The Mighty Pequena

I don't know if it's still the case today, but in the past, during the lemon harvest in Spain, after a hot day in the dusty fields, the peasants would sit down to drink a glass of wine together and chat about their day. The lemons were so plentiful, the men would cut a lemon in half, and removing their boots, they'd put new life into their tired and aching feet, by rubbing half of the lemon into each foot...

It seems to me that the Castor would have been at home there ;)
 
Jack Black said:





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So the Sardinian looks at the Spaniard and says, " Me thinks we are related?"

Definitely a family resemblance. Cousins can go back a long way.

Carl.
 
Definitely Carl, that Sardinian cousin has some flair, he'd probably have a pencil moustache! :D
 
I wonder...

Does a strong resemblance mean that sometime in the past a visitor saw one in someones hands, and thought it a great idea? Or maybe similar environment bred a similar tool?

I imagine the Sardina countryside is heavy on shepherds and farmers, woring in the warm Mediterranean climate. Shepherds and farmers, and a little banditry here and there. Just like I imagine the Spanish countryside is good for shepherds, and farmers, and in the old days a little banditry here and there. People were poor by nature, working people without a lot of disposable income to spend on frills. So tools had to have a wide mission capability like they say in the military. A stout blade that cuts well, with a bit of a pointy profile to stick with, just in case of the bit of banditry we tourists here about.
:D

So...the Spanish peasant shepherd developes a very similar kind of knife as the Sardinian peasant shepherd on his rugged island. Not out of the relm of possibility.

Carl.
 
Very insightful Carl, as always. One of the Sheffield museums used to have some very old Spanish navajas on display (why, I'm not exactly sure), and they had a very similiar shape, but were much bigger than our two knives.

Perhaps we need our resident Sardinian to make an appearence at this point! :D
 
The Corsican Vendetta has a similiar blade shape I think. I wonder if there was any Moorish influence on these knives? In searching on that, I came across this article which, though relating mainly to a different Spanish style, (and one similiar to the Italian Zuava, which I believe has its roots in Morocco), has some interesting points in it.

http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/g...a_cuchilleria&trabajo=listar&pa=a_cuchilleria

The English translation is terrible though!
 
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A working-knife that gets work is always something to be impressed by.

I like the Leaf blade on European knives a lot, modern knives seem to have taken their cue from them too. A practical and beautiful shape, mental note: I need to get an Italian or Spanish knife....
 
Great review Jack.

Top man Scruff:)

I tried to order one not so long ago as I can see this being a very useful working knife. I'll try again as they were out of stock when I tried but Scruff obviously had more luck:)

I've enjoyed seeing the pic's and getting your thoughts. There isn't much written about them

Thanks again

Sam
 
Jack Black said:
The Corsican Vendetta has a similiar blade shape I think. I wonder if there was any Moorish influence on these knives? In searching on that, I came across this article which, though relating mainly to a different Spanish style, (and one similiar to the Italian Zuava, which I believe has its roots in Morocco), has some interesting points in it.

http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/g...a_cuchilleria&trabajo=listar&pa=a_cuchilleria

The English translation is terrible though!
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So after browsing the great internet, I came up with the following;

"The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Septimania, Sicily and Malta."

It would seem that at their hight, the Moors held all of Spain up to the border of France, and Sicily. If they held Sicily, Sardinia is just a hop skip and a jump across some very little water. You may be more right than you had guessed. If the Moors held sway for many years all across southern Europe and the Mediterranean region, I can see how people as far apart as Spain and Sardinia come up with very similar knife types. And on islands like Sardinia and Corsica, time moves a little slower, and people may cling more to the 'old' stuff that works so well. And we know how well those Corsican's like pointy things! They settle a vendetta so well.

Sometimes a good design just keeps being used. :thumbup:

Carl.
 
Thanks Jack! Nice review. This forum has really opened my eye towards "peasant knives" like this one, Opinels, Soddies etc.
I love seeing and learning about the knives folks use in different parts of the World it really gives you some insight into their culture.
 
Great review, Jack!

I really like that Aitor... propably I´d need to get one soon.

Working knives are of great price and great value as well...

Thanks for this nice writeup and review, my friend!
 
The Aitor Castor was a front-runner in my search for a wood handled, carbon steel traditional, but all this talk of bear trap springs scared me away. I went with the Brown Mule sodbuster instead.
 
I have the medium sized one. The steel acts a lot like an Opinel so I would guess it's probably a 1070. Can get wickedly sharp but doesn't hold it's edge as long as some 1095. The spring is stout in my book. And impossible for me to open if I have oil on the blade or my fingers. I love the blade shape. Just love it. And don't get me wrong, I love being able to pinch open a knife (the A.G.Russell soddie is perfect that way) but I like the option of a nail nick for those time my hands are slippery. Not to dissuade anyone, I'm all about informed consent. And of course your mileage may vary.
 
