French regional knives...

BrotherJim said:
Have had my eye on this pattern for several months
Finally gave myself a week to consider ebony, buffalo bark or classic cattle bone
Pulled the trigger on this one today and it may be here as soon as Wednesday
The waiting and watching begins ...

bL741HN.jpg

lpjmT1X.jpg

uzkLK12.jpg


Capuchadou 12 cm Classic Cattle Bone from Fontenille Pataud​

Overview: This traditional French folding knife is the perfect addition to any picnic basket. Take it with you on your next adventure and of course, don't forget the wine, the cheese, and the saucisson sec.

Before the development of the Laguiole in the 19th century, French shepherds carried a knife called the "Capuchadou" (or "capujadou"). This knife was used for all daily tasks, from preparing lunch to care for their flocks of sheep. The four leaves clover was added for good luck.

Consider this: This knife was entirely handmade in Europe's capital of cutlery "Thiers." The “Gilles®” Fontenille Pataud collection of knives are considered by many to be some of the best pocket knives money can buy. All Knives offered by Gilles are entirely made by a single craftsman from start to finish ensuring pride of ownership of the final piece. 100% Made in France

Technical aspects: The spring is made from 3 mm thick stainless steel Z20c13 and features a blade-stop that helps maintain the edge of the blade. The "Shamrock", as well as the handle's top, are hand-chased with a file: This denotes artisan quality, unlike mass-market knives that have welded springs and are machine decorated. The file work details create a unique knife, making each knife one of a kind.

Handle Material: Cattle Bone (Bovine, France). Note that it is not unusual to find areas of different shades of beige and small streaks of darker colors within the bone. These features only contribute to the uniqueness of such material.
Plates: 1.5 mm stainless.
Decorated Spring: 3 mm stainless - Hand file work
Blade Size: 9.4 cm (3.7")
Bade: Swedish Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel - 56 Hrc.
Handle Size: 12.3 cm (4.65")
Weight: ~ 120 grams (4.2 oz.)
Click to expand...
Gorgeous. Congratulations.🎉
 
BrotherJim said:
Have had my eye on this pattern for several months
Finally gave myself a week to consider ebony, buffalo bark or classic cattle bone
Pulled the trigger on this one today and it may be here as soon as Wednesday
The waiting and watching begins ...

bL741HN.jpg

lpjmT1X.jpg

uzkLK12.jpg


Capuchadou 12 cm Classic Cattle Bone from Fontenille Pataud​

Overview: This traditional French folding knife is the perfect addition to any picnic basket. Take it with you on your next adventure and of course, don't forget the wine, the cheese, and the saucisson sec.

Before the development of the Laguiole in the 19th century, French shepherds carried a knife called the "Capuchadou" (or "capujadou"). This knife was used for all daily tasks, from preparing lunch to care for their flocks of sheep. The four leaves clover was added for good luck.

Consider this: This knife was entirely handmade in Europe's capital of cutlery "Thiers." The “Gilles®” Fontenille Pataud collection of knives are considered by many to be some of the best pocket knives money can buy. All Knives offered by Gilles are entirely made by a single craftsman from start to finish ensuring pride of ownership of the final piece. 100% Made in France

Technical aspects: The spring is made from 3 mm thick stainless steel Z20c13 and features a blade-stop that helps maintain the edge of the blade. The "Shamrock", as well as the handle's top, are hand-chased with a file: This denotes artisan quality, unlike mass-market knives that have welded springs and are machine decorated. The file work details create a unique knife, making each knife one of a kind.

Handle Material: Cattle Bone (Bovine, France). Note that it is not unusual to find areas of different shades of beige and small streaks of darker colors within the bone. These features only contribute to the uniqueness of such material.
Plates: 1.5 mm stainless.
Decorated Spring: 3 mm stainless - Hand file work
Blade Size: 9.4 cm (3.7")
Bade: Swedish Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel - 56 Hrc.
Handle Size: 12.3 cm (4.65")
Weight: ~ 120 grams (4.2 oz.)
Click to expand...

As soon as Wednesday!? 😳 Were you fortunate enough to find the knife you wanted in stock and ready to ship? You lucky soul you, I had to special order my most recent knife and wait for it to be built.
 
BrotherJim said:
Have had my eye on this pattern for several months
Finally gave myself a week to consider ebony, buffalo bark or classic cattle bone
Pulled the trigger on this one today and it may be here as soon as Wednesday
The waiting and watching begins ...

bL741HN.jpg

lpjmT1X.jpg

uzkLK12.jpg


Capuchadou 12 cm Classic Cattle Bone from Fontenille Pataud​

Overview: This traditional French folding knife is the perfect addition to any picnic basket. Take it with you on your next adventure and of course, don't forget the wine, the cheese, and the saucisson sec.

Before the development of the Laguiole in the 19th century, French shepherds carried a knife called the "Capuchadou" (or "capujadou"). This knife was used for all daily tasks, from preparing lunch to care for their flocks of sheep. The four leaves clover was added for good luck.

Consider this: This knife was entirely handmade in Europe's capital of cutlery "Thiers." The “Gilles®” Fontenille Pataud collection of knives are considered by many to be some of the best pocket knives money can buy. All Knives offered by Gilles are entirely made by a single craftsman from start to finish ensuring pride of ownership of the final piece. 100% Made in France

Technical aspects: The spring is made from 3 mm thick stainless steel Z20c13 and features a blade-stop that helps maintain the edge of the blade. The "Shamrock", as well as the handle's top, are hand-chased with a file: This denotes artisan quality, unlike mass-market knives that have welded springs and are machine decorated. The file work details create a unique knife, making each knife one of a kind.

