I may be committing sacrilege, wonder if the Cold Steel version with a 12 inch blade would be any good. I know, I know y’all will be ousting me from this thread.
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Coincidentally, just a few days ago I was looking into the iconic Canadian Grohmann #1 knife and stumbled upon Cold Steel's version of it. Their choice of steel for that knife (German 4116 Stainless steel ) left me a bit "cold " lol and I forgot about it.
Now when I saw that their criollo is made with thick stock 1095 it initially peaked my interest.
At first sight the knife does not look too bad really
I kinda liked it lol so I took a closer look.
I then noticed the bolster which is my main sticking point with this knife.
It is obviously NOT and integral forged bolster as it is in the most traditional and authentic criollos.
It is not even a "welded" bolster which nowadays is a rather common feature in many of the more economical contemporary blades.
It seems to be just "resting" on top of the blade blank merely as a decoration or an imitation of a bolster.
So for me is a
"No gracias" lol
I personally would not really consider any blade
unless it has an integral forged bolster.
Having said that, as I mentioned before, most of the more economical criollos in Argentina are made with welded bolsters.
In my search for blade blanks I came across a few brands and after consulting with a silversmith from Argentina he confirmed with me that they all had welded bolsters.
He even uses them himself at times for some more modestly priced knives.
Case in point is the modern version of "La Movediza" blade blanks.
The original highly renowned factory closed its doors in the early 60's.
The name "La Movediza" was then bought /sold and the current owner makes very economical blade blanks with welded bolsters.
As in the pic below:
I then stumbled upon another brand which seemed quite popular and found out that their bolsters are also welded.
They also weld a piece of threaded rod as part of the tang on these ones, I presumed to facilitate installing a screw on pommel.
Basically I was told, ALL cheap blades have welded bolsters.
Integral forged bolsters blades are significantly more expensive and done by custom makers (there is the modern Arbolito blades with integral bolsters however as we have been discussing lately they have their issues as well)
I also take issue with the name that Cold Steel chose for their version of a criollo.
That is NOT a facon !!! Somebody please send Cold Steel a copy of Mr Domenech essay please
Even a casual web browse about gaucho knives makes that clear.
The history of the "Facon" written on their webpage made my eyebrows twitch upwards a bit too lol
.
Oh, before I forget, and this is just a matter of personal taste. The file marks on top of the Puñal ( NOT FACON ) .... WHYSOCROWDED!!! ... S p a ce t h e m o u t a b i t w o u l d y o u
I kinda like the "vaina" to be fair and the wooden handle ^
And hey, just for kicks why don't we let Cold Steel tell us more about it lol !
The video is kinda funny to be fair
