Traditionals by Country

Brian.Evans

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Aug 20, 2011
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I'd like to assemble a small collection of knives from around the world. I need help thinking of different areas. Here's what I have written down so far:
France-Opinel and laguolie
Germany-Mercator
South Africa-Okapi
Swiss-SAK?

As you can see, my list is short and not filled out. Any other ideas? I want to have a using collection rather than a collecting only collection.
 
Yes, Brian... here´s another idea

Austria - (Trattenbacher) Taschenfeitel
Finland - Puukko / Leukko

BTW: Cool idea of a thread!
 
What about spanish Navajas, there's a lot of different kinds, but maybe the most known is the ALBACETEÑA with the clicks lock
Mateo
 
i too am interested in different traditional working knives. im not a collector per se but i am interested in accumulating some unusual examples for fun.

what about the higonokami in japan? or the douk douk in french north africa?
or the svord peasant knife? made in new zealand but i have no idea if theres a history of using them there.
 
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Le Thiers from France, definitely my favorite single blade slipjoint. A lot of companies make them, not as many as Laguiole, and they run from affordable to expensive.
 
It's funny; I've actually tried to have this kind of international mindset when collecting and have an example of almost every pattern listed here, primarily because what comes to be a country's iconic traditional knife is almost always a cheaper, working class knife (my sensibilities and my wallet both dig that.) But the one that really eludes me is the classic horn-handled Italian friction folder...seems like it's impossible to get one stateside for anything like a "working class" price.

But, carry on. How about Native America, a flint knapped knife?
 
I like the idea of a flint knapped knife, I know a few different folks who have originals. I think a Hudson Bay trade knife replica would be a good early American knife for a person to have in their collection and a whole lot easier to come by.
 
The Bavarians have a medium sized fixed blade called a Nicker. And machetes have been around for a while in South America. They're probably as traditional as it gets down there. There're a few people on this forum who could go far more in-depth on the subject, telling us how and where the different machete patterns originated, e.t.c. I'm not one of them.

Condor - El Salvador?

Condor is a subsidiary of Imacasa founded in 2004.
 
Philippines would be the hand-made balisong from Batangas. of late, quality has dipped and sales have dropped. but some makers still crank out gems. here's one on sale in a local ad website for $12.50:


 
Those Hungarian knives that Littleknife linked to are cool but I would have no idea what or how to order.
 
Apart from the two main patterns from my homeland Sardinia (the Pattadesa and Arburesa), Italy has quite a bunch of different patterns...I will name them here now, then I will try to find a picture for every pattern if you want (hopefully Alfredo will help me a bit on this as well).
- Senese
- Bergamasco
- Gobbo
- Mozzetta
- Maremmano
- Stiletto
Will add more when I remember them...same goes for pictures of course :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
As a swede i think of mora no 1. traditional woodhandled simple workingmans knife but also the south and north sami knifes is typical for north scandinavia.

Bosse
 
Svord - New Zealand

but is the peasant knife a traditional new zealand pattern? were shepherds using them in the 1800s? are there 'heirloom' peasant knives in new zealander families? did new zealand troops storm the beaches of normandy with them? lol

interesting stuff in here!
/thread delivers!
 
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