- Joined
- Oct 21, 2009
- Messages
- 26
Hi all. I am a reader of this forum but rarely post on it and am a pretty avid knife enthusiast. I just got back from a trip to London, Paris and points south in France, and one of the places I made a point of stopping was Thiers. Plenty has been posted on knives from this town but it may be I have a bit of information to add that has not been discussed before. This is the standard size Le Thiers knife, Le Compangnon. This is a Chambriard made knife.
Both my 15 year old son and myself purchased several knives in Thiers. Here is one of mine. Sorry about the quaility of the pictures. I lost my camera in France and I had to take these with my cell phone.
Here is another Le Compagnon that is a little different. Olive handles instead of stag and the maker is....
Me!
When researching my trip in general and Le Thiers knives in particular, I stumbled across a French language web page from Thiers which I used google translate to read, and found this:
http://translate.googleusercontent....iers-R&usg=ALkJrhi7DCG93692NErhdggQdnInax74Ig
A class that I could attend and actually make my own Le Thiers pattern knife! How great was that? It took some doing to find an email addy because there wasn't one on the web page, but I finally got it and emailed them to reserve a space for my son and I. The email address, should anyone be interested, is:
atelierlethiers@inserfac.com
The workshop is located very close to the Chambriard knife shop. If you are facing the shop, it is just down the hill to the left about 25 yards.
The class size was very small, I think there may have been 6 or 7 participants and most worked one on one with a french instructor. As it happened, I had some experience from my own blacksmithing work, and so did another French participant (actually, all were French except my son and I) so we shared an instructor. Pre cut scales, liners with bolsters attached, blade and spring were provided. Blade and spring were already heat treated, making any Guilloche work impossible. Rivets were just pieces of mild steel rod that we cut to length as we went along, just as they do in the factories. They had very nice belt sanders and other polishing equipment on hand for our use...everything we actually needed to produce a very nice and usable knife. On some of the particularly tricky operations the experts did the work for us to insure we didn't screw up our project, but I was able to complete the bulk of the work myself and ended up with a very nice Le Thiers style knife that will always be very special to me because I made it myself. The engraving is done up at the Chambriard shop.
None of the instructors spoke a lick of English, but the young Frenchman that I was paired with who was also making a knife, happened to work for Michelin Tires in the neighboring town of Clermont Ferrand, and he spoke pretty decent English and was able to translate much of the instruction to me, though it really wasn't necessary.
The cost for this class was 25 Euros, about $33.00 US and a bargain at that price. It lasted 1 1/2 hours. The blade steel is 12C27, the same as the bulk of the local french makers use. The actual value of this knife is priceless. It is something I will keep and use for the rest of my life, and will always take pride in because I put it together myself. For anyone adventurous enough to find their way to Thiers, this class is a must.
Both my 15 year old son and myself purchased several knives in Thiers. Here is one of mine. Sorry about the quaility of the pictures. I lost my camera in France and I had to take these with my cell phone.
Here is another Le Compagnon that is a little different. Olive handles instead of stag and the maker is....
Me!
When researching my trip in general and Le Thiers knives in particular, I stumbled across a French language web page from Thiers which I used google translate to read, and found this:
http://translate.googleusercontent....iers-R&usg=ALkJrhi7DCG93692NErhdggQdnInax74Ig
A class that I could attend and actually make my own Le Thiers pattern knife! How great was that? It took some doing to find an email addy because there wasn't one on the web page, but I finally got it and emailed them to reserve a space for my son and I. The email address, should anyone be interested, is:
atelierlethiers@inserfac.com
The workshop is located very close to the Chambriard knife shop. If you are facing the shop, it is just down the hill to the left about 25 yards.
The class size was very small, I think there may have been 6 or 7 participants and most worked one on one with a french instructor. As it happened, I had some experience from my own blacksmithing work, and so did another French participant (actually, all were French except my son and I) so we shared an instructor. Pre cut scales, liners with bolsters attached, blade and spring were provided. Blade and spring were already heat treated, making any Guilloche work impossible. Rivets were just pieces of mild steel rod that we cut to length as we went along, just as they do in the factories. They had very nice belt sanders and other polishing equipment on hand for our use...everything we actually needed to produce a very nice and usable knife. On some of the particularly tricky operations the experts did the work for us to insure we didn't screw up our project, but I was able to complete the bulk of the work myself and ended up with a very nice Le Thiers style knife that will always be very special to me because I made it myself. The engraving is done up at the Chambriard shop.
None of the instructors spoke a lick of English, but the young Frenchman that I was paired with who was also making a knife, happened to work for Michelin Tires in the neighboring town of Clermont Ferrand, and he spoke pretty decent English and was able to translate much of the instruction to me, though it really wasn't necessary.
The cost for this class was 25 Euros, about $33.00 US and a bargain at that price. It lasted 1 1/2 hours. The blade steel is 12C27, the same as the bulk of the local french makers use. The actual value of this knife is priceless. It is something I will keep and use for the rest of my life, and will always take pride in because I put it together myself. For anyone adventurous enough to find their way to Thiers, this class is a must.
