Tag: pradel

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Pradel knife

  1. Extremely interesting knife, beautiful design. If you’re only slicing and the pivot is nice and tight I find that friction…

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.

A simple worker’s knife, still popular today.

Find it on knives-of-france.com

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Colonial Knife

3 colonial knives

The Colonial knife was born in 1873 from specifications from the French war ministry. It was an attempt to provide a utility knife to the troops.

2 Colonial knives

It was the very first folding knife officially adopted by the French armed forces.

French colonial troops
French colonial troops

The term “colonial” comes from the fact that it was first adopted by the colonial troops, before the Navy.

Ad for the colonial troops

The description was pretty simple:

– A 9cm (3.55in) blade in the sheepfoot style for a total length of 20.5cm (8in) when open

– A steel spring for the slip joint mechanism, with a hole at the bottom to fix a lanyard.

– 2 wooden sides riveted to the steel liners.

The pins were often mounted on rosettes, to avoid breaking the handle.

Pair of colonial knives
Closed colonial knives

The description added a rounded tip blade in 1939, the last year of the knife being distributed to the troops.

Late example with rounded tip. Each dent on the handle represents a month of service.

The knife is like a sailor knife, with its typical sheepfoot blade, supposedly to avoid stabbing in case of a fight between two soldiers.

Knife belonging to a soldier form the Marine artillery, service number H.1711

Pradel-Chomette was the first and most prolific manufacturer, but many others provided the knife.

Colonial by Pradel

Its official distribution to the troops stopped in 1939, but the type was simple, cheap, sturdy and popular and its fabrication lasted until the late 1960’s for the civilian market.

Colonial knife
A modern re-edition by C. Esteves

A good example of a simple yet sturdy sailor knife!

colonial knife pair
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