carraca", the design and fuction of the "virola" (ferrule/bolster) and so on.

Cheers
Chris