French regional knives...

[waynorth]

It arrived at home with an ugly horn handle. Stephane Thomachot made me a nice chestnut one

Â

Nice to see you commissioning new life into older knives, Â!!
Stephane is a bad mann!!

 

[waynorth]

I started carrying this nice gift from @Achillepattada yesterday! Very nice feel in the hand! Very different feel as a talisman in the pocket, than other knives I have carried. Maybe I could learn to speak French after all!!??

Alain and J-M, I have forgotten the description! Please enlighten me again!!

 

[herder]

waynorth, wonderful knife and a fine gift from Jolipapa.

Here is a well made French camping knife with the stampings and logo of "Ambercrombie & Fitch". The blade tang is only marked "France".
Maybe Jolipapa or Achillepattada might recognize the maker? I am guessing it dates to the 1960s / 1970s era???

View attachment 1289870

 

[waynorth]

waynorth, wonderful knife and a fine gift from Jolipapa.

Here is a well made French camping knife with the stampings and logo of "Ambercrombie & Fitch". The blade tang is only marked "France".
Maybe Jolipapa or Achillepattada might recognize the maker? I am guessing it dates to the 1960s / 1970s era???

View attachment 1289870

It looks nicely made. A&F were always careful of their subcontracts!

 

[Jolipapa]

I started carrying this nice gift from Jolipapa yesterday! Very nice feel in the hand! Very different feel as a talisman in the pocket, than other knives I have carried. Maybe I could learn to speak French after all!!??View attachment 1289817 View attachment 1289818

Alain I have forgotten your description! Please enlighten me again!!

Charlie, I wish I had sent you this Sauveterre, but I must admit she definitively comes from someone else!
This is a Sauveterre named from the village of Sauveterre-en-Rouergue, a relative to the old "straight" Laguiole, built in the village as a "2 nails" (like an Opi, sorry, I never remember the exact name in English Away please Aloïs!) alledgedly from the XIIIth til the XVIIth cent.
It was revived in the late XXth as a slipjoint by Guy Vialis, who took the opportunity of a period TV series footage shooting in the village.
Since Guy Vialis retired and the workshop has been bought by an Espalion shop, then by Laguiole-en-Aubrac who recently re-released the 9cm and the 11cm.

ps I have an horrible doubt, your knife has no mouche... so she could very well be an Yssingeaux in fact ( was misled by the lack of bolster ). Next time I'll turn my tongue 7 time in my mouth...

Here is a well made French camping knife with the stampings and logo of "Ambercrombie & Fitch". The blade tang is only marked "France".
Maybe Jolipapa or Achillepattada might recognize the maker? I am guessing it dates to the 1960s / 1970s era???

This is a Canif Mongin (still in activity), one of the last Nogent's knifemakers. Exists in 2 length, 8cm and 10cm, from a single blade up to 10 tools, with a quite rare Fisherman's .
Mongin supplied many luxury brands, including Hermès and maybe Dunhill (irc). These are very well made (and sell accordingly) but "anoraks" say they're just a pale reflection of the high quality of former Nogent knives. The corkscrew might give a clue about its age.
(canif comes # 1'17" in the video)

 

[waynorth]

Hi Alain ( Jolipapa )
I found a knife called a Laguiole Droit!!
(spelling edited Feb. 24; thanks JP)
It looks like Laguiole en Aubrac produces a version that they call the "Ancestral", and it is said to precede the Laguiole, as designed by Calmels in the early 1800s. Looks interesting, and slighly different than the current Yssingeaux?? But what do I know??

 

[cigarrodog]

“Ancestral” My favorite French Traditional.

 

[Âchillepattada]

Ahahha don't worry Jolipapa, my gifts are yours , and they usually arrive in the same parcel

Very good description on this Yssingeaux made with parts coming from Thiers by Stephane Tomachot .
He is very good using polished stag .
If you have seen the initial state of the parts he receives compared with what he can do with it you would say he is a wizard

â

 

[Jolipapa]

Hi Alain ( Jolipapa )
I found a knife called a Laguiole Dwat?? (spelling???)
It looks like Laguiole en Aubrac produces a version that they call the "Ancestral", and it is said to precede the Laguiole, as designed by Calmel in the early 1800s. Looks interesting, and slighly different than the current Yssingeaux?? But what do I know??

Charlie, you mean "droit" (straight) the name I think was used by Arto for the old fashion Laguiole they were among the first to revive. As communication then was not easy (even today, 50 miles > 1h1/2 by the road) most little towns had a local pattern, kinda like the egg and the hen, who came first? For the moment Yssingeaux leads.
Typical of Laguiole droit, Yssingeaux, Sauveterre and St Martin is the head (bottom for us ) "en bec de corbin", crow's beak shaped. (corbin is old French for corbeau)
The blade shape is called sage leaf (feuille de sauge), slightly potbellied, on the Ancestral it's a Bourbonnaise (from the Bourbon region). The region betwen Laguiole and Sauveterre had lots of iron and coal mines, the last closed in 1966 (Marcillac and Decazeville, etc.).

