Thread: Former Bayonet
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Old 14th March 2018, 05:47 AM   #14
Chris Evans
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Location: Australia
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Hi Fernando K and Fernando <lol>

I did not miss that caption at the bottom of the illustration which loosely translated reads “….its use was largely restricted to delinquents and militias”.

Now, I am more than happy to agree with the above, but only within the historical time frame, commencing well into the 19th century when the roving gauchos were outlawed and facons, especially caroneros, were no longer approved of, these knives being replaced by smaller and more broad bladed working knives. Actually gauchos were outlawed after the war of independence, but the enforcement of this was only gradual. And facons were considered unsuited for hacienda work, so their possession was severely curtailed, being restricted to senior retainers, hacienda owners and military men.

Be this as it may, the above statement in no way does it mean or imply that a gaucho in possession of a caronero used it only as a weapon and not for other tasks, and as I said in my previous post he ate every day and fought only on the odd occasion. It would be ludicrous to suggest or suppose that if he had such a weapon that he would reach for a shorter knife to carry out the very dangerous task of cutting the rear tendons of a steer. Not so say that it could not be done, but that it would be that much more uncertain. And then also there was the matter of dispatching the crippled animal, which sometimes was done by thrusting with a long knife into the animal from under the throat.

And this consideration applies even more to the halcyon days of the gauchos, before the war of independence, when they could roam the pampas at will, answering to no one and did as they wanted. A gaucho could bring down a steer with a shorter facon, if assisted by a companion, as depicted in the illustration shown. However, if alone, he would have had to disable the steer from horseback first. Sure, he had his “boleadoras” to entangle the legs of the fleeing animal, his first choice, but he could not always rely on those and if he missed, he had to try something else, or else go hungry.

It is worth remembering that the term “gaucho” constantly changed, from a pejorative in the late 18th century to a hacienda hand that rode a horse in the course of the 19th and finally it became conceptually the embodiment of all masculine virtues and more by the 20th. The same changes also applied to the “facon”, the early variants of which we know little about, except that they were large knives. These knives were worn, if possible in the small of the back, in the Spanish fashion, and if too big , pinned under the saddle. Domenech tells that much and is common sense.

Now back to Robert’s knife: It has a 18 3/8” (47cm) which is at the long end of most facons that were worn in the belt, but equally, it could be carried pinned under the saddle. From personal experience, I can confidently say that wearing such a large knife tucked into the back of the back would have been very uncomfortable, so as far as I am concerned, that makes it a caronero, or if we wish, a borderline knife that could fulfill either role. Most probably it would have been pinned under the saddle for mounted use, but once afoot it would have been tucked into the belt.

What I am uncomfortable with is that, as Fernando K says, the blade was made late in the 19th century, well past the age of the roaming gauchos with caroneros. If by that time a caronero or large facon was ordered by someone who could wear it with impunity, meaning a person of high status, it probably would have had silver furnishings. And call me suspicious if you like , but the blade appears to be in too good a condition and neither the handle nor the sheath seem to me what one would expect from an early gaucho knife, especially the plaited leather. All in all, a piece somewhat inconsistent with the history of the pampas.

Of course we must not restrict out inquiry to the Argentinean pampas because gauchos were also living in Southern Brazil and also in what eventually became Uruguay, so this knife could have found legitimate use there.

Robert: If the tang was peened at the end of the handle, have a look for rust. A dead giveaway of modern manufacture or alteration is the absence of rust.

Cheers
Chris

Edit:

1. On the photos provided by Robert, the fourth down, there appear to be two small rotary grind marks of the handle near the ricasso. Robert, could you verify this please?

2. Sorry about the illegibility of the caption under the illustration. A much better version can be found here http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=gaucho
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Last edited by Chris Evans; 14th March 2018 at 07:53 AM.
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