Knives from My Spanish Holidays

5K Qs

5K Qs

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EDIT: Frank advised (see post 25 & 27) that this thread lacked focus on knives, so I'll try to get back on track. I've renamed the thread, and "reconceptualized" how I plan to add to the thread (although I haven't changed any of the posts previously made).

Back around Thanksgiving, I started a thread in which I requested suggestions for what knife I should try to get while I was in Spain visiting my daughter for Christmas and New Year's.
(http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1238773-Spanish-Knife?highlight=spanish+knives)

Well, my trip has come and gone, we had a wonderful time, and I want to "show off" some of my Spanish cutlery. I also want to selfishly "re-live" the experience by posting some photos of our travels. So I'm starting this thread as a place I can come periodically and gradually "document" my trip. I'm hoping to add a post each week for the next several weeks describing our visits to each of several Spanish cities: Seville, Granada, Toledo, Denia, Valencia, and Madrid. I plan to display what I hope are well-chosen photos of the city in question, briefly describe some of our experiences in each place, and occasionally describe some of my reactions (as a very inexperienced traveler) to what I encountered.

And of course, each post will have some knife content. I went to Spain with the intention of buying one or maybe two Spanish knives. But once I was there and discovered the wonders of cuchillerias (knife shops) in Spain, I decided that I should try to buy a knife in each city as a souvenir of my probably once-in-a-lifetime visit. So I managed to almost do that (no knife from Madrid), even though, as a result, I've pre-spent my allotted knife budget through July 2015! :eek::o:eek: My plan is to close the post for each city with some photos of the knife (or knives) I bought in that city.

So that's my plan for re-experiencing my journey over the next few weeks. Many of you understandably have little interest in vicariously visiting Spain through my (and my daughter's) eyes, so I'll just "cut to the chase" in this introductory post and show you a shot of my Spanish "armada":
pjjQuJB.jpg


I hope to add a post about our trip to Seville sometime later this weekend.

- GT
 
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Looks like a heck of a lineup. I can't wait to hear about each stop and the knives you picked up at each. What a great way to memorialize your trip and your time with your daughter. I'm hoping you got at least one shot of the sun rising over the water. ;)
 
Thanks, Cory! My daughter took a lot of photos and sent me home with a thumb drive full of them. That's going to be the hard part - finding just a few photos to represent our adventures in each city. We DO have some nice sunrise shots, although not paying close enough attention to a map resulted in my being quite surprised at where the sun actually came up over the Mediterranean! :eek:

- GT
 
I'm glad you and your daughter had such a great time. That is a really nice assortment of knives as well.:thumbup: I especially like the Taramundi and it's blade shape.

Looking forward to seeing more about the trip.
 
GT - nice group of knives there and looking forward to seeing more of your adventures !! :thumbup::thumbup::)
 
Fantastic GT, really looking forward to this one. That's a very nice selection of knives there. Thanks for sharing them with us, and your adventures to come :thumbup:

Jack
 
Can't wait, I'm thinking about a similar trip this summer.

The top one looks nice, like a Spanish barlow (Sparlow?).
 
All great knives!:thumbup::thumbup::thumb up:

Especially love the Taramundi, as I have found a love of friction folders. How is the action on the Taramundi, kind of like a snug Opinel? The burning on the wood is a beautiful effect.
 
I will be waiting for more stories and pictures of your knives. Love that sod buster!
 
Thanks for all the compliments and encouragement, everyone! :)

Several people have commented on the Taramundi (top knife in my photo). That was a pattern that several people (including jackknife, a self-admitted friction folder aficionado ;)) recommended I get. So my original plan was to get a navaja de campana (the sodbuster style that edbeau liked, 2nd from the top in my pic) and/or a Taramundi. And those were the first two I bought in Spain, before I "went off the deep end" with my change to "a knife from every city" plan. As QJerry points out, the Taramundi, with its long bolster, is kind of like the Barlow of friction folders; that long bolster definitely appealed to me. Another reason I was very interested in a Taramundi was the distinctive, artistic, boxwood handles; the burnt wood style really caught my eye. Carl, you asked if the action is like a snug Opinel; so far, I'd say it's a little looser than my Opinels usually are.

As I just said, I really like the looks of the Taramundi handle, and sometimes just sit and look at it. :o:eek::o But here's a fun "game" my wife and I played last night after I showed her the photo I posted. We looked at the Taramundi handle in the photo and tried to "see" designs in it, kind of like looking for "pictures" in the clouds. She saw an Ewok from Star Wars, and I saw a monkey; I think we were looking at the same thing. If I imagine the knife standing vertically with point down, I also saw a dog, German Sheperd maybe. Feel free to let me know if you see anything. :p Anyway, yeah, that burnt boxwood handle on my Tarmundi is VERY cool! :cool:

- GT
 
IF no, WHEN I win the lottery shortly:thumbup::D I will drive from here in the perma-frost of Scandinavia to Spain to take in Calandra, Toledo, Granada, Cadiz in springtime. Only been briefly to Northern Spain but I thirst to go there now: the beauty of the architecture, landscapes, food wine and people;)

Then there's knives....Really struck by that horn handled Joker, being in Europe it should be easy enough for me to locate one but it's actually proving tricky:confused:

Looking forward to more pictures and details of your journey, you are lucky to have such a daughter who can be a wonderful guide and companion on such a journey:thumbup:

Regards, Will
 
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