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Old 23rd July 2008, 11:16 PM   #3
Gonzalo G
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Nothern Mexico
Posts: 458
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I'd like to call the attention of our readers to several main characteristics of gaucho puñales: the slim elegant spear pointed blade, the presence of a "button" (in Spanish "botón") or forged bolster which reinforce and divides the blade from its tang, the use of "cuts" or file marks or decorations on the back of the blade, and the use of some kind of "notch" in the ricasso of the blade.

File marks on the back
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These blades have a rat tail tang, which remains enclosed within the handle of the knife.
The bolster, (we call the forged bolster “botón” meaning “button”) which also appears in several early American bowie knives and Naval dirks, as well as in European types, had a rounded shape in Uruguayan and Southern Brazilian knives, while in those used in the present day Argentine territories had a distinctive square-shape sides.

Rounded Buttons
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