Gaucho knives and cuchillos criollos of South America

Prester John said:
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Dicing papas and other vegetables will get that patina going.
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Just add a little bacon
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(No, I did not use the knife to slice the bacon!)
And breakfast is served:
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Have a good day, Gauchos!
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looks like a meal for for a……gaucho….and us peasants too. I am jealous as you have actually used your Verijero, I should just use mine to get its patina started.
 
Trubetzkoy said:
Haha sorry for my absence; been rather busy in this new year. I'll try to share some interesting stuff soon. Great pictures as usual, colega!
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Great to see you mi amigo :)
It's alright to go riding out into the vastness of the pampas ... if you ever get lost your horse knows the way back :)

Prester John said:
(No, I did not use the knife to slice the bacon!)
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Great to see your Verijero in action Vince :thumbsup: :cool:

Because is the first time you use it we will not mind not slicing the bacon this time.
Next time though we expect pictures while butchering the pig and when dressing the carcass :D

Reminiscing about life back in the home country 🇦🇷 I went looking into the box of memories and found my diary that had I started back in 1987 while in high school at a boarding academy.
On one entry I wondered how life would turn out 30 years from then, what would I study, whom would I marry :)
On another my teenage angst is in full display :)
At the time I had no idea that I would become an immigrant in a far a away country 🇨🇦, learn a new language ( well sort of learn it :p ), marry Cuban 🇨🇺 girl 😍.

Another entry in 1988 relates how I got a letter from the Argentine army requesting I show up for a medical exam ... except that the letter had gotten lost and I recieved it way past the date I was supposed to show up for it.
In an effort to comply I left the academy and hitchhiked 100 km to Parana city, Entre Rios, where I tried to board a bus to travel to Cordoba ( 400 km ) where my parents lived and the army offices were located.
The bus "ticket" provided by the army was not accepted by the bus company so somehow I found a way to return to the academy that night ... the army got me in the end anyways lol

It was a rewarding trip down memory lane :)
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Yeah, don't even try to read it :p , it's in Spanish, in cursive and not even I can make out some words LOL
My trusty Verijero and my boina gaucha assisting in covering the sensitive parts :D
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I think I got a better pic in the first one, I was worried about discoloration or maybe beginning of rust on the edge, I used some metal polish to try and take it off, but no luck. There is not pitting or any rough parts (or rolling, etc) when I run the edge along a finger nail. I assume maybe they will disappear as I sharpen the edge after some use.

Is it a good idea to find some compound to add to a strop bat and maybe try a little stropping it off? Only thing I don’t want to round the edge of my Verijero.
 
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cbach8tw said:
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I think I got a better pic in the first one, I was worried about discoloration or maybe beginning of rust on the edge, I used some metal polish to try and take it off, but no luck. There is not pitting or any rough parts (or rolling, etc) when I run the edge along a finger nail. I assume maybe they will disappear as I sharpen the edge after some use.

Is it a good idea to find some compound to add to a strop bat and maybe try a little stropping it off? Only thing I don’t want to round the edge of my Verijero.
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Beautiful knife! I am not an expert, but I doubt stropping will remove it, with or without compound. Maybe sharpening it will work.
I have already sharpened my verijero, even though it was sharp. I wanted it a little sharper, and wanted to use my Work Sharp Precision Adjust Sharpener. I set it to 20 degrees, and it is very sharp. Not as pretty a job as CelloDan CelloDan did with his sharpener, with a beautiful mirror edge (you can see it in one of the early pages of this thread), but I will try to do better with my technique next time.
The best thing about a patina on a carbon steel blade (mine is 1095) is that it will protect the knife from the bad rust. And I like the way it looks!
 
cbach8tw said:
I was worried about discoloration or maybe beginning of rust on the edge, I used some metal polish to try and take it off, but no luck. There is not pitting or any rough parts (or rolling, etc) when I run the edge along a finger nail. I assume maybe they will disappear as I sharpen the edge after some use.

