The “forced notch” mechanism is an evolution of the traditional slipjoint system, and often found on French knives such as Laguioles, Saint-Martin or Thiers for instance.
It’s somewhere between a classic flat slipjoint and a lockback.
The blade has a little notch where a part of the backspring comes to lock. Unlike a lockback, it’s rounded and will slip when pushing on the blade to fold the knife. It’s an added safety to prevent the knife from closing involuntarily.
The lock must be “broken” before the blade can be folded slowly in the handle.
Leon Coursolle, born 1877, was an intinerant merchant and ended up marrying the daughter of one of his vendors, a cutler named Fedit who was making novelty knives with bone sides and some simple scrimshaw.
Disappointed by his father in law’s production, he devised a new type of pocketknife, inspired by German production in Solingen.
Germans were the precursors of novelty knives with brass or aluminum handle by the end of the 18th century, notably owned by the carriers. Some were also made in France in early 19th century (see the history of the Napoleon knife) https://knives-of-france-blog.com/napoleon-knife/.
The handle of the knife, traditionally made of a liner and a cover (wood, horn, bone etc.) would be replaced by a single piece of brass, saving material and time for the assembly.
But what the customer was losing in refinement and aesthetics, Leon was making it up by putting a nice stamp on the brass.
Leon met a minter from the National Mint that made him the first matrix for his handles. The Coursolle sujet knife was born and the first one made in 1902.
The knife quickly became famous and sometimes called “yellow knife” for the color of the handle.
Leon trademarked first a wrench in 1905, then adjustable wrenches in 1926.
More recently Jean-Marc Couperier, now owner of the Coursolle cutlery, added his own vision of the Laguiole and Thiers knives with, obviously, brass handles.
How to make a Coursolle sujet knife
The side are first cut from a sheet of brass then power hammered in the dies where the embossing appears, some of the classics are the hunter, fisherman, spinner, venus etc.
The blade is classically made in carbon steel XC75, drop forged and water quenched. Some models are now available in stainless steel.
The knives come, since the beginning, in 4 sizes: 105mm, 90mm, 80mm and 70mm and in a variety of versions from a single blade to a 6 blades competing with the famous SAK. Each version has a number, the one attributed by Leon Coursolle a century ago.
The knives are then assembled using steel rivets, everything is still made like a 100 years ago, all by hand.
The only concession to modernity: a foot operated cutter is used to cut the rivets and the rivet heads are rounded by a power hammer.
Each brass side receives a clear coating.
Each piece is then inspected by the senior cutler to check the action and fix some defects (re-align the blade to seat in the handle once folded, adjustment of the kick to correct a proud tip etc.)
The production is true to the tradition and original manufacturing process, a new Coursolle is almost a NOS piece.
The Pradel knife is one of the few French knives that doesn’t have a city for name.
It gets its name from its inventor: Etienne Pradel, who created the type in 1867.
It is in fact inspired by English knives, from Sheffield, hence the large kick on the blade.
The success wasn’t great around Thiers where it was manufactured but it finally found interest in Normandy and Brittany with farmers and fishermen, especially those going on fishing campaigns around Newfoundland.
It was so popular that the pattern originally called “English style” finally adopted the name of its creator and that other manufacturers used the Pradel name for theirs, generating countless lawsuits.
The knife is simple, a spear blade, generally with a half-stop and a slightly trapezoidal, flat, handle with usually black horn covers and 4, 5 or 6 pins for extra sturdiness and a short bolster on top.
It was later developed in a multiblade version and countless sizes.
Sauvagnat-Grimaud was a cutlery in Thiers, created in 1860, and that no longer exist.
Eric Keller, from Thiers-Issard, came across an old stock of Sauvagnat-Grimaud’s blades from the 1930’s.
The history behind those blades is a bit unclear, but they are what remains of a big production run.
The blades still bear the SG mark with the cuirassier helmet, that represents the helmet of the Napoleonic imperial guard’s cuirassier cavalry.
Blade stamp
Cuirassier
The blades were made of forged Holtzer cast carbon steel, a steel really famous back in the days to make straight blade razors for example.
Credit Frank Pitelet
The original design of the handle is unknown, and Eric created a design matching what it could have been at the time, with an easy pull notch since the blades don’t have a nail nick.
He made 2 different patterns:
A classic 2 pins friction folder with a plain full handle.
And a slipjoint shadow pattern with a fileworked backspring.
On the 2 patterns, the blade is riveted using NOS rosettes to give an authentic feel.
The Langres knife gets its name from the eponym city, Langres, in eastern France.
Its origin can be dated to the end of the 16th century, but since 1900 in its current form.
It can be considered as the French equivalent of the boy’s knife with its rather small size and sheepsfoot style blade, it was traditionally given to boys for their religious confirmation, around 12/14 yo, which marked the end of childhood.
It’s a simple slipjoint, with traditionally a round handle with a single but strong top bolster and a sheepsfoot blade.
