Gaucho knives and cuchillos criollos of South America

[CelloDan]

Con plata? If you decide to get your faja decorated with coins like a proper gaucho CelloDan , I have an old silver Loony to help you get started.

I am a gaucho "pobre" and as such my faja will be just a simple piece a cloth.
My Verijero is not a fancy one either, handled with a local hardwood and it's sheath is made of rawhide.

Now, other more fortunate gauchos carry knives and sheaths plated in silver and gold and their fajas are loaded with coins.
It is a sign of their status and they like to show it off at the "pulperias" and dances.

I've read that importers of european blades for South America would often manufacture imitation coins or "botones gauchescos" to have something else to sell to the gaucho. They were still valuable as they were made of bronze and silver.
Gauchos literally carried their credit card in their faja. The elaborate sheaths, beautifully adorned by local silversmiths were valuable too and many were lost in bets or used to pay debts.

 

[screened porch]

So this is a different faja.

I thought probably you were talking about something else.

Those cummerbunds with overlapping coins might keep a knife out of your guts, too.

 

[screened porch]

Those dagas look almost uniform, but nothing else seems to be.

 

[CelloDan]

So this is a different faja.

LOL Jer I am positive it is a different kind

Your comment sent me on a little search regarding another item in the gaucho apparel called "bombacha", the baggy pants we see them wearing in some pictures and illustrations.
Now "bombacha" in modern day Argentine Spanish also refers to women underwear, hence my brain trying to relate to your earlier comment lol

It turns out that the "Bombacha" came a bit later in the history of gaucho apparel.

Up until the 1860's or so gauchos wore what is called a "chiripá", a rectangular piece of cloth held at the waist by the "faja" over the "calzoncillo", a sort of long underwear pants.

"Chiripá"

From what I have been reading the "bombacha" has its origin in the Crimean War around 1856. A terrible war that killed hundreds of thousands of Turks, Russians, French and British soldiers.
After the war, a French diplomat offered to the government of Argentina about 100,000 Turk uniform pants or "babuchas turcas" . The president of Argentina at the time, Justo José de Urquiza accepted the offer and distributed the "bombachas" by the thousands to rural workers.
The new apparel was liked so much that it slowly replaced the "Chiripá"

Turkish soldier/Argentine gaucho

"Chiripá" and "Bombacha"

"Bombacha"

A "modern day" gaucho

Those dagas look almost uniform, but nothing else seems to be.

Yes, that's right Jer ! Funny thing how when knife nuts look at art we pick up right away on these details
I guess the painter did not have much of an imagination when it came to knives.

The depictions in the painting may be a facones although the facon and daga are very similar.
Dagas are double edged and facones single edge with a double guard.

Here is an illustration from Mr. Domenech's essay

That painting looks to me a depiction of the epic poem "The Gaucho Martin Fierro".
In the first book Martin Fierro kills a man in a knife duel.

In the second book, an older and wiser Martin Fierro tries to reintegrate into society and correct his ways.

The books ends with a "Payada" , a form of sung poetry where gauchos would "compete to produce the most eloquent verse, each answering questions posed by the other, often insulting."
It is then revealed that the brother of the person slain in the first book is now facing Martin Fierro.

"At the end, Fierro speaks of changing his name and living in peace, but it is not entirely clear that the duel has been avoided"

I printed Mr Domenech essay to have it handy for easier reference

The essay can be found here:

A Short Essay about Gaucho knives: Facón, Daga, Cuchilla and Puñal

Historic setting and classification of the types of traditional South American knives and daggers and parallels with the Bowie knife

www.vikingsword.com

 

[Prester John]

LOL Jer I am positive it is a different kind

Your comment sent me on a little search regarding another item in the gaucho apparel called "bombacha", the baggy pants we see them wearing in some pictures and illustrations.
Now "bombacha" in modern day Argentine Spanish also refers to women underwear, hence my brain trying to relate to your earlier comment lol

It turns out that the "Bombacha" came a bit later in the history of gaucho apparel.

Up until the 1860's or so gauchos wore what is called a "chiripá", a rectangular piece of cloth held at the waist by the "faja" over the "calzoncillo", a sort of long underwear pants.

"Chiripá"

From what I have been reading the "bombacha" has its origin in the Crimean War around 1856. A terrible war that killed hundreds of thousands of Turks, Russians, French and British soldiers.
After the war, a French diplomat offered to the government of Argentina about 100,000 Turk uniform pants or "babuchas turcas" . The president of Argentina at the time, Justo José de Urquiza accepted the offer and distributed the "bombachas" by the thousands to rural workers.
The new apparel was liked so much that it slowly replaced the "Chiripá"

Turkish soldier/Argentine gaucho

"Chiripá" and "Bombacha"

"Bombacha"

A "modern day" gaucho

Yes, that's right Jer ! Funny thing how when knife nuts look at art we pick up right away on these details
I guess the painter did not have much of an imagination when it came to knives.

The depictions in the painting may be a facones although the facon and daga are very similar.
Dagas are double edged and facones single edge with a double guard.

Here is an illustration from Mr. Domenech's essay

That painting looks to me a depiction of the epic poem "The Gaucho Martin Fierro".
In the first book Martin Fierro kills a man in a knife duel.

