[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]The Cuchillo[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]The "cuchillo" (knife) is a tool for all purpose and it is the weapon of "gauchos" and people of the plain. It has a triangular blade and a cutting edge on one side. It was used to slaughter and skin, to cut "guascas", to eat. The knife is a tool made of steel iron with one cutting edge. It has a blade of different sizes and proportions. This blade ends in a tip and its opposite end is fixed into a handle made of metal, wood or bone. There were also knives fixed into stones or leather rings, sometimes coated with woven threads of raw leather. The knives did not have "gavilán", they only have a kind of knot between the blade and the handle called "button of the blade."[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Parts that make the knife, their derivations or varieties and the sheath:[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Blade: The blade of the knife consists of a tip, the cutting edge and the spine. The tip is the sharp end of the tool. The cutting edge is the sharpened part of the knife. It extends to the whole blade, and it is more delicate when it reaches the tip. The last third part near the handle is rather thick and it is called "gavilán." The gaucho used this third part of the cutting edge as an axe.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Spine: The spine of the knives is the thick part opposite the cutting edge. In some knives, the spine was also sharpened and so this part was called "contrafilo" (opposite edge). The spine usually has carved patterns, just as drawings or for stopping a cut during a fight.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]The blade of the knife is fixed into the handle through a pivot or rod.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]The blade and the handle are separated by a piece of metal, of a horizontal shape known as "empatilladura", with its "gavilán" (in the daggers and "facones") and buttons (in the knives and "puñales"). So, the "gavilán" is a fitting that is fixed in the handle to defend oneself from the strikes of the enemy.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Gavilán: Straight "gavilán" is the part of the knife that is fixed transversally between the handle and the blade. Each end of this part usually finishes in a button, in a tip, or in the shape of the heads of lions or snakes. [/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]An "s" shaped "gavilán" is the transversal piece in the shape of that letter. A croissant shaped "gavilán" is the one that has this piece in the shape of an arch or horn, and whose ends look at the blade of the knife. The "gavilán" that consists of an oval piece of metal, transversal to the blade, does not reduce the power of the weapon, but it does stop the strikes of the enemy.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]The sheath it is a cover made of leather, metal, bone or other material, that is used for keeping the steel blades. It consists of three parts:[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]-Body of the sheath: it is the cover that protects the weapon. It can be made of tanned leather, metal, etc. The ones that are made of metal may have engraved or carved patterns. [/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]-The grip, with its "boquilla" (opening) is the part where the weapon is introduced to put it away. The "boquilla" has in its upper border a triangular fitting that is used to keep the sheath fixed to one's waist, so that the sheath does not slip. This fitting is called "agarradera" (grip) or "gancho" (hook).[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]-The tip is the lower end of the sheath. It ends in a rounded shape so that it prevents the carrier to hurt himself. It substitutes the "facón"(gaucho knife); it is a weapon with a wide blade, about 25 centimeters long without "gavilán". It has a cutting edge and the tip is upwards, the spine of the blade next to the handle is wide. It is an ideal tool for the man of the plain, it is carried as the "facón", over the kidneys, with the handle next to the right elbow. It is a weapon similar to the knife but with a wider blade, the width is kept almost to the middle of the tip so the cutting edge makes a sharp curve (called belly for its similarity to that part of the body) that is its main characteristic.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]It is a knife wit a small blade that substitutes the "facón" when the last one, because of its size, is very uncomfortable to use. It was used to castrate, grind the tobacco and for an endless list of the most varied uses. It was carried on the right flank, passing over the front part of the "tirador" (suspender), next to the "rastra".[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]A word derived from "faca", which means "big knife". It has a very long blade, with the cutting edge on one side and a small opposite edge at the beginning of the spine. It has a very sharp tip. It always had a "gavilán", big or small, straight, in the shape of an "s" or of a croissant, according to the owner's preference. Some of them were seventy -five centimeters long. Sometimes the "facón" was substituted by the dagger. It is similar to the "puñal", and bigger than the "facón", it has a cutting edge and an opposite edge, that the gauchos usually made from old bayonets and rests of swords. It used to have a kind of longitudinal conduit on both faces, that the men of the plain justified them as appropriate to facilitate the bloodletting. It was similar to the "facón" but very big, the blade would reach a length of 80 cm, it was used to hunt, as a weapon or to kill animals. Due to its size it was impossible to carry it on one's body so they carried it in the "caronas"(saddlecloth) of the saddle, there comes its name.[/font]
and...I can relate to that! I am still in want, lol.
