Quality of this knife?

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May 12, 2004
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Can anyone enlighten me about the quality of this knife? I find the shape strangely attractive. This is not exactly for EDC purposes, but it should be fully functional e.g. the lock should be reliable, it shouldn't have excessive play and should be made from decent materials (the 440C blade steel is fine by me).

http://www.cutlerytogo.com/ratnav22whit.html
 
A lot of the laguiole type knives I've come across tended to have pretty thin blades.. may not be a problem for you but might be worth asking about if it is.
 
Cant vouch for the quality of the knife, but I did buy an Aiator jungle King one from these people and they were a pleasure to do business with.
 
TheLaguioles shown on that site appear to be pretty nice , an priced accordingly . Quality can vary widley , these come from many small , and some big outfits . They are a very nice EDC , if ya get a good one . They are predominatley non locking , if thats a factor .

Chris
 
This knife is not a French Lagouiole. It is a Spanish Navaja. I don't have any personal experience with this particular one but I think would be appropriate to say that the Spanish can and do make some excellent knives. I wouldn't worry about its value simply because it is Spanish.
 
I have a Spanish made Andujar stiletto style knife with heavy chrome bolsters and the same lock.

Not really what I'd consider the greatest quality, but not awful either. The blade was dull when I got it and the lock is not secure.

Maybe someone with more experience can chime in about that particular pattern, but I wouldn't pay $100.00 for one.

If you really want something different but nice, Cutlerytogo has some beautiful French made knives. I recently got a Le Thiers knife made by Chambriard and the workmanship is amazing.
 
Looks to me like a top clasp lock (sorry don't know the official term) basically it works similar to that of a tacklebox or other similar latch that you lift the latch and bring the bar over the hook and push the latch down.. hard to explain.

I have a very cheap version of a very very similar design. a spanish navaja and it has the same lock on it. I could see it being pretty strong with a larger knife if the lock was larger at the same ratio, but compared to a frame or lockback it isn't as strong.

but then again, something like that knife isn't really designed to be abused

ah here we go:
Noz_skladany_Joker_Navaja_NC00_blokada_det.JPG
 
cdf said:
TheLaguioles shown on that site appear to be pretty nice , an priced accordingly . Quality can vary widley , these come from many small , and some big outfits . They are a very nice EDC , if ya get a good one . They are predominatley non locking , if thats a factor .

Chris
Click to expand...

They have kind of a "semi-lock". It's not exactly a slip-joint but there is a mechanism that sort of locks. i would not worry about the safety aspect at all.
 
Thanks all for the responses. I was mostly worried about the pivot pin. On a knife of this size, I wouldn't want a pin as little as the handle pins. I have a Laguiole and while the fit and finish is pretty poor, it has a solid "walk-and-talk" (you can tell that I don't really know what I am talking about, it is the only slipjoint I own :), but it has no play, smooth operation and distinct locking and closed position), and that is pretty much all I ask for. Out-of-box sharpness is irrelevant to me, even a knife that I don't EDC will see my diasharp eventually.

Excellent pic, ceriksson, it shows perfectly how the lock works :thumbup:.
 
i qualify (most) Andujar stuff as "tourist knives", but 440C is good steel, so at least you get a good steel for the blade, hopefully its been treated properly. which isnt an issue if you dont plan on using it anyway.

long time ago (when my only criteria was : it had to look good) i also purchased one of these Andujar navajas while on holidays, just coz they look good and have historic background (i understand they were HUGE originally). never been used and prolly never want to. just a nice to have a (cheap) example of a navaja
buy i wouldnt pay that kinda money for it.
 
Well, I was looking for a user, just not an EDC. I don't collect knifes to look at, I mostly buy knives just to use them or out of curiosity (like in this case) to see how they perform. In this case to get a feel for the merits and properties of a historical design which simply holds an aesthetic attraction for me. But ever since I have been using Spyderco knives (which has been a while by now) I have stopped buying knives just for the looks.

I guess the bottom line is that I might want to take a closer look at the XXL Voyager....I just would have preferred a less "modern" interpretation.
 
JPD1998 said:
If you really want something different but nice, Cutlerytogo has some beautiful French made knives. I recently got a Le Thiers knife made by Chambriard and the workmanship is amazing.
Click to expand...

I agree. If you want a 'traditional' style knife with quality, the LeThiers knives are great. Spend a little more time on that cutlerytogo site, and you'll be sure to find something you like.

I really have no experience with the Spanish-made knives, but I'd bet that that site doesn't sell junk. They have always given me quality. Go ahead and get what you want. Even a cheap POS CCC knife can make due for occasional use, and if you just want a flashy knife that gets the job done, I'm sure the one you posted will work. If they have 440C, they at least made an effort at a working knife. I say get it. You'll probably be pleasantly impressed.

Daniel
 
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