Saint-Martin

Currently not available. The pocketknife SAINT-MARTIN [sɛ̃.maʁ.tɛ̃] has a Bourbonnaise blade, a straight, elegant handle with the Bec-de-corbin at the end and a forged spring with a lens-shaped mouche like the LAGUIOLE-DROIT from 1850 which Camille Pagé describes in his 1896 encyclopaedia on traditional French knives.

The key difference are the metal bolsters on the handle ends. Since it was not possible to manufacture knives with bolsters in the workshops of Laguiole at that time because, unlike in Thiers, the know-how and technical equipment for this was lacking, all pocket knives with metal bolsters, including LAGUIOLE with bolsters, were made in Thiers, where one from the turn of the century of 1900 had appropriate facilities. The triumph of the bolsters is easy to explain. In addition to the fact that bolsters give a pocket knife a little more stability, knife makers have the decisive advantage that they are easier to produce. For if pocket knives with a full handle had previously been the sole domain of the masters, less trained knifemakers could now also assemble knives because incorrectly placed hammer blows when striking and cranking axes and handle rivets no longer destroyed the knife. Now the hammer traces in the metal could be ground away.

The SAINT-MARTIN was created around 1900. The vernacular says of him that it is one of the few pocket knives that was not created for the rural-peasant living space, but that its clientele were preferably the clergy ... as always Legends are to be valued. We rather believe that the SAINT-MARTIN was the further development of a knife that was still extremely popular in large parts of the population, which the LAGUIOLEs with their curved handle and Yatagan blade were unable to displace.

SAINT-MARTIN has been manufacured in the Atelier PassionFrance in Thiers since 2019. For the handles we use the classic materials bone and horn as well as some exclusive, stabilized precious woods. We produce two sizes, handle length 9.5cm and 11cm. The blades are made from Sandvik 12C27. The springs have a decoration with a few file lines and St. Andrew's cross, which corresponds to the old originals. The forged mouche (bee) is authentically lenticular. As a sign of their authenticity, they present the PassionFrance mark on the blade, the Coq.

SAINT-MARTIN's were also manufactured by atelier ARTO for PassionFrance based on the old components. As a sign of authenticity, they show the forge marke from ARTO next to the signature from PassionFrance.

Model variants:
- Handle length 9.5cm and 11cm
- Custom models (e.g. with mammoth handles or damask blades) to order 

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