In the second book, an older and wiser Martin Fierro tries to reintegrate into society and correct his ways.

The books ends with a "Payada" , a form of sung poetry where gauchos would "compete to produce the most eloquent verse, each answering questions posed by the other, often insulting."
It is then revealed that the brother of the person slain in the first book is now facing Martin Fierro.

"At the end, Fierro speaks of changing his name and living in peace, but it is not entirely clear that the duel has been avoided"

I printed Mr Domenech essay to have it handy for easier reference

The essay can be found here:

A Short Essay about Gaucho knives: Facón, Daga, Cuchilla and Puñal

Historic setting and classification of the types of traditional South American knives and daggers and parallels with the Bowie knife

www.vikingsword.com

Fascinating stuff, Dan. Thanks for posting.

 

[Trubetzkoy]

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.

Very nice! You could also get or make a frog. I really like frogs because they allow you to easily put the knife away with its sheath, for example when hopping into the car. It would look something like this:

The frog is from a different knife/sheath, but you get the idea. Also, yours would have to have a biger indentation or curvature for the leather flap of your sheath.

 

[A.L.]

This thread made me remember I need to wear my poncho and ruana more. :3

 

[screened porch]

 

[Trubetzkoy]

I haven't posted anything new in a while, so here's something different I procured recently:

The knife comes from Germany. The blade is clearly in the style of the knives that were commonly exported to South America, with a "Spanish" notch and an "oriental" bolster; but the handle is more in the style of traditional German hunting daggers (Hirschfänger), made of wood and, most interestingly, featuring a golden ferrule and a carved dog-head pommel. I'm really not sure about the material of either the ferrule or the pommel. I'd assume that the former is brass (though it was surprisingly untarnished, even before I did any cleaning myself), and I reckon the latter is either silver or nickel silver (the color is less warm than that of the pommel nut, which is clearly made of nickel silver, and of any of the other nickel silver objects I own). There seems to be a maker's mark behind the pommel, with what appears to be a letter C inside a six-pointed star.

Edit: Image links fixed.

 

[Prester John]

I haven't posted anything new in a while, so here's something different I procured recently:

The knife comes from Germany. The blade is clearly in the style of the knives that were commonly exported to South America, with a "Spanish" notch and an "oriental" bolster; but the handle is more in the style of traditional German hunting daggers (Hirschfänger), made of wood and, most interestingly, featuring a golden ferrule and a carved dog-head pommel. I'm really not sure about the material of either the ferrule or the pommel. I'd assume that the former is brass (though it was surprisingly untarnished, even before I did any cleaning myself), and I reckon the latter is either silver or nickel silver (the color is less warm than that of the pommel nut, which is clearly made of nickel silver, and of any of the other nickel silver objects I own). There seems to be a maker's mark behind the pommel, with what appears to be a letter C inside a six-pointed star.

Interesting piece. Is the wood walnut?

 

[CelloDan]

Very nice! You could also get or make a frog. I really like frogs because they allow you to easily put the knife away with its sheath, for example when hopping into the car. It would look something like this:

Thanks for the suggestion as I was not aware of this . I'll have to attempt making one at some point.

I haven't posted anything new in a while, so here's something different I procured recently:

Very interesting and thanks for sharing !
I live vicariously through your growing collection mi amigo

Nice 1909 short sword Jer !
I do remember you posting it in the past but I had to look it up again as I had forgotten its name.

Looks like a similar design is coming very handy for this gaucho to prepare his asado

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Interesting piece. Is the wood walnut?

The truth is that I have no idea. I'm terrible at identifying woods, and I'm so curious about the ferrule and pommel material that I didn't stop to think about the wood. Actually, when I ordered it I thought it was horn, since the listing pictures were terrible.

Thanks for the suggestion as I was not aware of this . I'll have to attempt making one at some point.

I think you'd enjoy giving it a stab. Frogs can be made in lots of different styles, some of which are not hard at all. Let me know if you'd like to see some pics for inspiration .

 

[screened porch]

I had forgotten its name.

Me too. Interesting our frogs are quite different.

Looks like a similar design is coming very handy for this gaucho to prepare his asado

Mine's never been sharpened. So far I've preferred its potential to my likely actual.

 

[CelloDan]

It has been a very long time since I've read an actual book, you know, the actual physical object that you get to hold in your hands.

It's a shame as I used to be an avid reader in younger years. It seems that our digitized brave new world, along with its progress has also robbed us of valuable and rewarding experiences as well.

I plan to change that starting today
In a few minutes, after logging of social media and staring at this screen I shall go sit on the couch with aclose by and with a new book that just arrived

The title of the book is "Gauchos & the vanishing frontier" by Richard W. Slatta.

The table of contents looks very interesting.

Ok, let's do this, shall we ?

 

[screened porch]

There might be Weshmen in chapter 10!

 

[Prester John]

There might be Weshmen in chapter 10!

What are 'Weshmen"?

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

What are 'Weshmen"?

Welshmen. IIRC quite a few Welsh went to Argentina in the mid nineteenth century.

 

[screened porch]

What are 'Weshmen"?

So we can't spell.

 

[screened porch]

Welshmen. IIRC quite a few Welsh went to Argentina in the mid nineteenth century.

Yeah.

 

[Prester John]

So we can't spell.

Well, I like your old name: "scrteened porch."