Quote:
Originally Posted by kronckew
Since there was no illustration of the Spanish Notch:
A picture is worth a ....aw, you know...
My 'Fowler' Bowie with the 'Spanish' notch:
I suspect it is just a traditional decorative feature, much like the cho or kaudi on a khukuri, which also has a 'nobody really knows why' reputation. I have other bowies with various 'spanish notches'. I'll add a thought that they were the starting point for sharpening. Which looks like the reason for the very plain notch on my smaller "gambler's" bowie at the bottom.
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Interesting. I had always believed a Spanish notch was an indention in a self-guard to help prevent the hand from slipping forward onto a blade. To me the second illustration shows a choil used to prevent the thick and hard to sharpen portion of a blade at the end of the ricasso (which this blade lacks).
I personally have always found the choil more of a nuisance than a help especially if the distal end of the notch doesn't slope towards the point. That said I have been told that large choils are used with big knives to allow fingering the blade to help with delicate tasks. I have heard, and maybe read it on this site as well, that specially shaped choils on some knife patterns help with tasks that are regionally common. I always wondered if the cho didn't start that way, or maybe it is just a linga.
The first example seems to somewhere between all three a notch, a choil, and decoration. I am sorry not to have my own illustrations. I delayed this post almost a week and realized I would never publish it if I waited on pictures any longer.