[Manouchehr M.]

Dear friends,

We have knives from Canary Island, the magnificent cuchillo canaraio. Plus a number of other knives from mainland Spain.

How about Sicily? Is there any specific knife attributed to this island? I appreciate your input.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

[Korey J. Lavoie]

Hello Manouchehr.

Off the top of my head, the most common historic knife from that region is known as the Mediterranean Dirk: http://books.google.com/books?id=Na62RoJOcqcC...A1-PA63,M1 Which is also a fairly common piece amongst custom Knifemakers, due it's high diffusion and history: South American Spanish Gaucho or "Cowboy" knives are practically identical to the Mediterranean Dirk, these influences then carried over to many examples of early American Bowie knives.
This creates an interesting dichtonomy in the history of the American Bowie knife: All evidence indicates that the original American Bowie knives were in fact modeled under this influence stemming from the Mediterranean Dirk. Whereas the popular conception of a Bowie Knife as a blade with a drastic clipped point was largely the creation of English Cutlers. Showing a clear influence from another famous and venerable knife design: The Seax.

http://www.stonecenterpiece.com/myhobby.html

http://www.bladegallery.com/shopexd.asp?id=33...5455710502

http://www.bladegallery.com/shopexd.asp?id=25...5455710502