Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Ian · 20th July 2015, 11:50 AM

Jim:

Thanks for bringing these knives back into focus. They are certainly fascinating but there does not seem to have been much new information about them since I posted back in the early 2000s. Several more have come up for auction, and there was a discussion on Swordforum in 2004 that had some useful information, but otherwise not much more has found its way into my files. I'm hoping some of our forumites can shed some further light on these.

In looking through my files, here is what I have found since the early 2000s.

--------------

A comment from one of our forum members (swiss-chris)

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000935.html

Hi

The corvo is one of my favourite knives. Two years ago I went to Santiago de Chile to visit my family and some friends took me to a market where all sort of Chilean military equipment was sold (by the way there were also so many old German daggers and swords). I started to talk to the seller and he told me little about the corvo. If you talk with Chilean people about the corvo most of them will tell you a lot of fantastic stories but I’ll try to tell you the truth about the corvo. The corvo is known since 1700. His great development was in century XIX, jointly with the development of "mineria" (mining). The corvo was utilized as a fighting knife but also as working knife. People changed often their jobs and so did the function of the corvo. The corvo became famous in the Pacific war where it was used by Chilean soldiers in close quarter combat. This weapon is at the moment the official knife of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Airforce) but it is also the symbol of the Special Forces.

Regards

Chris

--------------------

George Seal posting on Swordforum

http://www.swordforum.com/forums/sho...-Chilean-Corvo

Hello,

I'm starting this new topic to discuss the Chilean corvo combat knife, a weapon I own and that I was trained to use during my military service.

The corvo is a Chilean traditional knife that gained prominence during the wars against Perú and Bolivia during the XIX century.

This link shows an early corvo: http://www.circulocordillera.cl/cultural/corvo1.htm

This illustration is a typical War of the Pacific (1879) corvo: http://www.ejercito.cl/ninos/pacifico/armas13.htm

As you can see it has no hand guard, so it's civilian. At that time military weapons should have had hand guards to protect the hand from sabre cuts.

The name derives from “curved,” as it has a curved blade. Lots of people think it has Arabic origins because of this, but it is believed to be a descendant of a Spanish tool. The first corvos had the edge on the inside of the blade, not the outside as in Magreb weapons. I think it developed from small curved knives used to cut vegetation, like a small scythe. The modern corvo has 2 sharp edges.

It started out as a tool used by miners and railway workers, but conscripts rapidly took it to combat and the modern version is a standard issue weapon in the Chilean Army.

It is a very feared weapon and is highly unpopular in Perú and Bolivia, so it gives a psychological advantage.

The current weapon is a big knife. It can be used as a tool (my dad chops wood with his) or as a weapon. It's size helps because it's intended to block and deflect a bayonet charge or a club blow.
You can't easily stab like with a Ka Bar, but it's great for catching other weapons. It acts like a Kukri, you stab and put leverage, or you use it like a hatchet. Wounds are horrible.

The big drawback is that you have to know how to use the thing. I actually have some trouble using normal knives as I'm used to curved blades cutting using the inside. You also use it like a pick.

The corvo remained a lost art up to relatively recent times. Today's standard models were created circa 1963 by 2 special forces officers. They had to learn to use it and studied with a man serving a prison life term for seven murders! Today we use moves adapted from Tae Kwon Do with the corvo.

Production was carried out by Andes Sam (a unit of FAMAE) from 1971-2000. Today it's not being manufactured as the unit closed and a new producer has not been found.

The following link has a text in Spanish. http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/cu...s-chilenos.htm

The pictures show this:

first one: the oldest War of the Pacific pic with a corvo used in uniform
second & third: modern corvos. The more curved ones are officer issue, called by troop Parrot's Beak (the knife, not the officer). Special forces use them. The more straight ones are for soldiers, they are the Atacameños (native of the Atacama Desert)
(PS The link is from a store. I have never bought from them)

The knife is very simple and tough. The handle I don't like. It grips better like a sabre (tip up). That goes the wrong way, you should point the beak outwards. The pommel is a good hammer. The military issue corvo is designed to cut metallic nails. It's heavy. Presentation models are plated, combat ones are black.

Is anybody interested in this weapon?

---------------------------

[And a later post by the same author]

Modern military corvo fencing is adapted from taekwondo blows and blocking actions.

