Douk-Douk
The history of DOUK-DOUK [duk.duk]) fills books. This pocketknife has an ingeniously simple construction and consists of only six parts: a blade made of fine-grain carbon steel, a handle made ... know more
The history of DOUK-DOUK [duk.duk]) fills books. This pocketknife has an ingeniously simple construction and consists of only six parts: a blade made of fine-grain carbon steel, a handle made of folded sheet metal, the spring, two rivets and one small bracket at the end of the handle to attach a lanyard.
Gaston Cognet came up with the idea for this knife in 1902 as part of a general economic crisis. As a knifemaker, he wanted to produce a knife that was cheap, that anyone could buy, that was stable and versatile, also suitable for work in the field and in the garden. And that if you lost it, you could get over the loss because you didn't buy it for a few Francs could and should acquire a new knife.
The idea of creating inexpensive, functional pocketknives was in the air at the time, because in the Rhône-Alpes region, Joseph OPINEL had previously developed his famous Opinel-knife from the ALPIN, which was popular in his home region, with the same intention. Nevertheless, Gaston Cognet initially had little success with his DOUK-DOUK in France, instead it sold all the better in Micronesia and in the colonies of North Africa.
Aroused curiosity, he decided to travel to the South Pacific and discovered on one of the islands that mythical figure called DOUK-DOUK, a ritual dance mask made of grass and feathers, which fascinated him so much that he named his knife after it and from then on it was a good luck charm embossed on the handles of his knives. Today it has become the trademark of original DOUK-DOUKs. After the success in Micronesia, there was also success in the North African colonies and finally his knives were successful in France too. Today the DOUK-DOUK is an icon, a cult object with a large fan base and it is part of collections in many museums around the world. In addition to the traditional model, MCC also produces the EL-BARAKA with the symbol of the southern star on the handle and the TIKI with a black blade. DOUK-DOUK are produced and counterfeited all over the world. Make sure that you purchase an original !
Gaston's grandson Pierre still makes the original DOUK-DOUK today, in the same ateliers in Thiers that his grandfather worked in and partly on the same tools and old machines of his forefathers. As a sign of its authenticity, it bears the embossed DOUK-DOUK on the handle of the knife.
Model variants:
- sizes 9 cm, 11 cm and14 cm
- handles burnished or chrome-plated
- EL-BARAKA, TIKI
- CHASSE in hunting knife size
- coloured models
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