Vaqyero Grande, El Vaquero, and Vaquero

[sopmodm4]

I must say that my first generation Vaquero Grande(no pocket clip) was the most powerful slicing(shearing)knife per inch of blade length I have owned to date.Including high priced semi-custom Striders,Loveless and Busse fixed blade knives and Microtech,Emerson and Spyderco folders.

Once tempted by a friend to slice a huge semi frozen beef brisket to allow it to cook more rapidly in his smoker I held the almost 2ft long and 3in thick piece of half frozen meat at arm's length and zipped across it diagonally with one stroke(kids,don't try this at home)!

After my "Culinary Combat Simulation" I was firmly convinced that this was the "secret weapon" of my wildest Walter Middy fantasies and proceeded to carry the gigantic unweildy thing in the pliers pocket of my carpenter's jeans(a perfect fit and fairly secure) until one day I slipped on some stairs and voila! The handle cracked lengthwise and would have split completely if the blade were extended and ANY lateral force applied.


So much for my "pocket sword" now I'm back to carrying my pathetic Microtech Amphibian again

I still have the blade,I wonder if some bored knife maker wouldn't be too offended if I asked them to use this blade and make a serious steel liner lock handle that could be adapted to this blade????


Hmmmm???

 

[STR]

I too am big fans of the larger Cold Steel offering.

I think the Zytel handles are pretty darn tough personally. Seems to be similar to the polymer materials Glock uses in their guns which are also quite tough and durable in combat and other such situations.

Most people owning these knives will never need them or have to use them for defense but if they did it would be a shame to own one of these and not have it on you when the time came.

My fave is the 5" blade El Vaquero and I have a 5" nogales bladed Voyager that I like very much too. I don't carry it much because it is one of 500 made when it was discontinued and numbered. But it rides in the pocket even better than my El Vaguero does because it is thinner.

Unlike many of the posters here I find the El Vaquero to be quite handy with food prep. I use mine all the time in the kitchen for anything from slicing bread to celery and grapefruits. I love using it in the kitchen in fact.

I have the Vaquero Grande that I lost on my 30 acre property when hiking once. It sat out there in the woods for around 4 months until one day when I looked down and there it was. All dirty and a few spots on the blade but after a rinsing off in the pond and drying it I started using it again. Pretty impressive really. It is not really hurt that much by this prolonged stay in the elements.

I've used the Grande for tree and shrub cutting jobs. So, has my wife. Overall I can't complain about the edge keeping of this blade. It has never had a sharpener touch it and I see no reason to since it still cuts fine.

I have a clip point Voyager in 4" blade version. I have also found the 4" version to be harder to use. I thought it was just me until reading these posts. Also, I don't think the hollow ground blade is as good as the V grind or flat grind on the Vaquero. I like the way the Vaqueros cut. Seemingly with more ease than the hollow grind ones from my experiences.