Will the European knife makers stand up and take a bow?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
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From time to time, I read about European knife makers making waves at certain knife shows. Apart from these little news reports, there is hardly any publicity about them.

Who are these Euro bladesmen? Surely they deserve better publicity befitting their status, even here in Bladeforums.

I for one would like to hear more about these people. Are any of them among our ranks?
 
I am just a hobbyist knifemaker, but European. I don't really deserve credit for my work, as I don't make much stuff (full time student), and everything I make can be improved bigtime..

But yes, some European knifemakers do deserve much more credit.

I'm thinking of People like schneider, Kressler, Balbach, Wirtz, Hons, Madaric, Slezak, Reverdy, Roulin, Van Der Elsen, Jordan, AVR, Hill ah well .. I could go and write this page full of European knifemakers names if I wasn't so lazy and just got my knife-encyclopedia upstairs... :D
Anyway, the BKS link in my signature would help you a lot, especially the links section.

Greetz, bart.
 
When European knifemakers are mentioned, Fred Perrin immediately comes to my mind. I own many of Fred's pieces, and in fact have a very original piece of his on the way to me this coming week which is a collaboration between he and Laci Szabo. :D (The best of both worlds. Sorry, I could tell you more but I'd have to kill you)
Anyway, Fred is an absolute artist, maniac, and madman when it comes to instinctive fighting blades. Of course his "La Griffe" (The Claw) design is responsible for the success of Ernest Emserson's La Griffe neck knife, which is Fred's design. No disrespect intended towards Ernie, but Fred's Griffes are MUCH more wicked and well balanced.
Fred makes blades for up close personal encounters. His pieces are instinctual, and become an extension of your being. Obtain other pieces because they appeal to you, but obtain Perrin's to save your ass and you'll be just fine.
Fred doesn't have a BF presence, but his friend and associate "Nemo" does. Do a search of "Nemo" and you'll find many fine reviews that he and Fred have done. Nemo has also produced a website for Fred here http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/2292/main.htm . It loads somewhat slow unless you have a fast connection, but it's well worth the wait.
Here are a few of my favorite Perrin customs:
PerrinQuads.jpg

The best source for Perrin Customs is my friend Larry@bladeart.com www.bladeart.com . Get one Perrin and I guarantee you that you'll get many more.
 
A couple of months ago, Blade Magazine featured a special edition featuring European knives, mostly factory stuff, but a very nice overview of the European knife industry and traditions. I think it's still available.
 
Great thread!

Thanks all for the links. Am anxious to spend some time looking at them. I already had the dell link. His integral fixed blades are fantastic! I think he has a tremendous sense of design, and obviously has the skills to bring those designs to perfection.

On another thread tonite, somebody provided the URL of a French web knife dealer. Could one of you Europeans give me an idea of what the Franc/dollar exchange rate is at this time? I would really appreciate it. Also, another French web dealer who's site I've spend time on uses the new Euro currency. On the other French site I was on tonite, all of the prices were in francs, except one. It had 500 francs, and then something that looked like a backwards C with 2 lines through the middle of the curve. Is that a symbol for Euros? I think the number/price with that was 76.4 or so of the symbol.

Thank you again. I just love threads with cool links in them!
 
Bugs3x

Saturday, July 28, 2001
1 French Franc = 0.13372 US Dollar
1 US Dollar (USD) = 7.47823 French Franc (FRF)

currency converter:

http://www.oanda.com/

€ is the symbol of the “euro” currency
 
Some more interesting facts:

- In Finland, Norway and Sweden knifemaking is a kind of folkloristic hobby. There are literally thousands of people making knives in these countries and a lot of them are organized in clubs. In Germany there is an estimated 300 to 500 people making knives.

- In 1968 i read a series of articles about damascus making and the history of pattern welded steel in the monthly "Deutsches Waffenjournal". The articles were written by Manfred Sachse from Mönchengladbach in Germany. Sachse, at that time, was a skilled damascus steel smith, made the stuff several years before that and wasn't alone in Europe. 1968, that's been 5 years before Moran "invented" modern damascus steel. I don't want to offend anybody, but i always shake my head in disbelief and laugh whenever reading this nonsens in american knife magazines.

- Nearly every european country has one or more knifemaking capitals. Well known is Solingen in Germany, but there ar several others, too. To name a few:
* Thiers, Laguiole and Nontron in France
* Scarperia (near Florence) in Italy
* Toledo and Albacete in Spain
* Sheffield in England

- IMHO the best, craziest and most creative knifemakers come from europe. Example: best damascus specialist is Pierre Reverdy, France.


Achim
 
Thanks for the great links, Horus and AchimW.

Those European knifemakers are in their own special league.

Very nice steel creations by some of those unheard-of names.
 
This year May 5 and 6 I was visited Knifemaker's Show in German Blade Museum (Solingen, Germany) and believe me - there was a lot of knives worth to see!
 
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