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.
The “palm” ratchet-lock folding knife gets its name from the locking system on the back of the handle that has the shape of a palm leave (palme in French).
The system is actually inspired from the Spanish Navaja that gained, in the late 18th century, a locking style blade with a back spring and a metal pull ring to release the lock. These knives were called Navaja de Muelles (Spring Knifes). The ring was eventually discarded in favor of a lever, still present in today’s navajas.
Navaja de muelles
This made that, until early in the 20th Century, the palm knives were sometimes called navaja in France. Those Spanish navajas were considered fighting knives, sometimes even prohibited, it is important to recall that for the rest of our story.
The knife is in fact quite different from a navaja. It is a plain handle, in wood or horn, almost like a Capucin, with an external spring covering the back of the handle, including the ratchet-lock.
It is a simple, easy to produce, yet efficient locking system. The blade is often in a yatagan style.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, this type of knife was popular, considered as a hunting knife, but in the pocket of many workers and farmers.
Extract from the Manufrance catalog showing the hunters knives
When WW1 broke out in Europe, it completely changed the classic warfare and the trench battle style called for different tactics and equipment. Storming the enemy trench with a long rifle fitted with a long bayonet was not always convenient and feedback from the front line requested a knife for hand-to-hand combat.
The soldier equipment did not include a knife and the war ministry sent delegates to manufactures, mainly in Thiers, to find a suitable equipment.
The palm knife was selected, all the stocks were requisitioned and large orders placed. So much that even the cutleries from Nontron, specialized in ferrule (ring lock) knives, started to produce palm knives.
Later Nontron form the 30’s
In September 1915, more than 46,000 of those locking knives have been delivered.
6.35mm and palm knife
However, and despite its fierce reputation in the navaja form as fighting knife, it was not adapted to the trench combat. The blade was a bit thin and the single pin to fix it made the ensemble too weak. Moreover, the handle was sleek and the knife did not have a cross-guard, making the thrust hits dangerous, especially with a handle covered in mud or blood.
Eventually, the Army ordered simple butcher knives…
Trench butcher knife with improvised sheath
Before developing specific designs.
Trench dagger or “trench nail”
The type was still popular until the mid 20th Century, before being replaced by lockbacks, liner-locks etc.
However, among others, the Nontron cutlery is still producing a knife remnant of those made by its ancestors, quite different from its traditional product line.
Mongin, with its fabulous knives, is faithful to that system, in the Nogent tradition, even removing the ratchet lock to make it like a classic slip joint.
Despite the poor capabilities as a fighting knife, they remain nice and great utility knives with a genuine long history
