A trip to La Monnerie

This film shows very well how were made the horn handles for the Laguioles in the past.
Each part of the knife was built by a specialist in the Thiers Mountains, from the forge to the polishing. Those specialists were peasants and did it as a second job to add butter in the beans as we say it in French .


The grinder :

The polisher :

The fitter ( I don't know if it's the right word)

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Really excellent information in those videos and vital insight into the methods and skills of these artisans, part-timers too you tell us. That's significant too because if you think of today it would be almost impossible to work as a skilled artisan in our time poor world of deadlines and endless 'improvements';) The horn curing is very interesting to me, heating and then pressing it whilst warm may explain why old horn knives display much less warp and shrink than contemporary ones, then cutting the bundles and tying them with string:cool: Why do the dogs stay on the grinders? Is it for balance? Thiershound....

Liked the fitter video too, using that archaic bow-drill with such efficiency and speed, faster than an electric and no measuring either. The knife he was working on intrigued me, don't recognize it really but it looked fantastic. Driving the pins home with such speed, and no sink hole ones either...then sawing the ivory for a spatula on a gardening knife with amazing accuracy and speed. The huge wooden thing he used for polishing was extraordinary, was it covered in felt or hide?

Finally, these paysans were fairly elderly in these videos thus were possibly survivors of the horrors of the Great War that so many Europeans were killed in or maimed physically and mentally, that too is sobering of a lost age and generation.

Many thanks, Will
 
Will, there was no central heat often, so the dogs kept the grinders from freezing!!
 
The dogs served as individual "heaters" in those cold, old stone buildings!!:eek:
 
Âchillepattada said:
This film shows very well how were made the horn handles for the Laguioles in the past.
Each part of the knife was built by a specialist in the Thiers Mountains, from the forge to the polishing. Those specialists were peasants and did it as a second job to add butter in the beans as we say it in French .


The grinder :

The polisher :

The fitter ( I don't know if it's the right word)

Â
Click to expand...
Fascinating. Thanks, Â.
 
Hello,

They have plane the next show. I hope it will be possible .....

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these guys were masters at their work , Antoine Chastel who handforged 250 laguiole blades by hand every working day , gave from 100 to 110 hammer blows by blade... without counting the blow to punch the nailmark and without counting the forging of the tapering of the counteredge.

ELDE
 
Will Power said:
Liked the fitter video too, using that archaic bow-drill with such efficiency and speed, faster than an electric and no measuring either. The knife he was working on intrigued me, don't recognize it really but it looked fantastic. Driving the pins home with such speed, and no sink hole ones either...then sawing the ivory for a spatula on a gardening knife with amazing accuracy and speed. The huge wooden thing he used for polishing was extraordinary, was it covered in felt or hide?

Finally, these paysans were fairly elderly in these videos thus were possibly survivors of the horrors of the Great War that so many Europeans were killed in or maimed physically and mentally, that too is sobering of a lost age and generation.

Many thanks, Will
Click to expand...
I think the wooden thing used to polish was covered with buffalo hide. A few still use it for the ultimate polishing.
In 1965 in the Marrakech souks I saw some showing their skills on bow-drills working them with their feets (on wood). :)
The cutlery workers were among those considered too useful to join massively the army and were not replaced by women, like for instance in weapons/ammunition factories in the neighbouring St Etienne (or in Chatellerault where these factories had killed the cutlery, offering better wages and social conditions).
 
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