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dogstar said:
The Aitor Castor was a front-runner in my search for a wood handled, carbon steel traditional, but all this talk of bear trap springs scared me away. I went with the Brown Mule sodbuster instead.
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The one I have is certainly no bear-trap. It locks up solidly with a nice strong snap, but when being closed there's little snap to the half-stop nor indeed to the final resting position.

bemo said:
I have the medium sized one. The steel acts a lot like an Opinel so I would guess it's probably a 1070. Can get wickedly sharp but doesn't hold it's edge as long as some 1095. The spring is stout in my book. And impossible for me to open if I have oil on the blade or my fingers. I love the blade shape. Just love it. And don't get me wrong, I love being able to pinch open a knife (the A.G.Russell soddie is perfect that way) but I like the option of a nail nick for those time my hands are slippery. Not to dissuade anyone, I'm all about informed consent. And of course your mileage may vary.
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I'd also like a nail-nick, but in practice I've had no problem opening the blade so far. Maybe the spring is less strong on the smaller model or maybe it's just my particular knife.
 
jackknife said:
So after browsing the great internet, I came up with the following;

"The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Septimania, Sicily and Malta."

It would seem that at their hight, the Moors held all of Spain up to the border of France, and Sicily. If they held Sicily, Sardinia is just a hop skip and a jump across some very little water. You may be more right than you had guessed. If the Moors held sway for many years all across southern Europe and the Mediterranean region, I can see how people as far apart as Spain and Sardinia come up with very similar knife types. And on islands like Sardinia and Corsica, time moves a little slower, and people may cling more to the 'old' stuff that works so well. And we know how well those Corsican's like pointy things! They settle a vendetta so well.

Sometimes a good design just keeps being used. :thumbup:

Carl.
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Yes Carl, the Moors held sway over the region for hundreds of years - in fact until Moses turned up with the NRA! :D

Poster%20-%20El%20Cid_02.jpg


If nothing else, the Moors were certainly an influence on the Sardinian flag, which contains four Moors heads.

Sardinia_Template.jpg


"The flag is of medieval origin, and is composed of the St. George Cross and four heads of blindfolded Blackamoors (or Maures) which in the past were turned towards the left. The Moors represents four heads of beheaded saracens, and symbolise the victory of the Sardinian people against the Moors who attempted to invade the island. It is historically linked to the flag of Aragon in Spain and that of the neighbouring island of Corsica."*

Very interesting article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Sardinia

At least some Corsican Vendetta patterns have the same image on the handle.

CouteauRegionalCorse-Vendetta-13cm-Os-G.jpg


The image is taken from the Corsican flag

cutcaster-photo-100102737-Corsica-flag-with-mountains-in-background.jpg


See for example: http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/?p=913

Here's the Aragon flag.

aragon_flag.jpg


Note that St George is also the patron saint of Catalunya. The Castor is apparently based on traditional designs from the Aragon/Catalan region.

I have to say, I wasn't previously aware of the historic links between Northern Spain (Aragon), Sardinia, and Corsica, (See for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sardinia and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sardinia), which kind of makes the idea of possible Moorish influence redundant to some extent! :)



* "In the Spanish version of the story the symbol appears during celebrations following the victory in the Battle of Alcoraz by King Peter I of Aragon and Navarre against the Arabs in 1096. The Sardinian version dates it even earlier, to 1017 when Pope Benedict II gave a banner featuring the design to a Pisan contingent fighting to help the Sardinians repel attacks from the Saracens led by Mujahid al-Amiri."(See link above).
 
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And then there's the possible influence of the Moorish Corsairs that ravaged European shipping and sea-ports between the 16th and 19th Century, and of the thousands of Europeans who fought alongside them! I should add that this is totally idle speculation of course! :D
 
Great info Jack & Carl :thumbup:

I've seen that very Vendetta before....but thought the image was a rose! lol! :o
 
Simple is elegant. . .
Simple is timeless. . .
Simple Works!

(Thread promptly subscribed to)
 
I'm back home. And I'm here. I assume you wouldn't expect me to avoid posting on a thread that has my flag in it :D
So, a bit of historical facts. Sardinia was officially part of the Spanish kingdom for quite a while, and Spanish influences are very common all over the coasts of the island (especially on the western side). The Spanish didn't really get much into the inner lands (Sardinians have a reputation of not liking invaders from the sea, and even if our coasts were taken by many, the inland wasn't), but the mix of culture is quite deep (we're talking about 7 centuries ago), for many things: language (the Sardinian language is a latin derived one which stands more or less in the middle between Italian and Spanish), history (like the old story about the origin of the name of a certain South America capital city), architecture...why not knives?
No wonder why the blade shape of your Astor looks alot like the leaf shaped blade on Carl's resolza :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
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