Knife le Capucin: The oldest folding knife ?

Early XXᵉ century: Back to the past.

At the beginning of the XXᵉ century, the Capucin began a timid reappearance in the GRAT workshops established in Foix and by our Manufacture in Thiers. The adventure lasted some 80 years, until it was abandoned once again, this time for good, in the 1980s. Until Pierre Cognet found boxes of Capucin and Montpellier blades in the workshop attic in the late 1990s. On the strength of this find, and considering the treasure it represented, Pierre Cognet decided to rebuild the Capucins and Montpelliers identically, using these blades and, above all, the original plans and drawings of the time.

Une fabrication conforme à l’original.

Blades in XC75 carbon steel in the shape of a sage leaf, monobloc handles (i.e. fashioned from a solid block of wood or horn), a blade axle and a stop nail, all handcrafted by a cutlery craftsman as they were back in the day – that’s all it took to make this thousand-year-old knife a great success. While its design and assembly may seem rather straightforward, the art of the cutler lies in its meticulous adjustment and perfect finish.

A name with not-so-obscure origins.

Of course, it’s highly unlikely that the knife’s name dates back to its Roman origins, but rather seems inspired by the shape of the handle given to it by shepherds, reminiscent of a Capuchin monk in his hooded habit. In the solitude of the Pyrenean summer pastures, pious shepherds would pray in front of their knives, on the handles of which they had taken care to depict a cross using silver or copper nails. While the tradition of crosses gradually disappeared as the knife spread throughout France and beyond, the shape of the handle has remained.