Handle Material: Cattle Bone (Bovine, France). Note that it is not unusual to find areas of different shades of beige and small streaks of darker colors within the bone. These features only contribute to the uniqueness of such material.
Plates: 1.5 mm stainless.
Decorated Spring: 3 mm stainless - Hand file work
Blade Size: 9.4 cm (3.7")
Bade: Swedish Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel - 56 Hrc.
Handle Size: 12.3 cm (4.65")
Weight: ~ 120 grams (4.2 oz.)
Click to expand...
Love the file work on this one. Great choice!
 
kamagong said:
As soon as Wednesday!? 😳 Were you fortunate enough to find the knife you wanted in stock and ready to ship? You lucky soul you, I had to special order my most recent knife and wait for it to be built.
Click to expand...

... in stock with a U.S. importer. I have ordered directly from Fontenille Pataud in the past when the importer was out of something I wanted, but shipping from France with any kind of expedite is killer.
This knife is coming to me from the importer with free two-day shipping.
 
draggat said:
Love the file work on this one. Great choice!
Click to expand...

Thank you sir !!! ... they had two of the Classic Cattle Bone ones available, but the other one had file work I already have but on a Laguiole pattern from Fontenille Pataud.
Not only that but the other Cattle Bone looks at though there may be some slight blade recurve near the tang.
So hard to tell from pictures alone, so fingers crossed that the one enroute is a good one.
 
kamagong said:
A question for our resident experts, Âchillepattada Âchillepattada and Jolipapa Jolipapa .

I have read that before the development of the Laguiole knife as we currently know it, the shepherds of the Aubrac region carried a couteau droit called a capujadou. Is this knife of the capujadou type?
Click to expand...
Hi, you're right the Laguiole is not a very old knife and before it ( let say since the last part 19e s) the peasants used a straight and very simple knife called capujadou. As far as I saw it on books the knife you show is pretty similar to the capujadou. I don't know if this pattern is always made in France but I've seen it in the Spanish and Portuguese production. But a blade stuck in a round handle is something very common in the country side all around the world :).

Â
 
waynorth said:
Nontron calls it Chaperon, but it can perhaps be called an Aveyronnais, also!!
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Alphonse Chaperon was the owner/cutler of the old Nontron cutlery. Nontron is a village in wealthy Dordogne while Aveyronnais refers to much poorer Aveyron.

Looks like the shape of the "new" Laguiole evolved from the Aveyronnais (with or without plain mouche), who had also evolved from a friction folder opening by thumb's pressure that could be mistaken with a mouche when the knife is opened. Instead of razors where this is a straight lever (piémontais-piemontese), the shape was oval (lentille-lentil).
When the spring was introduced, the "mouche" served to lock, unlocking by moving it upward to free the blade. Better steels made stiffer springs common and the mouche became a simple ornament.
The village of Laguiole is in Aveyron.

About Capujadou, the exact shape of the knife is unsure, except it was a fixed blade as says JM. The name itself varies. Most peasants did not learn to write and the languages were slightly different from a place to another and most of time not French, but a local language.
Btw, "Occitany" is a recent concept, the old name was Languedoc, meaning the southern language of "oc" as opposed to "oil, (that became later oui)" in the North.
 
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Âchillepattada said:
I don't know if this pattern is always made in France but I've seen it in the Spanish and Portuguese production.
Click to expand...

Borders were much more porous back then and since the men sometimes moved back and forth from southern France into northern Spain I'm sure some carried Spanish knives. After all Spain has a rich cutlery tradition as well, carrying a Spanish knife would not have been a handicap.

Thank you for your insight Jolipapa Jolipapa . I really like that Chaperon-era Nontron. I'm going to add it to my list of must-have knives. I don't think I'm likely to find one, but the combination of boxwood and carbon steel is irresistible.
 
kamagong said:
Borders were much more porous back then and since the men sometimes moved back and forth from southern France into northern Spain I'm sure some carried Spanish knives. After all Spain has a rich cutlery tradition as well, carrying a Spanish knife would not have been a handicap.

Thank you for your insight Jolipapa Jolipapa . I really like that Chaperon-era Nontron. I'm going to add it to my list of must-have knives. I don't think I'm likely to find one, but the combination of boxwood and carbon steel is irresistible.
Click to expand...

Voltaire claims that Louis the XIVth, after his wedding with the Infanta of Spain in Bayonne said "Il n’y a plus de Pyrénées (there are no more Pyrénées." Of course he did not say that and this, until recently (#death of Franco in 1975), remained wrong, most of time (ie when not at war) both countries ignoring each other. Only very recently, to ease the use of TGVs, did Spain adopt the European rail width.
If you check an atlas, you'll see that there are two main ways to go from one side to the other, one on the mediterranean sea, the other on the atlantic shore.
High mountains all along between with still very few passes you can use more than in summer month. Poor workers would come and hire from Spain because the difference was something like USA and Mexico. Their knives were probably simple friction folders whose shape exists since the Romans (like the capucins).
A great part of "spanish" knives were in fact made in Thiers who had the lower end made in Spain. You won't find any Spanish pattern (unlike Italy because they share some common history).
Toledo never reached the industrial importance of Sheffield, Thiers or Solingen.

Nontron make what they call the Chaperon collection, reviving older patterns.
 
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