[Chris Evans]

Hi,

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Fernando is quite right that the word "carona" ought to be translated more accurately as saddle cloth, but I still think that my original translation was near enough.

From Abel Domenech's "Del Facon Al Bowie" pg 112-113:

Writing about the facon:

.....aunquee el gaucho tambien la haya utilizado eventualmente para otros menesteres: terminar of afenar una rez, cazar o cuerear...

Loose translation: ...although the gaucho used it also for finishing off or carve up a beast (cattle), to hunt or to flay....

Edit: I think that we can argue about whether these facons were primarily wepaons or tools to hunt with, but I opt for the later simply because gauchos ate more often than fought <lol>. As well their roving lifestyle prevented them from carrying around an arsenal of various knives, each suited for specific task, so they had to do it all with one or perhaps two.

Cheers
Chris