Il Gobbo abruzzese (the Abruzzese Humpback)

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martineden

Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
621
Hi all,
here we are with another traditional italian knife, named “Gobbo” (it means “humpback”). Ehrr..no, sorry, not this one


this one, here we are now



This knife is by the Italian region named Abruzzo


And was used, tipically, by the shepherds, which used to drove flocks of sheeps from mountains to the champaign in autumn, and contrary wise in spring



This ordeal was very long (weeks, usually) and was always on the same routes (named “tratturi”), a sort of very old green highways, large from few to more than 100 metres, long, some cases, hundreds kilometers


Of course, especially in the past years, the shepherds was completely out of the civilization for weeks, walking all the day in the hills and sleeping in some sort of shelters like these


So, a knife was an essential tool for everything, everywhere: food, rope cutting, lambing sheeps on births et cetera.

This is an old Gobbo, from mid of the XIX century


Coming back at the present day, this kind of knife became quickly popular in the rest of Italy on the XIX century, so the main knife’s factories made them in numbers. It’s pretty obvious why this knife is called Gobbo - Humpback



Specs of mine:
Overall length: 21 cm
Blade length: 9,0 cm
Blade thickness: 2 mm
Steel: 12c27 inox
Spring: steel 420, with tower in 316 steel
Handle: cow’s horn

Is a slipjoint of course, you may see a draft (not mine) on how it’s work

And some pics about it




Blade has the typical shape of a bamboo’s foil



The Gobbo of mine it’s produced by Saladini – Scarperia (FI) http://www.coltelleriasaladini.it/v...ategory=1&TB_iframe=true&width=800&height=600


Here you may see the screws et cetera (from Saladini Internet site), it’s a a modern version of the classic Gobbo of course


The handle is cow’s horn



On the back of the handle, Saladini’s symbol, the tower



Hope you enjoy, regards, ciao
Alfredo
 
Excellent thread!! The history lesson was wonderful. Never can get enough of pictures of the country side in places like you live...Alfredo. Thanks for the post.
 
Fantastic. Thank you for sharing. Really enjoyed the read, pictures and history.
 
A lovely knife with a wonderfully rich history. Thank you for sharing this!
 
Excellent post martineden, thanks!
It is interesting to see that on the Saladini made Gobbo the front end of the backspring is still retaining the wider plate to which in the mid 19th Century Gobbo the pull ring is attached. Now with the ring gone it is used as a surface for decorative marks (in this case the Saladini's trademark, the tower).
It resembles the similarly placed bee motif on the French Laguiole knives. Cool!
 
Very nice thread, and of course very nice knife (I'm glad I'm not the only one posting traditional Italian regional patterns).
This is one of the most popular knife patterns in Italy, and since it's a shapherd's knife, I kinda feel more linked to it. :D
Saladini does make very fine knives, and this one does look very good, and feels pretty comfy in the hand (I've handled this same knife some time ago).
Again, thanks for sharing :thumbup:

Fausto
:cool:
 
Gobbo actually means something!? That is really neat. :grumpy:

Just joking. ;) Good history.

Are those ring lock ones still made? I have some of those of Spanish and Arabian origin, but I wouldn't mind one in cattle horn.
 
Fantastic, informative photo essay. I wish we had more like yours. It really gave a lot of historical context to the humpback style of knife. Thanks for sharing!
 
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