Darn those French knifemakes

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
3,930
Can't get enough of their stuff. Laguioles, check, Opinels, check, Douk Douks, check. Wait a minute, what's them there Nontron thing-a-ma-bobs? France's oldest knife still in production? Been made in the same area for 500 years? Each one of 'em handmade by meticulous craftsmen?
Durn you dadgum Frenchmen, double dadgum you, can't y'all leave a poor boy alone with all that tradition this, and old world craftsmanship that. Dadgummit, all right, reckon curiosity is my weakness, just ordered me one for the outrageously high price of $37.95 (dude, that's at least half a dozen good Opinels). PT Barnum was right, there is a sucker born every minute, and some of us get repeatedly "born again". :o :D

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Sarge
 
I hear ya sarge. I have a whole swarm o' bugs buzzin around my head gettin ready to BITE. You just added another.

James
 
So why you gotta spread the contagion?:D

Nice looking knife! howzit work? friction knife? slippie? some kinda lock on there?

and where'd ya' find it at? (errr....idle curiousity, of course....);)
 
World knives has em. I was checking them out yesterday.....


Dagnabbit.
 
aproy1101 said:
World knives has em. I was checking them out yesterday.....


Dagnabbit.
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I feel ya bro :( :D Look here guys, I can pretty much bet you these things probably don't perform noticeably better than their far more inexpensive cousins. Two things put the hook in me regarding them; the amount of hand craftsmanship, and their history. If they really have been around for 500 years, that would date 'em (or at least their origins) to 1506 AD. That would indicate that these knives (their predecessors at any rate) were around and in use when Queen Elizabeth I ruled England, and Sir Francis Drake sailed his "Golden Hind", becoming the first man to circumnavigate the globe. Waving a knife like that under the nose of a history buff is like waving a pork chop in front of a hungry pit bull. :eek: :rolleyes:

Andy's right, I ordered mine from World Knives, but they also have some at Cutlery to Go, and Cove Cutlery.

Sarge
 
I've never used cove cutlery, checking them out now.....
 
Sarge ? About two hundred years from now the U:S: is going to have a tradition of fine knives led by yours . Sure there is a lot of fancy hardware out there . I,ll take one of your little gems any day .

The only problem with the Skean dubh I got from you is its too nice to use .
A couple of ounces of wood ,perhaps a little more steel and I have a knife I wouldn,t trade away unless I was dead drunk and darn stupid .

I know I say that a lot . I think you have the knack for simple beautiful knives .
 
Sarge, how do you like the 440A stainless steel in the blade? Im more of a carbon guy myself, but I was wondering your experience with this piece.

Thanks!

Chris
 
namaarie said:
Sarge, how do you like the 440A stainless steel in the blade? Im more of a carbon guy myself, but I was wondering your experience with this piece.

Thanks!

Chris
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Chris, when the knife gets here I'll put it through it's paces and let y'all know what I think. I'm not a fan of stainless steel, but I've come to realize through using some of the Scandinavian/European knives made from it, that not all stainless steels are necessarily bad. 12C27 Sandvik especially acts a lot like plain old carbon steel when it comes to sharpening and holding an edge. The proof is in the pudding as they say, so when that thing shows up in my mailbox, I'll give the pudding a taste. ;)

Sarge
 
I have to agree on the 12C27. Good stuff. I've got a BRKT in it that is a favorite.
 
They say it's most similar to 440A, don't they?

I like mine real well also. Truthfully it's a little hard for me to tell the difference between the two when I'm puttin' in an honest days work.

That being said, I have a Leuku in 12c27 and have really been pondering whether to make it my serious, dedicated, deep woods better not break camp knife, or if I should hold up until I can afford one in 1095.

It takes and holds an edge real well, hasn't broken or chipped badly when car camping, but still....It's hard to get past years of hearing how much weaker stainless is than carbon.
 
Might be a fun experiment. I bet we could get two Moras one carbon one 12c27 with very similar thicknesses and lengths from Ragnar for ~20 shipped and then do a little comparison testing.......
 
Not a bad idea, Andy. Heck, I wish this had come up a couple days ago when I'd just put in an order with Ragnar anyways...

I'm fixing to go work a hitch On Sunday, but I'm gonna order me a couple when I get back.

If you beat me to it, I'll be eager to read what ya' learn.

Heck, for that matter, if you wanna be a designated tester, I'd be happy to send ya' a couple bucks. (only fair if the knives should end up tested to destruction)


whaddya think?
 
I'm going to look into it today. Though, I already have considerable confidence in the 12c27 stainless. I had been avoiding it when Mike Stewart at BRKT told me in a thread that one of the knives I already owned (Wolf River) is 12c27. And that knife with its thin blade and convex edge is one helluva cutter, and I've never had to worry about even retouching the edge.
 
I kinda wish I was a history buff . I like learning about the history of knife making . At this stage in my life I just hope to get an overview . I have too many other irons in the fire to pay closer attention to what has evolved from a pointy stabby piece of metal to the works of art I see in books on historical blades .

When I see your present offering for our perusal of a historical knife it is interesting to me on an academic level . All your offerings are usually even more that .

On the other hand it looks like a knife that was put together by committee .
The blade looks very nice . The different handles offered are artistic and functional looking . The locking Ferrule ? Well I suppose it is at least functional .

It is when all three are put together in one knife it appears to lose a little something . Could this possibly be a knife that was a step between an older even simpler design and what it could eventually become ? In that would it be unique and not have other makers of the same period with similar designs ?

No matter what I enjoy the different styles and reasoning behind the knives you show us .
 
Today I placed an order with Ragnar for two of his hard grip Moras (#510 and #545) to compare between similarly made carbon and SS blades. Additionally I ordered one of the #1240 Sheepsfoot Moras for doing leatherwork. Them always did look really well suited for cutting leather. Anyway soon I will test these two and report back to y'all. Boy that is what I call fun 'science'.
 
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