Interesting Spanish Canary Islands Punal

[Chris Evans]

Hi Gene,

Originally Posted by Atlantia

I'm happy with either designation to be honest. I think these are a bit of a missed opportunity in the colllecting field as they are rather nice.
I've had a proper Albacete punal for a while and have missed getting a few of these canary 'baby brothers' on ebay I was delighted to find this one at a boot-sale last week.

I am with you on this one - They are rather eye catching.

I completely see why you'd think it was the rest of the handle had worn down but its actually the other way around and the metal spacers are soft but raised. Definately there to afford better grip....Which is why I thought it was worthy of a thread.

Given that they are hand made, at least used to be, I wonder how they intentionally achieved that effect. I mean, the oversized disks are easy enough, but were the others polished/filed down? Can you see abrasion or wear marks on the spacers in the valleys?

In that second link I gave, you can see how they are made and would appear that they aim for a smooth finish. Of course, being made one at a time they can cater for individual requests and preferences. Judging from the photos, it would seem that a number of the spacers were not abraded down - Just a thought, could it be an unfinished knife?
Cheers
Chris