Traditional French Fry day

Work has kept me away from the thread for too long!! Sorry.

To finish my report about the road trip to France last October a few pics of the "Salon de la Durolle" knife show and then I will present to you the knives I bought there!

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Skyline Drive said:
The third knife I bought at the "Salon de la Durolle", a "Diderot" made by Bastien Toubhans. Scales are horn with a gold underlay.

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Exceptionally interesting. Cutlers back in the c19th/early c20th in England and very likely France, used to use gold leaf as a backing for spectacular knives with Tortoiseshell scales to enhance the look. I think they may have done it with some selected Mother of Pearl too, added to the already high cost of such knives .

Also with Horn, cutlers used to use clear or semi-translucent Horn and add spots to it for aesthetic effect, some say to make imitation Tortoiseshell, always one of the costliest finishes.

Amazingly slim knife yours, takes a massive degree of skill to make that, impressive.

Thanks, Will
 
Not flashy, not a subtle beauty, a face only a mother could love, but a knife that makes so many in my collection take a back back seat. It won't pry (though it will pop open a reluctant pistachio) and it won't baton (even though I've forced it through a small branch or two), but it does cut about everything I put it to.

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Zieg
 
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More inexpensive Gallic gems from the maker Coursolle. Many may be aware of my distaste for brass, prefer knives with steel or NS liners, brass bolsters I'm also less than keen on. So here I am with a quintessential French knife in brass! Well, they don't have liners or bolsters....;)

I find they have a lot of unexpected charm: inexpensive, robust construction although a bit approxomatif..very well sprung and sharp! Usually they're single blade but 3 blades models exist and plenty with a corkscrew, choice of stainless or carbon, seems the anodised finish ones are stainless. Don't weigh much as they're linerless, they come in a huge range of models, many depicting sports, rustic pursuits etc which add to the charm, these are the two that I opted for- Shooting/wildfowling scene with bottle opener (which works very well, how do I know? er...) and a Horseriding /Fox hunting with single carbon blade. Think I might be getting some more and looking for ways to antique the brass without pitting it.

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