A trip to La Monnerie

[Jolipapa]

Thiers is now well known, and the Coutelia show is a huge, pompous one, with attendants from everywhere, often overcrowded.
Lesser known is the fact that most knives are assembled outside in the rogue, cold-in-ze-winter mountain. In every village around you'll find some kind of relationship with cutlery, big or small workshops, famous and lesser familiar names.
La Monnerie is one of those, his particuliarity comes from a handful of retired cutlery workers, calling themselves the Old Blades (les Vieilles Lames) who created a living museum and do organise a yearly show.
An opportunity to meet those who really build the knives in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.

 

[Âchillepattada]

La suite la suite !!!! ;-)

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[Jolipapa]

Thanks to @Âchillepattada's quick and comfy car it took less than 5 hours to travel down to the Massif Central mountain -exctinct volcanos-.
La Monnerie is not a big village and the show is easy to locate .


You're welcomed by a troop of happy middle-age-dressed blacksmiths, with much noise and smoke...

what prompts you inside, where after paying a modest 2€ fee you get access to the show. (all pictures @Âchillepattada or me)

 

[Jolipapa]

 

[Jolipapa]

 

[Jolipapa]

A nice aquarium (specially dedicated to @Prester John & @Screetened Porch ) esposed on the Vieilles Lames' pit.
Lacroix x3, Parapluie x3, 3x???, au Sabot x2, ??), please take notice of the delicate Auvergnat's way to suspend things.

more fishes (109 Ya pas meilleur x3, au Sabot, Lacroix x2 -1 stamped Pradel-, au Sabot, Lacroix, Parapluie à l'épreuve, Pradel ??, Lacroix, au Sabot)

these are cracras and various children knives.





...to be fllwed after lunch

 

[Chui]

- my goodness...........what a wonderful array of sharps

Thank you for sharing Jolipapa

 

[LastRodeo]

That photo above the fishes made my heart skip a beat.

Thanks for sharing all the great knives.

 

[Jolipapa]

Chui & LastRodeo you're welcome!

But the day was not over!
We had an appointment with Pierre-Yves Joyeux at his workshop in order to collect some knives.

He's a very sympathetic and humble person and makes some of the finest Laguiole with amazingly moderate prices, as well as other traditional patterns under his Clef des champs name or for other brands.


Before passing the cabbage sausage test, a stop at the Vieilles Lames for a pre-dinner aperitif-stop. All the tools were saved from the junkyard and are in superb working order, they have gathered a lot of parts to assemble.

 

[Jolipapa]

Even the best thing have an end, time to go back !

 

[herder]

Thank you for this fantastic virtual tour of the show!!!
And always nice to hear when some forum members can get together in person to share in the hobby we all enjoy.

 

[The Shatz]

Thanks for the tour!! Love the Lego knife

 

[abcdef]

Yeah, I saw that Lego too.

 

[Âchillepattada]

It was a great week end,meeting very nice and talented persons.
Thanks to Jolipapa for his company .

Even if we live in the same town and are member of this forum can you guess who made us meet each other ?


Yess , always the same ....
Thanks a lot to Charlie Waynorth also for this

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[danno50]

Thanks very much for posting this! I love seeing knife show pictures!

 

[3-1-1]

Such different designs for traditional cutlery. Love it.

 

[Jolipapa]

Thanks very much for posting this! I love seeing knife show pictures!

No probleme, I love to attend shows and a special thank to my driver and co-photographer !

 

[Half/Stop]

Thanks to Jolipapa and Âchillepattada both for the photos and accompanying comments. It’s a pleasure to see the activities and enthusiasm that our hobby brings. It spans many borders and languages. The love of a finely crafted pocket knife is most certainly one that is universal around the globe!

 

[Chui]

........my goodness..........I am so, well, I was going to say envious - which is true - but to be honest......so jealous

Maybe next summer Jolipapa I can slip across the Channel sur le moto and join you for a foray into French contryside for another knife show - Nontron, peut-être

 

[Âchillepattada]

Thanks to the Old Blades association it's possible to find some treasures from the past :

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