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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
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Any Experience with Fontenille-Pataud Knives?
- Thread starter DoctaD
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2003
- Messages
- 395
I met these folks in Nuremberg at the IWA show. Their knives work well and have a lot of hand work with excellent materials. I bought one...Take Care...Ed
Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 90,915
I like the Laguiole pattern generally. It's a good match for our own traditional styles, in fact, it's a fancier version of the Texas Toothpick. Fontenille-Pataud seems to be at least as good as the Laguioles I own.
- Joined
- May 26, 1999
- Messages
- 1,964
I bought a Fontenille Pataud "Rouen city" knife 3 or 4 years ago. It's a slip-joint with about a 3 1/4 inch blade.
It does look nice and it has a handmade feel to it, especially in how the scales are rounded and contoured. The fit of the scales to the liners to the backspring is pretty good. Mine has some nicely figured burl wood scales. There's a little bit of file work on the backspring that is well done.
The opening of the blade is gritty though and there's a massive amount of side-to-side play when the blade is completely open. The grinds are okay, but the blade is too thick for its width, so it's not a good cutter. The blade also lacks a kick, so the edge slams into the backspring when you close it. (Placing a piece of cork inside the handle to protect the edge from the backspring doesn't work on this knife, BTW. Doing that prevents the blade from closing far enough and leaves the point exposed outside of the handle.) I don't think the backspring is necessarily weak, but the blade folds too easily for my tastes, probably because of the shape of the tang.
The presentation box that came with the knife looks appealing, but it's poorly constructed. The box is covered with a blue velvety material and has an oval leather insignia on top. It seems very impressive, but it's actually just made of cardboard and taped together. The leather slip-sheath that came with it is pretty nice though.
I don't remember exactly what I paid for the knife, but I think it was around $120. Fontenille Pataud knives are not inexpensive. They do look very attractive, but I won't be buying another one. I personally expected to find a really well-made knife for that price and mine just has too many serious problems to overlook.
It does look nice and it has a handmade feel to it, especially in how the scales are rounded and contoured. The fit of the scales to the liners to the backspring is pretty good. Mine has some nicely figured burl wood scales. There's a little bit of file work on the backspring that is well done.
The opening of the blade is gritty though and there's a massive amount of side-to-side play when the blade is completely open. The grinds are okay, but the blade is too thick for its width, so it's not a good cutter. The blade also lacks a kick, so the edge slams into the backspring when you close it. (Placing a piece of cork inside the handle to protect the edge from the backspring doesn't work on this knife, BTW. Doing that prevents the blade from closing far enough and leaves the point exposed outside of the handle.) I don't think the backspring is necessarily weak, but the blade folds too easily for my tastes, probably because of the shape of the tang.
The presentation box that came with the knife looks appealing, but it's poorly constructed. The box is covered with a blue velvety material and has an oval leather insignia on top. It seems very impressive, but it's actually just made of cardboard and taped together. The leather slip-sheath that came with it is pretty nice though.
I don't remember exactly what I paid for the knife, but I think it was around $120. Fontenille Pataud knives are not inexpensive. They do look very attractive, but I won't be buying another one. I personally expected to find a really well-made knife for that price and mine just has too many serious problems to overlook.
sgbeskin
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 626
I don't have any of those problems with my knife, but I have heard others say the same thing you have. The only problem with mine, is when the knife is closed, the tang(?) sticks out WAY too far! If I carried it everyday it would wear out a pocket fast. I didn't really have an edge on mine at all when I got it. I had to put one on it myself. But overall, I'm happy with it. Oh yeah, I think that the company just started putting in a blade stop so the edge doesn't hit the backspring anymore. I read that somewhere. Mine has one.
sgbeskin
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 626
cerulean,
The handle is ram horn. I think that particular model is called a "gentleman's folder". It's still big for a gent's knife. It's about 4 1/4" closed. 12c27 Sandvik steel blade. It's kind of a soft steel blade. I think they are only 54 RC. But it's really easy to sharpen. I like the shape of this knife in comparison to the more traditional Laguioles. I have a pretty good sized hand and this knife has a fatter handle than the other, more traditional laguiole that I have. It makes it easier to hold.
The handle is ram horn. I think that particular model is called a "gentleman's folder". It's still big for a gent's knife. It's about 4 1/4" closed. 12c27 Sandvik steel blade. It's kind of a soft steel blade. I think they are only 54 RC. But it's really easy to sharpen. I like the shape of this knife in comparison to the more traditional Laguioles. I have a pretty good sized hand and this knife has a fatter handle than the other, more traditional laguiole that I have. It makes it easier to hold.