Il Gobbo Abruzzese (The abruzzese Humpback)

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

Great pics! And nice history. Thanks

An elegant knife, Thankyou.

Very nice knife and interesting post! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Hey thats an autobots logo on the back of the handle

I like your informative posts Alfredo. I also like your knife. Very pretty, it is a nice looking knife. Thank you for posting up pictures of your local (Italian) knives.

Cool pics and info

Very cool looking knife, are they very expensive?

Thanks guys.

@HM: depending on the kind of horn for the handle, steel etc. Mine was around 150USD