French regional knives...

cbach8tw said:
thanks so much, really interesting, i can understand how some of the original specificity have gone away as people travel and communication has spread, markets open more widely and styles have mixed or changed.
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I'm afraid that the main reason is that Thiers overflowed the market but did not keep the particularities. One of my favorite pattern is the Rumilly, once made in that Alpine town. In the original, a jack with blade and saw, the blade or the saw is locked open and to unlock you need to lift the closed blade (or saw). This amazing feature has been abandoned unfortunately.
dantzk8 said:
4GrCjByl.jpg


Bretons of the Leon Country travelled throughout Great Britain to sell the pink onions they produced. They brought back the "London", a popular pattern which was called "English knife".


Such beautiful fairy tales have been told to us!

Dan.
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Splendid picture. they also introduced the pull-over in France, sometimes called "chandail" from marchand d'ail (garlic seller)!
 
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Jolipapa said:
they also introduced the pull-over in France, sometimes called "chandail" from marchand d'ail (garlic seller)!
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Sorry to contradict you JP but "chandail" was the name given by the Parisians to the pullover the garlic sellers (from Brittany and south of France) wore. The Johnnies of the Leon Country only sold onions.

en.wikipedia.org

Onion Johnny - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Dan.
 
dantzk8 said:
Sorry to contradict you JP but "chandail" was the name given by the Parisians to the pullover the garlic sellers (from Brittany and south of France) wore. The Johnnies of the Leon Country only sold onions.

en.wikipedia.org

Onion Johnny - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Dan.
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I would not bet a penny on that...
chandail.jpg
Time to stop the parisian bashing... don't you think? 😂 In fact workers in the Parisian Halles have later adopted that kind of knit because it was very effective against cold.
Why do you think one of the most famous brand established in St James?
 
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789d8108ba483cecaea202f8b55ee493.jpg


Picture of an Onion Johnie in Sunderland, England 50s or early 60s. Despite the fact that most were Bretons, I think it gave the English and others in Britain, their clichéd stereotypical image of what all Frenchmen must be like- beret wearing, bike riding seller of wonderful pink onions, probably with a moustache, striped jumper and brandishing a baguette....

But what KNIVES did they use for harvesting the onions and for making those huge strings of them?? Interesting the info about them bringing back knife styles to France.

Anyway, who knows, what with BREXIT maybe the Johnies will mount a big comeback (not just in millionaires' Hampstead either ;)) I hear there are all manner of disruptions in food supply, petrol delivery and lack of drivers in GB....
 
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This picture of an exhibition window of Opinel wares c 1911 led me to a general link on knives that some may find rewarding. Some of it, like most things, could be debatable or contentious. The French contributors will likely be familiar with it but it could be useful for others too.

www.lecouteau.info

Le Couteau

histoire coutellerie collection couteau ancien marque coutelier
www.lecouteau.info www.lecouteau.info
 
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Will Power said:
789d8108ba483cecaea202f8b55ee493.jpg


Picture of an Onion Johnie in Sunderland, England 50s or early 60s. Despite the fact that most were Bretons, I think it gave the English and others in Britain, their clichéd stereotypical image of what all Frenchmen must be like- beret wearing, bike riding seller of wonderful pink onions, probably with a moustache, striped jumper and brandishing a baguette....

But what KNIVES did they use for harvesting the onions and for making those huge strings of them?? Interesting the info about them bringing back knife styles to France.

Anyway, who knows, what with BREXIT maybe the Johnies will mount a big comeback (not just in millionaires' Hampstead either ;)) I hear there are all manner of disruptions in food supply, petrol delivery and lack of drivers in GB....
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what a superb photo.
 
Jolipapa said:
I would not bet a penny on that...
View attachment 1657760
Time to stop the parisian bashing... don't you think? 😂 In fact workers in the Parisian Halles have later adopted that kind of knit because it was very effective against cold.
Why do you think one of the most famous brand established in St James?
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A problem remains. Why those guys, nicknamed "Onion Johnnies" by the British and who, for most of them didn't speak French, would have tried to sell garlic while using the French words "Marchand d'ail" in an English speaking country?

I don't practice any Parisian bashing. I admire the Parisians, they are able to live in "Paris, this hell the whole world envies us". Emil Cioran.

I hope our American fellows will forgive this picrocholin talk. If they know Paris, they probably don't know the Leon country. For them here's a clue:

0RQefcP.jpg


Dan.
 
Paris is like Milan a bit stuck up.

English humour can not always be translated,nick names is a big part of it.

In the Army we had a lofty who was as short as a short thing and a shorty who was the size of a tank.
 
I am up to page 10,I haven't seen any Corsican knives yet,I am aware they don't consider themselves French.

I have just one now I bough in country a real working beauty of a tool and UK friendly though it doesn't look so.

I also have 2 very nice mainland knifes I haven't seen on here yet either,a very different pattern.


If you ever get a chance the Opinel museum is superb.its in the mountains where a lot of cyclists train.
I shared a hotel with the French junior cycling team everyone was very friendly,the team bike mechanic even gave me some oil for my motorbike.

In the museum there is a display of working knifes from the locals,the girl who served me said that knife on the wall was her grandmothers.
It was worn down to a pin,even though they are cheap to us know back in the day it was a tool and used as such.
Working class people couldn't afford to buy a new knife when on a budget.

I have lots of photos if I can find them.



The Museum

Opinel has been turning knife making into a way of life since 1890. At Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, nearly 700m² are dedicated to the story of the famous Savoie knife invented by Joseph Opinel. Through permanent and temporary exhibitions, our free museum invites you to discover the great events that...
www.opinel.com www.opinel.com
 
Will Power said:
789d8108ba483cecaea202f8b55ee493.jpg


Picture of an Onion Johnie in Sunderland, England 50s or early 60s. Despite the fact that most were Bretons, I think it gave the English and others in Britain, their clichéd stereotypical image of what all Frenchmen must be like- beret wearing, bike riding seller of wonderful pink onions, probably with a moustache, striped jumper and brandishing a baguette....

But what KNIVES did they use for harvesting the onions and for making those huge strings of them?? Interesting the info about them bringing back knife styles to France.

Anyway, who knows, what with BREXIT maybe the Johnies will mount a big comeback (not just in millionaires' Hampstead either ;)) I hear there are all manner of disruptions in food supply, petrol delivery and lack of drivers in GB....
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Will there's no picture of moonshiners from Brittany and Normandy! 😉
 
Johnnythefox said:
Paris is like Milan a bit stuck up.
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😂😂😂


Big mouth, for sure, and we're proud of it, but def not stuck-up. In how many places do you say bonjour to the driver when you climb in the bus? Or do bikers wave hand when meeting on the road?


@dantzk
I would have said exactly the same about Brittany, had I not have married a girl from St Georges de Reintanbault... 😉
 
It wasn't an insult ask any other Frenchman out of Paris,it dont mean I dont love you.

When I am in France I say bonjour to everyone as everyone says it to me.

Riding out of Paris last time I was there (after getting the car train from Nice) was scarier than driving into Sarajevo while being shot and mortared.
 
Johnnythefox said:
It wasn't an insult ask any other Frenchman out of Paris,it dont mean I dont love you.

When I am in France I say bonjour to everyone as everyone says it to me.

Riding out of Paris last time I was there (after getting the car train from Nice) was scarier than driving into Sarajevo while being shot and mortared.😬
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Did you ever ride in Portugal? 🙂😬
 
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