Stab: The easiest thing. It's just like a martial arts back punch. You pull the elbow way back, till your fist is at your armpit then punch straight. It's a fast punch, hard to block. You do the same with the Atacameño corvo. Stab straight, slightly up, at the face. The point goes in like a pick. If it gets stuck, a little wrist action makes it go in deep due to leverage. The wound curves inside, so it's nasty.

Cuts: Wide and forceful arced swipes. Needs more room, sticks like a hook, yank it out, a chunk comes out. Other techniques include a circular movement of the pick shape once it's stuck in. I find it hard to do, but it’s destructive. Also with the pick in, and since the inner blade is sharp, you pull hard in straight lines and the guy gets literally gutted.

Blocks: A 2 movement thing, specially parrying against head blows. The parry is short and in straight line. The enemy blade can't slide too much because it's caught in the middle of the hook and hand guard. Now do a curved swipe and take the other knife away from you. Maybe yank it from the other guy's grasp.

The outer edge is saber like. You just swash like a hatchet using the weight of the weapon. That's how you chop wood.

------------------------

And the following comment from the site noted

http://bowieknifefightsfighters.blog...ean-corvo.html

The corvo is a curved-bladed fighting knife peculiar to Chile. There follow a number of references to it I came across in my research. Please excuse the benighted generalizations made about the Chilean people.

From Working North From Patagonia (1921) by Harry Alverson Franck:

"There is a saying in Chile that the population is made up of futres, bomberos, and rotos. The first are well-dressed street-corner loafers; the bomberos are volunteer firemen, and the rotos form the ragged working class that makes up the bulk of the population. The latter, said never to be without the corvo, an ugly curved knife, with which they are quick to tripear, to bring to light the "tripe," of an adversary by an upward slash at his abdomen, are not merely conspicuous, but omnipresent."

In the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York (1884) we read:

"In relative justice to the Peruvian whites and half-castes, however, I ought to add that I do not think that they are any more cruel than the Chileans. Bull-rings and cockpits, to be sure, are prohibited in Chile, but by the enlightened will of the Government, not by the humane desire of the people. The first intense ambition of a Chilean boy in the common walks of life is to own a corvo, or curved knife, and it becomes his inseparable companion through manhood. The statistics of the losses in the battlefields of the present war tell the story. The proportion of the dead to the wounded in many of them has been more than two to one, by butchery after victory."

Ian.

