Pico Fumo (Brazilian Little Tobacco Knife)

qncygnnr

qncygnnr

Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
339
I asked a friend/colleague to bring me a Pico Fumo (little tobacco) fixed blade knife from Brazil ... he's sent a picture. He asked why I wanted a "country knive"? he thought I'd want a Gaucho type knife (which I'd have gladly take also) but I'd rather have a knife that represents the parts of Brazil I've worked in.
Pico Fumo.jpg
I've seen really nice folding Pico Fumos - but this is what the regular people in Brazil would carry. I won't see him or the knife until mid-October so I've asked him to take a couple of close-ups. I'll post them if anyone else is interested.

Anybody out there have an interest in Pico Fumos? I've been to Brazil 5 times - twice in the Navy, and three times on business for my current employer.
 
Called a PICO FUMO (AKA "Little Smoke") because it's used to chop up the tobacco they smoke rolled in corn husks. They use them for anything you can use a knife for. Sugar Cane, Tobacco, food, and the occasional crime of passion ;)

The high end versions look almost exactly like a GEC E-Z Folder - sheepsfoot blade and no nail nick, just cutouts in the handles for pinch opening. Those are considered "city knives". My friend tells me that this knife is what the poor country folk are likely to have - only not as nice as the one he's bringing me (it's got a horn handle rather than wood) because it's made out of stainless steel. A big deal in Brazil where the humidity eats up everything except concrete, stone, and brick. In central and southern Brazil even the fence posts are concrete because the bugs and moisture destroys wood in short order.

Don't know if the mod will let this stand, but here's the website to give you some idea about what's going on in the Brazilian knife world.
http://facascascavel.mercadoshops.com.br/

I tried to translate the product description and ran into few snags - here's what my friend Victor says the description includes:

"Someones will be hard to translate, well let see
CABO EM CHIFRE CHATO! That means that the knife handle was made with flat parts of the bull horn
courear Remove the bull leather (or any other leather)
Só no olhar já corta ! It's a Brazilian expression.....means that is really sharp,
*Fabricação artesanal
Hand made
And " Acompanha bainha em pelo" means "comes together a leather made with bull skin" (I think they mean the sheath)
That is really a nice knife....i open to check and take the picture, and is really a cool stuff!!!
Have a nice weekend my friend
Victor Patiri Neto"

Black Mamba was corrrect - one of it's suggested uses is skinning cattle ... and cutting cheese! A real all purpose knife.
 
kinda reminds me of an alaskan ulu knife, and aside from the material being chopped, i bet they are used in the same way.

Cool knife:thumbup:
 
All things considered, I am minded to let it stand.

I can see why you want one. Very pretty.
 
Very nice to see this, I'd be interested in their folding knives as I don't have any S.American knives.
Thanks, Will
 
Victor says that cascavel is Brazilian Portuguese for "Rattlesnake". This is Rattlesnake Cutlery. Thanks for letting the link stand knarfeng - Brazil is a facinating culture. Even their dinnerware has a certain flair about it. A mix of old world decoration and new world practicality. The Churrascaria (Grilled Meat All You Can Eat Buffet) has more knives, skewers, small swords and specialized cutting tools than you can count. A meat eaters paradise ... Many of the most decorative knives on the website would be used for preparing and serving grilled meats - of which the Brazilians consider themselves to be the foremost practicioners. Fine knives as gifts to special or important friends is also a time honored tradition.

Glad people enjoyed this. I'm stoked ... can't wait to get my hands on this knife. Victor taught himself english by reading comic books so I'll trade him Batman and Superman and we'll both be happy.
 
Folding Pica Fumos:
pica fumo _folding_3.JPGpica fumo _folding_1.JPGpica fumo _folding_2.JPG
About the size of a large folding hawkbill pruner - maybe slightly longer.
 
Very cool, thanks for sharing. I, for one, really enjoy learning about different cultures' traditional tools. And, since I have a cousin-in-law who is from Brazil, something like these may have to go onto the Christmas-shopping list. ;)
 
Very cool knives, and very interesting story behind them.
For what its worth and excusing my very poor Portuguese, the expression "Só no olhar já corta !" literally translates: "Only by looking at it cuts!" trying to reinforce how sharp the knife is.
I have a couple of Brasilian knives in my collection but now I need at least a couple more.
Thanks
 
Thanks for the translation Joe ... what I've learned over the years is that Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are close in some ways and far apart in others. Brazil is very multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. The influence of the Italians and Germans and native American has created a lot of slang that is not considered classical Portuguese. I make these guys laugh when I attempt Portuguese because my first language training was Latin ... and compared to Brazilian Portuguese, Latin is not only dead - but seriously decomposed.
Import & export from Brazil is complicated - I'm going to talk to some of my firends down there to see if I can get some of the folders without getting killed with fees. If I can make that happen then some of them will eventually end up as fodder for trades on this forum.
 
A bit more information - this style is common in southern, rural Brazil. The handle is slabs of cow horn over wood - over a full tang. It does have the general shape of a skinner ... all belly. This part of Brazil is adjacent to Uruguay and Argentina - lots of cattle and a terrain very similar to East Texas. Shown next to my GEC #73 for a size reference. This is a "tank" of a knife. The lower part of the sheath still has the hair on it. The blade is about 1.5" deep at the widest part of the belly.

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shrapne1 said:
kinda reminds me of an alaskan ulu knife, and aside from the material being chopped, i bet they are used in the same way.

Cool knife:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Here's an Ulu (womans knife).

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