Is it a good idea to find some compound to add to a strop bat and maybe try a little stropping it off? Only thing I don’t want to round the edge of my Verijero.
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I've got good results in general using Flitz for minor discoloration or small rust spots on carbon steel.
That small spot on the edge of your criollo will most likely disappear with a bit of sharpening.

Upon receiving my Verijero I went to work to reprofile and set the edge to my liking, which is around 17 degrees per side. I used a guided system to do this.

Since then all I have been doing now is "tuning up" the edge every couple weeks with just a few VERY LIGHT passes on the brown spyderco sharpmaker rods at at 20 degrees.
This is my way of "stropping" the blade .
I know is not the same as stropping technically but it works well for me. The slightly steeper angle at 20 ensures I am hitting the very apex and in 30 seconds or less my Verijero is shaving sharp again.
I think it will be a VERY long time before I have to reprofile the edge again.

Also, I never quite got the hang of stropping. It was not for lack of practice but I never got satisfactory results. Even when I managed not to roll the edge the results were not as good as the very light passes on the sharpmaker to true and tune up the edge.

Pic taken a while back after tuning the edge and buffing the handle :)
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Prester John said:
with a beautiful mirror edge (you can see it in one of the early pages of this thread)
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Thanks Vince :)
The mirror edge was mostly for kicks and the fact I can not help myself :D . It's now long gone because of the patina however it remain smooth.

The actual apex or micro bevel at the very tip of the edge V shape becomes "toothy" after the first tune up on the sharpmaker.
I like to think that the toothy micro bevel starts the cut and then the material slides easier over the polished bevel. Because of the rather stout blade in our criollos a reprofiled edge may be a bit wider than in other knives such as a kitchen knife.
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Prester John said:
The best thing about a patina on a carbon steel blade (mine is 1095) is that it will protect the knife from the bad rust. And I like the way it looks!
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I like the patina look as well :cool: and have not had issues with rust. I do keep it dry and oil it every now and then. When I did not use it for a few days I stored it out of its "Vaina"

tongueriver said:
Would anyone venture a guess as to approximate vintage of this one? Also, am I to assume that Boker does NOT have a cutlery in Argentina, and that all these are imported into Argentina from Solingen?
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Arathol said:
Boker does have a factory in Buenos Aires.....
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Paging our BladeForums Boker expert H herder :)

There is in fact a Boker factory in Buenos Aires.
The stamp says "Alemania" which is Spanish for Germany.

I searched the interwebs for stamp like the one posted.
I found this on a knife advertised as "Vintage Boker Solingen Arbolito Gaucho Dagger 800 Silver 14Kt knife"

The stamp on the blade is the same however the scabbard is inscribed with "Industria Argentina" which would indicate it was made in Argentina ( the scabbard at least :) )

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tongueriver said:
Would anyone venture a guess as to approximate vintage of this one? Also, am I to assume that Boker does NOT have a cutlery in Argentina, and that all these are imported into Argentina from Solingen?
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That blade is from the 1984-2001 period. The logo is the same used between 1974 and 1983, but in 1984 it began to be etched rather than stamped, resulting in shallower but thicker lines.
 
Trubetzkoy said:
That blade is from the 1984-2001 period. The logo is the same used between 1974 and 1983, but in 1984 it began to be etched rather than stamped, resulting in shallower but thicker lines.
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Thank you! That is very useful information!
 
We went for a walk in the snowy woods this afternoon and my trusty Verijero came along :thumbsup::cool:

I carried it in a non-traditional sheath that Maxi made me and sent with the knife as it is not always practical for me to use the traditional one when out and about in the woods.

The sheath is breaking in very nicely and it's comfortable to use :thumbsup::cool:
It is the first time I post a picture of it as it is not a traditional one and would rather feature my beloved Verijero with it's beautiful authentic "vaina gaucha" :thumbsup:

I will have to commit to buying a "faja" from Argentina and try carrying it in the traditional way :thumbsup:

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