All About Pocket Knives

Some of my favorite navajas....All purchased in Spain. Most were made in Albacete or Toledo.

OSCAR wrote:Some of my favorite navajas....All purchased in Spain. Most were made in Albacete or Toledo.

Nice bunch of Knives. It's obvious looking at some of them why Levine saw them as cousins of the American "Tickler". Thanks for sharing.

Quiet a wonderful group there OSCAR, do you live in Spain or just visit?

Doglegg : Just visited. I’m American. You should have seen the look on customs inspectors face as I had over 40 knives packed in my luggage. All legal but they had to ask me why. This was about 20 years ago. The why is because it’s not easy to find Spanish navajas in the US. My collection is varied, with knives from all over.
As for the navajas, I only know of one dealer in the states, and they only have a few. One day, I will get a French Laguiole. The pattern is similar and I don’t know which came first. The French doesn’t have some of the Spanish knives features. But I only have four that open with the ratchet.

OSCAR wrote:Doglegg : Just visited. I’m American. You should have seen the look on customs inspectors face as I had over 40 knives packed in my luggage. All legal but they had to ask me why. This was about 20 years ago. The why is because it’s not easy to find Spanish navajas in the US. My collection is varied, with knives from all over.
As for the navajas, I only know of one dealer in the states, and they only have a few. One day, I will get a French Laguiole. The pattern is similar and I don’t know which came first. The French doesn’t have some of the Spanish knives features. But I only have four that open with the ratchet.

Maybe a trip to France is in order.
Thanks for the response.

But the French aren’t really friendly to Americans. And those are easy to find in the USA

OSCAR, my son lived in Germany for a while and we would visit the Alsace area of France and found the most friendly and congenial folks you would want to meet. I've had friends visit the Normandy area and told me the same thing. My son said the only ones he met that were cold to Americans was in Paris. I went into a couple of gun shops in Germany and was met with cold indifference. Almost to the point of disrespect. Went into a gun shop in France and couldn't get away for their wanting to talk guns. You might try it and be surprised. Anyway just my experiences. But when you add in the travel cost it would make for some expensive knives.

I found the people in Paris to be friendly and congenial. The exception was waiters. It was the English in London who were a bit brusque and sour.

Doglegg, Good to know firsthand. You always hear how rude they are. I’d like to visit someday. Been to Spain,Portugal and Gibraltar. Found some cool knives in Portugal but none in Gibraltar. I can’t justify the trip just to add knives to my collection, but a vacation where I just happen upon knives I like, well that would be well worth it.

The pattern is similar and I don’t know which came first.

I can't vouch for its correctness, but according to this history the Laguiole was inspired by the Navaja, so it would seem the latter came first.

https://www.laguioleusa.com/history/

Dennis

Deo-pa, Thanks for the answer to my question. Oscar

Here are a few from my accumulation:

Wow, those are all very cool! Thanks to both of you for posting those. I may have to expand my collection in that direction.

Knife7nutt Those are awesome! Mine are relatively modern. I need to get a few vintage ones like those. The etching on the blade are great.

Nice knives ---- Oscar & Knife7knut;
Always interesting to look at other styles of knives from different regions and cultures-
I know this is an old thread but:
Large Navaja - from France? maybe..
I have a large Navaja folding knife with ring lock system and stag handle. Picked it up a at a yard sale this year & haven't been able to identify yet.
Maybe someone here can look at pics and help. This thing is large to say the least, with a 10 inch blade with marks saying:
Martin Vassy on 1 side and J.C.A.B. in capital letters on reverse. Seems like quality piece and good construction,finish, blade quality,
however it has etched hunting scenes which covers both sides of blade, and i am completely unfamiliar.
If anyone has thoughts or help with the markings i would sure appreciate any feedback.
Chris

Whoa! That is a very impressive knife. Thanks for sharing.

A beautiful knife Trailmaker . I’m not familiar with the markings, and couldn’t find them in Goins book of tang identification. I can’t say for certain which is country of origin but I’d say it has a French look. Definitely an old knife.
One thing, the larger navajas from Spain typically have ratchet when opening. If it makes that noise it would probably be Spanish.
Hope this helps.
P.S. I never had luck making funds like that!!!!

Hope you don't mind me posting in an old thread, but I thought it would be appropriate to put this with the other Spanish navajas. Stainless blade, horn handles and nickle silver bolsters. The blade's about 2.5 inches. I attempted a little research on this months ago. Martinez y Gascon is an Albacete manufacturer, but currently they only make kitchen cutlery. Haven't made navajas in decades, far as I can tell. So, this dates from sometime between the 50s-80s.

Nephillim:
That’s a winner. Beautiful knife. I have about 40 navajas. Most of mine made in the 1980’s.
If you ever decide to sell it, please give me first crack at it. Ratchets are usually found on the very large navajas. I have one or two and closed they are at least 10”. I’d love to find more ratchet navajas, but I like them all. Yours is awesome! Great find. Oscar

Yeah, I got lucky on ebay. I do have a large ratcheting navaja by Celaya, but it's not nearly as nice as that little vintage one. Eventually I want to pick up something by Exposito, but I have other, cheaper things to add to my collection first.

Dang..
These are nice....I do love Navajos too...especially the older ratchet ones...