vendetta – knives of France

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…

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

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?

Find some on http://knives-of-france.com

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.

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.

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 Reynewaeter — Vendetta by Gilles Reynewaeter

Vendetta arbalete — Vendetta by Arbalete Genes David

Vendetta Fontenille Pataud — Vendetta by Fontenille Pataud

Today it is still typical from the “Island of beauty”, as we call it, and a very interesting knife

Find some on http://knives-of-france.com

Tag: vendetta

Vendedouk

Vendetta knife