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Would you like to get a simple and useful pocket knife? Think about the Capucin knife. With several models available, the Ariégeois knife is a Capucin knife traditionally coming from the Pyrenees. It has several characteristics. But before enumerating all the specificities of this unique masterpiece, let’s discover its history.
The Capucin knife’s history
To know the story of the Capucin knife, you need to go back in time. Precisely in 1772, when Fougeroux de Bondaroy described the Capucin knives in his book “L’Art du Coutelier en Ouvrage Commun”. Thanks to that book, you can clearly understand that the first Capucin knives were foldable knives with two nails.
Indeed, in the Ariège Pyrenees, both shepherds and farmers needed knives. They managed to buy blades in the nearby villages and then assembled the handles as they could. The handles were made with cow or ram horns. The knives they obtained at that time as final products looked like monk’s hoods. However, the domination of the activities of each region (farming, breeding or fishing) gave birth to various forms of knives adapted to the needs and activities. That is how several brands of Capucin knives emerged. However, in face of modernisation, the ancient manufacturing methods have not disappeared completely.
What are the characteristics of the Capucin knife?
This is a pocket knife equipped with a monobloc handle. The monobloc handle contains the blade in closed position. The handle of a Capucin knife is made with box tree wood or with the point of bovine horns. The handle has no mitre. Inside the handle, a rivet contains the blade. The rivet is mounted on the extremities on circular rosettes. The Capucin knife is an Ariégeois knife with two easy-to-mount nails. Traditionally, the blade of an Ariégeois knife was made with carbon steel. The whole knife is handcrafted. A firm hand combined with a brain focused on the initial objective create a unique and stylish Capucin knife.
The handles, the specificities of the Capucin knives
Capucin knives have a particular monobloc handle. Indeed, there is no metal nor other metallic object in it. That is why it is important to choose materials which are resistant and hard enough during the manufacturing process of a Capucin knife, so as it can stand both the test of time and space. Choose one of the following materials to make the handle of your Capucin knife: blond horn, black horn, beef horn or billy goat horn.
The handle of your knife can also be made with box tree wood, walnut or burr walnut wood, or olive tree wood. To provide a country-wood handle with both stability and solidity, it is recommended to soak it in resin.
The price of the Capucin knives
Today, in addition to hunting knives, the Capucin knives are available as pocket or table knives.
Find your favourite Capucin knife, entirely homemade, from €390. The price depends on several criteria, especially the model, its dimensions (length and thickness of the blade, size and thickness of the handle), as well as the nature of the material used to make the handle.
