What do you think of the french trade knife design ?

Cosmetically, it seems like an interesting alternative to the Old Hickory range.

It definitely has the homebaked crude look about it that period costume wearers seem to go for.

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There's a larger knife there that has a moderately interesting bit of pattering on the blade, and that may extend to these. Pot luck? For sure it is less plain that the typical £20odd quid carbon/wood factory things commonly available here.

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The guy in the video seems to be alluding to a much more expensive knife that isn't any better than this. I can easily see how that could be true. That doesn't make it a good knife though.

To me this is a light duty slicer only. The guy in the video said there were two companion knives; a smaller for carving and a larger more robust jobbie with a wider scope. That accords with what I'd anticipate.

Would I buy one, not a chance. It looks like it would be terrified of the bucket, and that limits the usefulness. For a knife that loads on up slicing one would be forgiven for thinking it would be great for foodstuffs. Given what I said about the bucket, that handle looks ghastly to hold on to with the hands covered in chicken fat or bacon grease .etc. That will seriously narrow the range of things one would ever want to perform slicing tasks on. And the shape of it is not disposed to applying a reasonable amount of force. We can look at the larger knife to see why that would be the case because the same principles are apparent.
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One just would not pick a knife of that shape to cut up a butternut squash. It would just be too uncomfortable to hold and push hard. You'd reach for something else. That same thing is going to be the case with this one when it comes to anything that affords even moderate resistance, given the alternatives.

I don't think this does anything better than a Opinel folder. In fact, given the width at the front of the Opinel handle, I believe the Opinel could probably beat it, and be more convenient. Hell, I'd take it on with an uber-cheap tactical like the Enlan EL01A, and have a bunch of convenience, whilst kicking its butt for £10.

I'd expect a humble Victorinox, in an extremely modest steel, at best at medium hardness, to totally dominate this offering at anything worthy of doing.
 
baldtaco-II, You have prospective. Thank you very much for taking the time to write a great post :) Much appreciated.
 
That knife is one of the closest reproductions that I have seen, very nice. I know people that have found quite a few original trade knives, I have a few also.
 
Jeff White knives are a great value for the money. I don't have the french trade knife but do have knives from Jeff which use both the English and French handle. I prefer the rounded French. Buy it. Enjoy the convex goodness. My JW knives.

Necker that cuts far beyond it's pay grade.



In the woods making fire the old school way.



Batoning Maple with a RJ JW Bushcrater. English stye handle.




JW Kephart style with French handle.



These are tough user knives which have been properly heat treated by Jeff White. 1095 can rust but for the money these knives hold a good edge and are easy to keep sharp if you're familiar with a convex edge. These are real hard working knives but they do lack polish. They may (or may not) require a touch up sharpening but seem easy to get shaving sharp. They can be had in various thickness. For example the two larger knives came in 1/8 aka .125 but the thinner one seems more like .08. I look at them in the same light as Mora knives. Hard workers which are easy on the wallet.
 
On a side note I have seen that video before. To correct him on a few points.

1. The spine needs a sharp angle (90 is good) to shave material off a fire steel. I had to use my stones on the necker's spine to achieve this however there is no carbon steel requirement. It just needs to be harder than the firesteel itself. So Stainless is just fine. If a knife's spine can shave material off a fingernail it's good enough. A rounded edge won't work.

2. I have started fires using a knife and rock. It's true that carbon steel will spark if struck by a sharp hard rock however this doesn't mean a JW knife will do that. The spine must not only be carbon steel but hard. So clearly being carbon steel alone isn't enough. Never did try to toss a spark from any of my JW knives.
 
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