Gauchos and Their Knives

[Chris Evans]

Hi,

I chanced upon this very informative post on South American Gauchos and their knives. For those who cannot read Spanish and the excellent works of the Argentinean authority Abel Domenech, this will fill the gap to some extent.

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62101&highlight=navaja


Cheers
Chris

[A. G. Maisey]

Excellent!!!

Thank you.

[Chris Evans]

Hi G. Maisey,

Yes, it gives as good an overview as I have found anywhere in English, notwithstanding that it has one bad error (Garibaldi did not found Buenos Aires for the 2nd time, that was done By Juan de Garay in 1580 - Garibaldi fought in Uruguay in the 1800s, before returning to Italy) and it uncritically repeats a number of common culturally entrenched platitudes regarding knives. Nevertheless, I still think that it is a worthwhile read.

Cheers
Chris

[M ELEY]

A most excellent article and read. Thanks for posting it here, Chris.

[Gonzalo G]

The poster, Francisco, is also a moderator in Armas Blancas Forum, tough a new web page has beeen developed to the subfora moderated by him, and in some time it is going to begin with a new forum. Francisco is an excellent specialist in knives. Argentinian criollo knives and modern.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Chris Evans]

Hi Gonzalo,

The poster, Francisco, is also a moderator in Armas Blancas Forum, tough a new web page has beeen developed to the subfora moderated by him, and in some time it is going to begin with a new forum. Francisco is an excellent specialist in knives. Argentinian criollo knives and modern.
Regards

Gonzalo

It would be nice if Francisco could be persuaded to participate here. His English is excellent and am sure he could contribute much on Criollo knives.

Cheers
Chris

[fernando]

Hi Chris,

... Garibaldi fought in Uruguay in the 1800s, before returning to Italy ...
Was it not Brazil?

Amazing. I allways suspected that the portuguese lingo contributed for the semanthics of one or two terms relative to this subject; this article confirms that, actually in a sense wider than i thought.
Good stuff.
Fernando

[Chris Evans]

Hi Chris,


Was it not Brazil?

Amazing. I allways suspected that the portuguese lingo contributed for the semanthics of one or two terms relative to this subject; this article confirms that, actually in a sense wider than i thought.
Good stuff.
Fernando

Hi Fernando,

He started his South American fighting career in Brazil and then moved to Uruguay where he distinguished himself, amongst other things, as as a military leader of renown, before returning to his native Italy and taking up its cause. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garibaldi

He was quite a soldier!


As a aside, I believe that anyone who tries to better understand the gaucho culture and by extension their knives, and thus move beyond current popular platitudes, ought to read Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier by R.W.Slatta and as well, the great classic Facundo by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (in English)

Cheers
Chris

[Pukka Bundook]

Interesting thread!

Re. Gaucho knives, I always find them most attractive, and they (to me!) appear as if strongly related to some of the smaller knives of India, like the kard.
Thanks,

Richard.