The handle can be of various materials: horn, synthetic or wood.
This strong knife gets its name from a village in the Allier region of France.
With its wide sheepsfoot blade, it was appreciated by farm workers and market gardeners.
As often with those traditional knives, the blade doesn’t have a kick and the tip rests on the spring. With that extremely wide blade, it allows for extensive sharpening without any proud tip issue.
The handle can be in horn or wood with a single bolster on top and the typical rounded end.
The Saint Martin is part of the central France style of knife, along with the Issoire, Yssingeaux or Laguiole.
The big difference is that this knife was not popular among the rural people but popular with the clergy.
Monks and priests liked its fineness to sharpen geese feathers and make quill pens.
The knife follows the center France style with a bourbon blade, end of the handle in form of a crow beak and a smooth mouche and the end of the back spring.
As the majority of French Regional knives, the Aurillac gets its name from a city, in Auvergne, central France.
It is one of the classical knives from central France with their typical bourbon blade, like the Yssingeaux, Saint-Martin or Issoire.
But it was not always like we know it today.
By the middle of the 19th century, it was already famous and made by various knife makers, in Aurillac.
When it already had the classic bourbon blade, the handle was very different with usually a rather flat handle and 3 (yes, 3) bolsters, one on each side and one in the middle, with various decors.
Credit: le couteau.info.com
Matthieu Herrero made a re-edition of the primitive form.
Credit: Matthieu Herrero
It’s by the end of the 19th century that the modern form appeared, with the “fat” handle, traditionally made of horn or wood.
The general form remains the same and we find the same recess at the end of the handle, used as some sort of easy pull.
It is a peasant knife, made for hard work with a strong bolster on top.
The knife felt into oblivion for a while before being relaunched in 1990. Today, like most of regional knives, the production is made in Thiers.
An elegant and strong knife, really comfortable, both in the hand or in the pocket.
Do you know the Douk-Douk? Do you know the Vendetta?
If not check my previous articles!
Do you know Fred Perrin?
Now take all that, mix it (shaken, not stirred…) and you get the Vendedouk.
Everything started during an evening party in Corsica when Laurent Bellini, Julien Moroselli, Elsa Fantino and the famous Fred Perrin, all knifemakers, were discussing knifemaking and souvenirs from Corsica.
Too much Asian made stuff, not enough made in France. They wanted something genuine, affordable and really made in France…
Vendetta
That’s when Pierre Cognet came into the game. He is at the head of the Cognet manufacture, which makes the famous Douk-Douk and all its offspring.
They came to an agreement and decided to make a Vendetta, based on the Douk-Douk. The Vendedouk was born.
The filiation with the Douk-Douk is obvious: ferro-blackened steel handle, carbon steel etched blade, slipjoint with the spring nestled in the handle…
However, the blade shape isn’t the Turkish clip anymore, but more like a needle point, that reminds the dagger that inspired the Vendetta, the etching has its own style of arabesque with a “Corsica” inscription. The handle gets the characteristic recess and is stamped with a stylized silhouette of Corsica
Corsican island
The knife keeps all the advantages of the Douk-Douk: flat, good construction, strong spring, excellent carbon steel blade, affordable price… with a different style.
Definitely a nice variation of the Douk-Douk… Unless it is a variation of the Vendetta?
Corsica is a French island, just above Sardegna, in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is French since the end of the Eighteenth century but was under Genoan domination for centuries before that, reason why the Corsican language is close to Italian and the Corsican culture is marked by its Genoan history.
The Vendetta is now considered as the classical Corsican knife, but its history is a bit particular.
Everything started with a novel from Prosper Merimee: Colomba, that came out in 1840. The book is about a vendetta, or vengeance, between two families.
This book came along a development of tourism in Corsica and merchants from Ajaccio, the capital city, got the idea of making a knife typical that tourists would bring back.
They, of course, turned toward Thiers for the manufacturing.
The knife is inspired by the Corsican stylet, coming itself from the Genoan stylet, a thin dagger.
Corsican stylet
The knife is characteristic with its thin spear point blade, its very long top bolster, that takes roughly half of the handle and the recess in that bolster to make it look like a stylet.
The handle was traditionally made of bone or ivory with ink decoration, usually arabesques and flowers. The moor’s head, traditional symbol of Corsica, appeared later.
The blade was often etched with mottos relating to the vendetta theme:
Vendetta Corsa : corsican vengeance
Vendetta Morte : vengeance until death
Vindica l’Unore : avenge the honor
Morte al Nemico : death to the enemy
The knife was a commercial success but not really popular with the locals, favoring more traditional knives like the curnicciolu, famous with the shepperds.
Modern curnicciolu
However, since the 1990’s, some cutlers from the island revived the type and increased the quality. It was then, again, produced by Thiers’ cutlers
Vendetta by Gilles ReynewaeterVendetta by Arbalete Genes DavidVendetta by Fontenille Pataud
Today it is still typical from the “Island of beauty”, as we call it, and a very interesting knife
