Traditional French Fry day

Iā€™ve been on a French kick, lately.

Here are my two newest acquisitions, a Cognet Montpellier and a Savignac Le Grat.
Iā€™ve been using the Montpellier for about a week exclusively and I find it a very nice knife. Itā€™s a big boy, and actually seems rather comically large compared to my usual ā€œAmericanā€ carry. Yankee slipjoints are quite heavy compared to traditional European peasant knives, though, so to carry an equivalent blade would really weigh down the pocket. The blade is big and as essentially a wharncliffe, is pretty useful for day to day cutting. While itā€™s not the best at food prep it can do that too, if necessary. This style of knife was originally used by sailors and I can imagine this one would be plenty useful for cutting ropes or eating.

I was very sceptical about a friction folder but these have enough friction to actually be practical. I have a couple of others that are very prone to opening in the pocket or closing if you so much as look at them but these are a different breed entirely. Time will tell how much or if they loosen up with daily use, or how practical they are to tighten.

I just received the Savignac recently. Itā€™s a pretty knife and I really like the leaf-shaped blade. Very practical for food prep and other miscellaneous cutting tasks. This knife is known as a ā€œCapucin,ā€ owing to the ā€œmonks hoodā€ style protrusion at the pommel end of the knife. If you want one of these there are a few choices. Cognet makes one thatā€™s equally if not a bit more sleek, but somewhat bigger. Savignacā€™s bigger version is called Lā€™Ariegeois, and is a bit modified in profile. Their smaller version is Le Grat, named after the cutlers of the 19th century who made and sold similar knifes. I wanted to try the Savignac on account of the heritage, and also because I liked the idea of a smaller knife. I donā€™t know what size is ā€œauthenticā€ but I generally donā€™t need a massive blade for my own use.

I think, though, that if I had to buy it again Iā€™d get a bigger one, because the small size of this one (combined with my fairly small hands for a man) means the knife isnā€™t that comfortable in hand. I can only hold in one exact position or the hump is digging into my pinkie in a noticeable (half on half off) way. If my hand were a bit larger (size S gloves here) or smaller then the protrusion wouldnā€™t be an issue I donā€™t think.

Included is a photo of some Opinels (the bottom a standard #8) and a couple of slightly similar GECs (#73, #12) to show relative sizes.


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G GaiusJulius Thank you for a very interesting evaluation together with the pictures. Some very fine Horn on the Savignac :cool: I still can't get my head around friction folders....the tendency to self-open in the pocket is alarming.

It's possibly the climate where I am: horribly dry indoors Oct-May even as low as 15%. I keep certain knives, a horn handled friction knife in my country house which is an old wooden house that breathes. It's mainly unheated in winter until I go there but very good humidity levels. Soon as I bring the Pattada back to town, the pivot becomes highly loose , and the pins protrude from the horn despite oiling. It's just a highly decorative object now, impractical. So, I admire the look of friction folders, but spring knives were indeed, a great advance :cool:

Regards, Will
 
Will Power said:
G GaiusJulius Thank you for a very interesting evaluation together with the pictures. Some very fine Horn on the Savignac :cool: I still can't get my head around friction folders....the tendency to self-open in the pocket is alarming.

It's possibly the climate where I am: horribly dry indoors Oct-May even as low as 15%. I keep certain knives, a horn handled friction knife in my country house which is an old wooden house that breathes. It's mainly unheated in winter until I go there but very good humidity levels. Soon as I bring the Pattada back to town, the pivot becomes highly loose , and the pins protrude from the horn despite oiling. It's just a highly decorative object now, impractical. So, I admire the look of friction folders, but spring knives were indeed, a great advance :cool:

Regards, Will
Click to expand...

That's a pity Will, because your knife is beautiful. I also do not care for the variable behavior of friction folders. During the winter my resolza tightened up considerably and became difficult to open. Now that spring is here it has loosened up again and opens easily, more than I like to be honest.
 
kamagong kamagong thank you Christian, the variety of Traditional knives means you never quite know how they're going to fit in with your life or how they'll behave ;) It's never bad having beauty in your life even if it's not of the practical kind but I think Friction is not for me in the future.

As you note, 'compared to the hand that wields it?' :)
 
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