Jose-antonio-herreros

Handmade Knives from Albacete

José Antonio Herreros Gómez is a well-known Handmade knives folding knife and pocket knives who started working at Albacete when he was only 13 years old.

At the beginning, when he was just a kid, he started working with the famous cutlery Viuda de Ricardo Zafrilla, from Albacete.

He worked more than 10 years with the Zafrilla family, during that time he learnt everything related to the cutlery and the passion for the cutlery started to grow deep in his heart.

Once the Zafrilla’s family decided to close the company, José Antonio Herreros Gómez found a new place to keep developing his skills.

He started to work with another of the greatest families of the artisan and handmade cutlery from Albacete, Expósito. Expósito is one of the finest cutlery and handmade companies from Albacete, in fact it’s still on the business thanks.

Back on the day, Expósito had a really small workshop on Tejares street (one of the most famous streets on Albacete), next to a bar called “Los caracoles” (the snails)

Spanish knife maker family called Zafrilla
Spanish knife maker family called Zafrilla

Folding knives and pocket knives artisan

José Antonio suddenly started being famous on Albacete and the most important cutlery factory on that day, Castañeda, hired him in order to keep developing Crowning. The famous knives and pocket knives brand from the 70s.

Unfortunately, Crowning disappeared 3 years later when Castañeda decided to retire.

Due to this, he decided to open another workshop in his mother-in-law courtyard. He managed to survive thanks to his skills during that time. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long until another company was interested in his skills. That company was “Cuchillería el Abuelo” (the grandfather cutlery products), José ended working there more than 10 years. Cuchillería el abuelo is still a cutlery brand but they don’t manufacture knives or pocket knives anymore.

After he left “Cuchillería El Abuelo”, the Spanish cutlery sector went downhill. It was really bad days for the Spanish cutlery as a lot of companies suddenly disappeared (Ramirez, Andujar, Crowning, Halcón, etc…). You could only find a job on the sporting cutlery companies which used the latest technologies and tended to be more industrialized

For that reason, José Antonio moved by the passion and love he felt for the cutlery didn’t hesitate when he founded an improvised workshop on the trunk of his van, a Volkswagen LT 35. He traveled around all the Spanish geography (especially the Mediterranean coast of Barcelona, Benidorm, Alicante, Valencia, etc.) grinding and fixing kitchen knives from the local people.

He even managed to improvised a little workshop in his van’s trunk where he made a few of his more iconic pieces, he was pretty famous those days among the tourist who surprised of such a quality product didn’t hesitate to buy them as a souvenir.

Nowadays, Jose works for the most premium quality cutleries from Albacete, meanwhile he manages to manufacture pocket and folding knives at the weekends.

Cutlery awards

José Antonio Herreros has earned a good reputation during his career, he has won quite a lot of awards as a master artisan. He has won a lot of awards given by APRECU (acronym for association for cutlers and third parties from Albacete, in Spanish). Jose’s creations can be found on the most famous Spanish knives and pocket knives museums.

Jose is still famous nowadays for assist to the biggest craftmanship shows on Spain.

In order to conclude we would like just to add that during his entire life he has worked for the finest and most famous cutlery brands such as Peralta, Miguel Nieto, Expósito, Cudeman, etc.

HIGHLIGHTED PRODUCTS

Mini Vendetta corso folding knife deer stag antler Milano bolster and plaited brass cord.
Mini Vendetta corso folding knife deer stag antler Milano bolster and plaited brass cord.
125,00€ TAX – VAT included

125,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Rigging/sailing folding knife walnut wood handle
Rigging/sailing folding knife walnut wood handle
150,00€ TAX – VAT included

150,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Vendetta corso tanto folding knife ram horn 10 cm blade
Vendetta corso tanto folding knife ram horn 10 cm blade
195,00€ TAX – VAT included

195,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

“Fieles” polished deer stag antler “jug” like folding knife
“Fieles” polished deer stag antler “jug” like folding knife
250,00€ TAX – VAT included

250,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Polished deer stag Vendetta folding knife 10 cm
Polished deer stag Vendetta folding knife 10 cm
195,00€ TAX – VAT included

195,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Cordobesa folding knife with a milano bolster and a inlaid kydex.
Cordobesa folding knife with a milano bolster and a inlaid kydex.
155,00€ TAX – VAT included

155,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Cordobesa folding knife with a milano bolster and a plaited brass cord.
Cordobesa folding knife with a milano bolster and a plaited brass cord.
160,00€ TAX – VAT included

160,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Large point blade folding knife with plaited brass cord.
Large point blade folding knife with plaited brass cord.
300,00€ TAX – VAT included

300,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Straight point folding knife made from deer stag antler handle
Straight point folding knife made from deer stag antler handle
130,00€ TAX – VAT included

130,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Sevillian Carraca folding knife deer stag antler handle
Sevillian Carraca folding knife deer stag antler handle
200,00€ TAX – VAT included

200,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Turquoise pocket-size folding knife polished bullhorn
Turquoise pocket-size folding knife polished bullhorn
190,00€ TAX – VAT included

190,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Combined machete folding knife buffalo deer stag 11 cm (4,33″)
Combined machete folding knife buffalo deer stag 11 cm (4,33″)
230,00€ TAX – VAT included

230,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Buffalo Machete Folding knife with brass bolster
Buffalo Machete Folding knife with brass bolster
175,00€ TAX – VAT included

175,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Vendetta corso folding knife deer stag antler and Milano bolster
Vendetta corso folding knife deer stag antler and Milano bolster
155,00€ TAX – VAT included

155,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Vendetta corso folding knife with polished bull horn and polished deer stag handle
Vendetta corso folding knife with polished bull horn and polished deer stag handle
160,00€ TAX – VAT included

160,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Classic folding knife from Albacete made from polished deer stag and mosaic pin
Classic folding knife from Albacete made from polished deer stag and mosaic pin
290,00€ TAX – VAT included

290,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Vendetta corso folding knife with polished bull horn handle
Vendetta corso folding knife with polished bull horn handle
125,00€ TAX – VAT included

125,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Machete folding knife made from polished bull horn
Machete folding knife made from polished bull horn
120,00€ TAX – VAT included

120,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Classic folding knife from Albacete made from studded polished buffalo horn handle
Classic folding knife from Albacete made from studded polished buffalo horn handle
160,00€ TAX – VAT included

160,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Albacete Classic Folding knife handmade from deer stag antler
Albacete Classic Folding knife handmade from deer stag antler
150,00€ TAX – VAT included

150,00€ TAX – VAT includedAdd to cart

Video taken from ACM (Albacete Cutlery Museum) website