Gaucho knives and cuchillos criollos of South America

Prester John said:
...the blade is bigger than my laguiole.
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Just a little. 😉

RayseM said:
Very very nice Christian. Are you taking this one in the field?
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I wasn't quite sure, but Mother Nature decided for me. The urunday that Maxi used for the handle has a few cracks in it. I think they've stabilized and I doubt they're going anywhere, but now there is no longer any point in keeping her a safe queen. I'm probably going to chicken eye 'n coon finger her for the next couple of weeks, but I have a camping trip coming up where I'm going to give this knife a chance to show its worth.

CelloDan said:
Good morning Christian !
Lovely indeed 👍
Congratulations ! 😊
I need to learn to sharpen larger knives free hand on a stone.
You are a better gaucho than me 👍😎
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No one is a better gaucho than you Dan!

I snapped a couple more pictures this morning before I had to get ready for work.

Here is my real deal verijero next to my gaucho-inspired knife.

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Here is the verijero with its northern cousin.

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Thank you for bringing these knives to our attention CelloDan CelloDan and for making this fine piece maxipescie maxipescie ! I have long wanted both a cuchillo criollo and an integral bolstered knife, and now I can check them off the wish list.
 
kamagong said:
What a lovely piece of steel. Not as small as CelloDan CelloDan 's or as long as @RayseM's this verijero splits the difference with a ~ 7.25" blade.

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Sorry for the poor picture, the light is not great at the moment. Maybe I can take better pics this weekend.

Maxi gave the blade assymetrical swedges. I wonder why that was?

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I bought a new sharpening stone to keep my cuchillo criollo sharp. It's the size of a brick. I was inspired by Hector Casales. Now I can maintain my knife like a proper gaucho.

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I'm one of the cool kids now!!! 😁
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Congratulations Christian :cool: You've always been one of the cool kids! 😂 :thumbsup:
Prester John said:
It looks great! By the way, I think Dan's knife also has asymetrical swedges. Looks good to me. I had trouble deciding on a size myself, but figured the 12cm verijero would be more portable, and the blade is bigger than my laguiole. Looking forward to more pics, with patina!
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Particularly when you're wearing it in the courtroom! 🤔;)🤣:thumbsup:
 
Jack Black said:
Congratulations Christian :cool: You've always been one of the cool kids! 😂 :thumbsup:

Particularly when you're wearing it in the courtroom! 🤔;)🤣:thumbsup:
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Thanks Jack. :thumbsup:

Prester John said:
For some inscrutable reason, that is frowned upon. :(;)
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Ya gotta level up Vince. I bet there's a judge or two that is toting a verijero under his robes. They can do whatever they want in their courtrooms.
 
Sounds great. Looking forward to your pictures. BTW what type of wood was used on your larger knife?
 
Went to an asado with my friends. I brought my new knife from maxipescie maxipescie . Andrew wasn't prepared, so one of the gauchos had to lend him a puñal.

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One of the gauchos showing us the proper way to eat. IIRC he called it "asado a jeta."

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The capataz pointing out the choice bits.

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One final picture of the guys with their knives.

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😉
 
screened porch said:
Does Maxi have no story for why the asymmetrical swedges are standard?
My indirect benefactor didn't get the memo. Slight swedge on one side. But mine is thinner than a lot of these, I think.
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If I do remember correctly it was mostly a matter of Maxi's preference to give his knives asymmetrical swedges. A lot of his criollos have them and I have seen other South American makers do them as well.

I have spend the past 45 min searching for any info on criollo swedges with no much luck. One site in Spanish mentions that they ussually have one or two "contrafilos" (swedges) but that's all I found so far.

I would think there is likely no standard regarding swedges. Abel Domenech does not mention them in his essay.

I must confess that at first impression, when I got my knife, I thought something was wrong with it lol ... I am still a bit embarrassed about that :D
If I ever order another custom criollo I would request asymmetrical swedges as I've come to really like the way they look.

kamagong said:
Just a little. 😉



I wasn't quite sure, but Mother Nature decided for me. The urunday that Maxi used for the handle has a few cracks in it. I think they've stabilized and I doubt they're going anywhere, but now there is no longer any point in keeping her a safe queen. I'm probably going to chicken eye 'n coon finger her for the next couple of weeks, but I have a camping trip coming up where I'm going to give this knife a chance to show its worth.



No one is a better gaucho than you Dan!

I snapped a couple more pictures this morning before I had to get ready for work.

Here is my real deal verijero next to my gaucho-inspired knife.

View attachment 2248371

Here is the verijero with its northern cousin.

View attachment 2248372

Thank you for bringing these knives to our attention CelloDan CelloDan and for making this fine piece maxipescie maxipescie ! I have long wanted both a cuchillo criollo and an integral bolstered knife, and now I can check them off the wish list.
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Very nice Christian 😎

The integral bolster seems to be a desired featured among knife nuts :thumbsup:
I started my search for a criollo out of a desire to connect with my roots and I have learned so much in the process !

I have seen small cracks in photos of other Urunday knife handles. My Verijero has a small one on one side.
I searched for the properties of Urunday. It is said to be and extremely strong wood with exceptional resistance to the elements, even under prolonged immersion in water for many years. It so hard that it dulls tools very quickly.
The small crack in mine is stable.
Nice wood grain and figure in your handle !

Yours is a puñal. Most sites I've seen say that a blade bigger than 15 cm ( 6 inches) is a puñal. Maxi had even stricter criteria for a Verijero of no more than 11 cm ( 4.3 inches )

I am very keen and looking forward to your review and opinion of the knife once you put it through its paces.


kamagong said:
Went to an asado with my friends.
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And you did not invited me? :D

cbach8tw said:
Mine arrived.
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Yeah 😍

I have been using my Verijero A LOT however always with the utmost care and love.

On our recent 9 day adventure with Diana aboard our little sailboat Verijero got banged up just a very tiny bit.
I had it wrapped, when not in use, inside the beret that Ray gifted me however in the tiny cabin we lived for so many days things got moved around A LOT and at some point something happened.
Two very tiny marks that bugged me at first ... now is character and a way to remember our Kawartha Lakes adventure :)
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Today we went to Ottawa and stopped at the "Mercado Latino" to restock on yerba mate :)
We got 3 bags from Argentina ( Cruz de Malta, Taragui and Rosamonte ) and Canarias brand from Uruguay.
I also got another mate gourd :rolleyes:
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