Hi all,
here we are with a traditional italian knife, named “Gobbo” (it means “humpback”). Ehrr..no, sorry, not this one
this one, here we are now
This knife is by the Italian region named Abruzzo
And was used, tipically, by the shepherds, which used to drove flocks of sheeps from mountains to the champaign in autumn, and contrary wise in spring
This ordeal was very long (weeks, usually) and was always on the same routes (named “tratturi”), a sort of very old green highways, large from few to more than 100 metres, long, some cases, hundreds kilometers
Of course, especially in the past years, the shepherds was completely out of the civilization for weeks, walking all the day in the hills and sleeping in some sort of shelters like these
So, a knife was an essential tool for everything, everywhere: food, rope cutting, lambing sheeps on births et cetera.
This is an old Gobbo, from mid of the XIX century
Coming back at the present day, this kind of knife became quickly popular in the rest of Italy on the XIX century, so the main knife’s factories made them in numbers. It’s pretty obvious why this knife is called Gobbo - Humpback
Specs of mine:
Overall length: 21 cm
Blade length: 9,0 cm
Blade thickness: 2 mm
Steel: 12c27 inox
Spring: steel 420, with tower in 316 steel
Handle: cow’s horn
Is a slipjoint of course, you may see a draft (not mine) on how it’s work
[img]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9766/gobbo.jpg[/img]And some pics about it
[img]http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7867/img3707ci.jpg[/img][img]http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/8888/img3708i.jpg[/img][img]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/6390/img3709a.jpg[/img]Blade has the typical shape of a bamboo’s foil
[img]http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3096/img3700q.jpg[/img][img]http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2873/3417024fogliadialberodi.jpg[/img]The Gobbo of mine it’s produced by Saladini – Scarperia (FI)
http://www.coltelleriasaladini.it/v4/mod...&height=600[img]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/6076/img3703z.jpg[/img]Here you may see the screws et cetera (from Saladini Internet site), it’s a a modern version of the classic Gobbo of course
[img]http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/7150/coltellidacollezione05.jpg[/img]The handle is cow’s horn
[img]http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/881/img3701oz.jpg[/img][img]http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8504/img3711a.jpg[/img]On the back of the handle, Saladini’s symbol, the tower
[img]http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/3086/img3704r.jpg[/img][img]http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9778/img3705k.jpg[/img]Hope you enjoy, regards, ciao
Alfredo