Considering the one you show, she feels timeless and outstanding.

“Ancestral” My favorite French Traditional.

Hansome one, a difference with a sauveterre (but it's a whole world for some ) is the typical "rounding" behind the pivot/mouche.

Ahahha don't worry Jolipapa, my gifts are yours , and they usually arrive in the same parcel

Very good description on this Yssingeaux made with parts coming from Thiers by Stephane Tomachot .
He is very good using polished stag .
If you have seen the initial state of the parts he receives compared with what he can do with it you would say he is a wizard

â

JM, that's very nice of you, (sending the knife ans sharing the gift) but let's give back to Cesar what belongs to Cesar .
Had too many beers celebrating victory over Wales and needed some time to realize my mistake.
Stephane Tomachot has golden hands and I have yet to see a knife he made that I don't like!

 

[dantzk8]

Had too many beers celebrating victory over Wales

JP, you were not the only one!

Dan.

 

[waynorth]

Ahahha don't worry Jolipapa, my gifts are yours , and they usually arrive in the same parcel

Very good description on this Yssingeaux made with parts coming from Thiers by Stephane Tomachot .
He is very good using polished stag .
If you have seen the initial state of the parts he receives compared with what he can do with it you would say he is a wizard

â

AH!! My apologies J-M! It is true, they came at the same time, and I lost all communications related to it! I love this knife! And its connection to history!! Thank you again!!
Sorry all, for my muddled story!!
I went so far as to find an Ancestral, though it is a stretch, they relate to each other! and I look forward to comparing the the two!!
Nice knife, Harvey!!!

“Ancestral” My favorite French Traditional.

 

[waynorth]

To set the record straight (as I correct my faulty memory!)
This knife was made from rescued parts from Thiers by Stephane Tomachot!
And it was gifted to me by Achillepattada!! I had no idea this "Yssingeaux" had such an historical connection! (Knife at the bottom of the picture below!)
The knife at the top was procured for me by Achillepattada, and the middle knife (which opens my mail in the A.M.) came from JP!!
A plethora of gifts for which I am ever grateful!!

I will get my French knives straightened out some day!!
With a little help from my friends!!

 

[cigarrodog]

Hansome one, a difference with a sauveterre (but it's a whole world for some ) is the typical "rounding" behind the pivot/mouche.

Thank you kindly. There’s so much for me to learn. I’m happy to have found this thread.

 

[herder]

Charlie, I wish I had sent you this Sauveterre, but I must admit she definitively comes from someone else!
This is a Sauveterre named from the village of Sauveterre-en-Rouergue, a relative to the old "straight" Laguiole, built in the village as a "2 nails" (like an Opi, sorry, I never remember the exact name in English Away please Aloïs!) alledgedly from the XIIIth til the XVIIth cent.
It was revived in the late XXth as a slipjoint by Guy Vialis, who took the opportunity of a period TV series footage shooting in the village.
Since Guy Vialis retired and the workshop has been bought by an Espalion shop, then by Laguiole-en-Aubrac who recently re-released the 9cm and the 11cm.

ps I have an horrible doubt, your knife has no mouche... so she could very well be an Yssingeaux in fact ( was misled by the lack of bolster ). Next time I'll turn my tongue 7 time in my mouth...



This is a Canif Mongin (still in activity), one of the last Nogent's knifemakers. Exists in 2 length, 8cm and 10cm, from a single blade up to 10 tools, with a quite rare Fisherman's .
Mongin supplied many luxury brands, including Hermès and maybe Dunhill (irc). These are very well made (and sell accordingly) but "anoraks" say they're just a pale reflection of the high quality of former Nogent knives. The corkscrew might give a clue about its age.
(canif comes # 1'17" in the video)

Jolipapa, Thanks for the information and pictures of some beautiful examples from that company.

 

[herder]

cigarrodog and waynorth, lovely examples of more fine French cutlery.

 

[Jolipapa]

Jolipapa, Thanks for the information and pictures of some beautiful examples from that company.

Thank you kindly. There’s so much for me to learn. I’m happy to have found this thread.

My pleasure!

 

[cigarrodog]

cigarrodog and waynorth, lovely examples of more fine French cutlery.

Thank you Neal. Beautifully French cutlery like your camp knife.

waynorth - Thank you Charlie. Your Laguiole Droit is exquisite. Love its’ elegant minimalist form.

 

[waynorth]

Nice series of utility knives, JP!! But please don't tell me the names, as I will only get further confused!!
It runs in my family!! When my mother would call for one of her five children, she would just shout out all five names, and hope the one she wanted would come running!!

 

[mitch4ging]

Some wonderful knives in this thread!
My only example so far, thanks again to one of our great French
emissaries, Alain Jolipapa

 

[RayseM]

Here is my modest Trio of French Beauties ~



Top - Laguiole Made by SCIP • Thiers, France • in the mid 1990s

Middle - L'Aurillac by Pierre Yves Joyeux • Escoutoux, France • January, 2020

Bottom - Le Thiers POCKET by Fontenille Pataud • Thiers, France • February 2020