DRAGONFLY FOLDING KNIFE - N°25 - NONTRON
Folding knife, dragonfly model, homage to the natural world, one of the latest creations from the Nontronnaise cutlery, in partnership with the Domaine des Etangs in Massignac.
Blade in unalterable T12 steel, brass safety ferrule, pyro-engraved boxwood handle.
The revival of the oldest French knife, the mythical knife marked with the 3-point V, a mysterious symbol whose origin no one knows anymore..!
A tool for all uses, an indispensable attribute of farmers, a companion to every meal, the Nontron has spanned the ages since the 15th century.
Even today, the 40 stages of manufacturing remain the same. Handcrafted, each knife is entirely made by the same craftsman.
The artisanal company currently has around twenty cutlers, it is labeled Living Heritage Company.
Blade length: 9 cm
Handle length: 12 cm
Weight: 44g
La Coutellerie Nontronnaise, heir to an immemorial expertise, is a staple of the French regional knife landscape. A Nontron represents our territory and our craftsmanship.
The Nontron knife is considered an ancestor and inspires many legends. This imagery, dating back to the dawn of time, relies as much on its unique shapes as on its distinctive pyrography.
Its history is so long that it is difficult to date its birth. However, experts agree that the Nontron knife is the oldest knife in France and that its origins date back at least to the 15th century.
Writings and excavations indicate that, even well before the Middle Ages, forging was common in this French region. Guillaume de la Villeneuve alluded to the "knives of Pierregord" at the beginning of the 13th century.
Subsequently, blacksmiths were praised for their skills in poems and songs. Some historians claim that King Charles VII (1403-1461), called "the Victorious" by Joan of Arc, had his sword made in Nontron.
In the 18th century, Nontron had thirty-five cutlers. By 1928, only one company remained: La Coutellerie Nontronnaise. On June 21, 2000, a new workshop designed by Luc-Arsène Henry opened its doors.
La Coutellerie Nontronnaise remains the only one to perpetuate this age-old tradition. Each piece, made from start to finish by the same cutler, is unique. From the boxwood branch (a minimum of 4 years of on-site drying) to the finished knife, 40 manufacturing steps are required: the main ones being sawing, grooving the blank, fitting the iron ferrule and the nail, attaching the rotating brass or nickel-silver ferrule, applying the stamp, grinding the spine, sanding and then polishing the handle, and sharpening the forged blade (since 1992, all blades have been produced by Forge de Laguiole).
One operation then remains: pyrography. These patterns, the origin and meaning of which are still unknown, consist of 6 "flies": a type of inverted V framed by 3 dots and 4 rows of small dots.
To support and buy a Nontron is to be part of a process that rejects the loss of skills and to participate in demonstrating that a product made entirely by hand in France can still exist.