20th July 2015, 11:50 AM	#3
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,028	Jim: Thanks for bringing these knives back into focus. They are certainly fascinating but there does not seem to have been much new information about them since I posted back in the early 2000s. Several more have come up for auction, and there was a discussion on Swordforum in 2004 that had some useful information, but otherwise not much more has found its way into my files. I'm hoping some of our forumites can shed some further light on these. In looking through my files, here is what I have found since the early 2000s. -------------- A comment from one of our forum members (swiss-chris) http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000935.html Hi The corvo is one of my favourite knives. Two years ago I went to Santiago de Chile to visit my family and some friends took me to a market where all sort of Chilean military equipment was sold (by the way there were also so many old German daggers and swords). I started to talk to the seller and he told me little about the corvo. If you talk with Chilean people about the corvo most of them will tell you a lot of fantastic stories but I’ll try to tell you the truth about the corvo. The corvo is known since 1700. His great development was in century XIX, jointly with the development of "mineria" (mining). The corvo was utilized as a fighting knife but also as working knife. People changed often their jobs and so did the function of the corvo. The corvo became famous in the Pacific war where it was used by Chilean soldiers in close quarter combat. This weapon is at the moment the official knife of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Airforce) but it is also the symbol of the Special Forces. Regards Chris -------------------- George Seal posting on Swordforum http://www.swordforum.com/forums/sho...-Chilean-Corvo Hello, I'm starting this new topic to discuss the Chilean corvo combat knife, a weapon I own and that I was trained to use during my military service. The corvo is a Chilean traditional knife that gained prominence during the wars against Perú and Bolivia during the XIX century. This link shows an early corvo: http://www.circulocordillera.cl/cultural/corvo1.htm This illustration is a typical War of the Pacific (1879) corvo: http://www.ejercito.cl/ninos/pacifico/armas13.htm As you can see it has no hand guard, so it's civilian. At that time military weapons should have had hand guards to protect the hand from sabre cuts. The name derives from “curved,” as it has a curved blade. Lots of people think it has Arabic origins because of this, but it is believed to be a descendant of a Spanish tool. The first corvos had the edge on the inside of the blade, not the outside as in Magreb weapons. I think it developed from small curved knives used to cut vegetation, like a small scythe. The modern corvo has 2 sharp edges. It started out as a tool used by miners and railway workers, but conscripts rapidly took it to combat and the modern version is a standard issue weapon in the Chilean Army. It is a very feared weapon and is highly unpopular in Perú and Bolivia, so it gives a psychological advantage. The current weapon is a big knife. It can be used as a tool (my dad chops wood with his) or as a weapon. It's size helps because it's intended to block and deflect a bayonet charge or a club blow. You can't easily stab like with a Ka Bar, but it's great for catching other weapons. It acts like a Kukri, you stab and put leverage, or you use it like a hatchet. Wounds are horrible. The big drawback is that you have to know how to use the thing. I actually have some trouble using normal knives as I'm used to curved blades cutting using the inside. You also use it like a pick. The corvo remained a lost art up to relatively recent times. Today's standard models were created circa 1963 by 2 special forces officers. They had to learn to use it and studied with a man serving a prison life term for seven murders! Today we use moves adapted from Tae Kwon Do with the corvo. Production was carried out by Andes Sam (a unit of FAMAE) from 1971-2000. Today it's not being manufactured as the unit closed and a new producer has not been found. The following link has a text in Spanish. http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/cu...s-chilenos.htm The pictures show this: first one: the oldest War of the Pacific pic with a corvo used in uniform second & third: modern corvos. The more curved ones are officer issue, called by troop Parrot's Beak (the knife, not the officer). Special forces use them. The more straight ones are for soldiers, they are the Atacameños (native of the Atacama Desert) (PS The link is from a store. I have never bought from them) The knife is very simple and tough. The handle I don't like. It grips better like a sabre (tip up). That goes the wrong way, you should point the beak outwards. The pommel is a good hammer. The military issue corvo is designed to cut metallic nails. It's heavy. Presentation models are plated, combat ones are black. Is anybody interested in this weapon? --------------------------- [And a later post by the same author] Modern military corvo fencing is adapted from taekwondo blows and blocking actions. Stab: The easiest thing. It's just like a martial arts back punch. You pull the elbow way back, till your fist is at your armpit then punch straight. It's a fast punch, hard to block. You do the same with the Atacameño corvo. Stab straight, slightly up, at the face. The point goes in like a pick. If it gets stuck, a little wrist action makes it go in deep due to leverage. The wound curves inside, so it's nasty. Cuts: Wide and forceful arced swipes. Needs more room, sticks like a hook, yank it out, a chunk comes out. Other techniques include a circular movement of the pick shape once it's stuck in. I find it hard to do, but it’s destructive. Also with the pick in, and since the inner blade is sharp, you pull hard in straight lines and the guy gets literally gutted. Blocks: A 2 movement thing, specially parrying against head blows. The parry is short and in straight line. The enemy blade can't slide too much because it's caught in the middle of the hook and hand guard. Now do a curved swipe and take the other knife away from you. Maybe yank it from the other guy's grasp. The outer edge is saber like. You just swash like a hatchet using the weight of the weapon. That's how you chop wood. ------------------------ And the following comment from the site noted http://bowieknifefightsfighters.blog...ean-corvo.html The corvo is a curved-bladed fighting knife peculiar to Chile. There follow a number of references to it I came across in my research. Please excuse the benighted generalizations made about the Chilean people. From Working North From Patagonia (1921) by Harry Alverson Franck: "There is a saying in Chile that the population is made up of futres, bomberos, and rotos. The first are well-dressed street-corner loafers; the bomberos are volunteer firemen, and the rotos form the ragged working class that makes up the bulk of the population. The latter, said never to be without the corvo, an ugly curved knife, with which they are quick to tripear, to bring to light the "tripe," of an adversary by an upward slash at his abdomen, are not merely conspicuous, but omnipresent." In the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York (1884) we read: "In relative justice to the Peruvian whites and half-castes, however, I ought to add that I do not think that they are any more cruel than the Chileans. Bull-rings and cockpits, to be sure, are prohibited in Chile, but by the enlightened will of the Government, not by the humane desire of the people. The first intense ambition of a Chilean boy in the common walks of life is to own a corvo, or curved knife, and it becomes his inseparable companion through manhood. The statistics of the losses in the battlefields of the present war tell the story. The proportion of the dead to the wounded in many of them has been more than two to one, by butchery after victory." Ian. Last edited by Ian; 20th July 2015 at 12:43 PM.