Scales not flush on Laguiole. Should I return?

S

Scohr

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Aug 10, 2013
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Bought my first laguiole from laguiole en aubrac. Absolutely beautiful but I noticed the scales on one side are not completely flush. Is this a normal level of imperfection on these knives?

You can see that the right scales (bottom scale in first photo) are not completely flush, as compared to the left side.
Thanks for the help. and sorry for the oversized photos

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I have a knife from this manufacturer and there are imperfections in it as well. There's two possibilities with yours. 1: the covers (scales are below the covers) warped due to temperature/humidity changes. 2: they just got finished that way.

It really is up to you if this is up to snuff. If you don't like it, then send it back. Personally, I let a lot of things like this slide, especially considering that this knife is pretty much handmade. The gap that you show in your pictures I would consider very minor. I'm sure that many will chime in and say that it should be absolutely perfect. I guess what I would say is that perfection is found in imperfection, especially with knives like this, which have the heart and soul not only of the maker, but of the region he/she lives in.

If it were me, I'd consider it character and keep and use the knife, but the final word is really yours.
 
Considering the file work on the spring and the liners, I'd say this is one of their high end knives. Probably way over 100 €. (Fair horn scales ?) The imperfection is minor and one can actually live with it. It's commonly considered as something which will even out with use and age. It's quite usual with French high end knives where the price often goes into filework and precious scales but the assembly remains at the same level as the basic models. You can send it back but may very well receive one with another "imperfection" considered "normal", like slight blade play, or mismatched scales, or uneven cutting edge, whatever.... If everything else is perfect, I make do with what I consider "minor imperfection" : in other words, if the knife is solid, stable, straight and reliable, I may accept some "cosmetic flaw"...
 
Thanks draggat and horizon your words are reassuring. If it's commonly considered to even out over time I won't worry about it. Yeah these are mammoth scales...although I found the knife at steep discount. It was extremely cold the previous night and my apartment has almost no insulation and then I used the heater. Is there any chance the scales warped simply being in my room?

Edit: cold for California~ 30 F
 
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My first and only Aubrac was a gift from a store owner I did a favour, I helped out with a benefit she was supporting.
It was returned by another customer because it had the same problem, it has been in my pocket for years now. Proudly.

But you would be right to send it back, it's a lot of money.
 
I doubt that it would have warped from a cold apartment. More likely the warping occurred due to the heat of finishing the bolsters and covers. Mammoth is not a super stable material and can in some instances tend to warp or shrink over time, especially in areas where there are large fluctuations in humidity and temperature combined. That appears to be a mighty fine knife and if you got it at a deep discount then perhaps that anomaly was already priced in.

Eric
 
Ivory and especially, mammoth ivory, is renowned as a rather sensitive material (as opposed to Micarta or G10...). As long as it doesn't crack, I wouldn't worry. Just keep it clean and dry. Horn is also "renowned as sensitive" but I dragged along (with little care) many knives with horn scales in my life. They did actually well. Recently, I buried out a very old one I forgot in the back of a drawer. Long used as my go to kitchen knife. It's the cheapest of cheap with very low grade horn scales, but I bought it because of its long sage leaf blade and its rock solid pivot. The horn scales are discoloured and a bit warped, the pivot has some play, the steel liners are rusted but it still screams "Use me !". And it certainly is fit for any task. So well... imagine mammoth ivory. Talk about "time tested" !
 
Unless I bought it at a price commensurate with the flaw, and knew about it ahead of time, I would return that. Warpage doesn't usually get better, but worse, over time.
 
This is one reason I steer clear of mammoth, I feel it's just too fragile and sensitive a material, warp and shrink is inherent, thus not really a manufacturing fault.

I'd like to put a word in for Fontenille-Pataud knives, I have three, Ram's Horn, Smooth bone and Walnut. No gaps on these and perfect radiusing around the liners. Very high quality finish and Gilles the owner is very pleasant and open to deal with
 
willgoy said:
I'd like to put a word in for Fontenille-Pataud knives, I have three, Ram's Horn, Smooth bone and Walnut. No gaps on these and perfect radiusing around the liners. Very high quality finish and Gilles the owner is very pleasant and open to deal with
Click to expand...

I have to agree. I have this Fontenille-Pataud in maple burl and it is nearly flawless. It's a bit difficult to open one handed, but otherwise it's an outstanding knife.



 
Beautiful knife. I've got a snakewood FP coming in the mail too looking forward to it. I'm probably going to send back the mammoth, since I paid much more ($260) than I normally would feel comfortable paying for a folder despite the 70% discount and the imperfection will be sticking in the back of my mind.
 
If it were mine I'd have to return it. Every time I would pick up that knife my eyes, fingers and thoughts would immediately go to the warped scales (which will just continue to get worse imo) The knife would be ruined for me.
 
While functional, they aren't know for fit & finish especially at the price points they sell them at.

Use and enjoy!
 
Black Mamba aka Jeff is right about this. I had a GEC #23 Pioneer that had buffalo horn covers and they started to pull away from the liners over a period of 2 years or so. It was getting worse every time I looked at it, after some talking with GEC, they fixed it with new covers in bone. Don't know if this is an option with the business you bought this from or manufacture, but I would certainly try to get it fixed.
Perry
 
Ugh probably not... I bought it from myhabit which is amazon's flash sale site. I doubt they have the connection to the manufacturer to get the scales fixed. The knife sold out in a matter of a few hours or else I would get it exchanged.

I know what you're saying though. Every time I look at it, I immediately look for the warping. But if this is normal and to be expected I think I may just keep the knife. I just realized it appears they sent me BLUE mammoth. Makes it even harder to part with.
 
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Well maybe, if it gets worse in the future, you could possibly get it repinned and profiled.
 
If you live in a very dry place, it might be a good idea to try and keep the knife in a more humid environment. Here in the winter, it's very cold outside and consequently hot and dry indoors. This can wreak havoc with stag, bone and particularly horn/ivory - they can shrink back from the liners in some cases. All is OK once about 35% humidity is achieved.

I once mused that a humidor might be a good place to store choice knives, only to be told by one member that he does keep some knives in one! Could work.

Thanks, Will.
 
If you paid a lot for a new knife, then return it while you can. If it was a cheap knife then expect a slight imperfection as long as it is useable. You took time to post about it here so you know that it is important to you to have flush scales.

If you collect new slipjoints you should only collect well made ones, I collect flea market finds so I expect to see imperfections but I am only paying $10-$20 and not the $100 some moden slipjoints go for these days.

PS a bigger problem is that most Laguiole knives have no extended tang so there is nothing to protect the edge from contacting the backspring. All Laguiole knives should be closed by hand all the way, not snapped closed like you see a lot of Youtube people doing 100 times during a 2 min review.
 
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