Black Sonata 4.75 Inches Damascus Laguiole Knife Handmade Damascus Pocket Knives French Knife Steak Knife USA Made | BMK-506

Description

A Laguiole is a shape with rules, and this one keeps them: slim bolsters, a black horn handle, a decorated spring, and a blade that tapers to a fine point.

Suited to: the table and the pocket. Cheese, charcuterie, an apple, a steak at a long lunch. It is a gentleman’s folder and a steak knife in the same object.

How a Laguiole opens and closes

Traditional Laguiole knives are held open by a back spring rather than a lock, and it is worth handling this one as though that is true: close it with your fingers clear of the path of the edge, and do not use it for anything that could drive the blade backward into your hand. Within that limit it is a very pleasant knife to use, because a spring gives a smooth, weighted action that a lock never quite matches. Read our Laguiole knives guide for the history behind the pattern.

The bee and the spine

The raised piece at the heel of the spring is the bee, and on a Laguiole it is the maker’s signature rather than a functional part. Here it is forged as one piece with the spring instead of soldered on afterward, which is the harder way to do it. The spring itself is decorated along its length. The handle is black horn with inlaid pin work in a pattern, capped at both ends with polished bolsters.

Two and a half ounces

This knife weighs 2.5 ounces and closes to four inches. It disappears in a jacket pocket, which is the point of the pattern — it was designed to be carried all day by people who used it at every meal. If you want the same pattern as a matched table piece, the French Riviera steak knife and the stag horn Laguiole are built on the same lines.

Care: high-carbon Damascus dislikes sitting wet, so dry it after food and especially after fruit — acid marks it quickly. A drop of light oil in the pivot once in a while keeps the action smooth, and one wipe along the blade with the same oil before storage is enough. Horn is a natural material: keep it out of standing water and away from radiators and car dashboards, because heat and prolonged wet are what make horn shrink and lift at the bolster.

FAQs

Does the blade lock open? Treat it as a traditional spring-held folder and close it deliberately, fingers clear of the edge.

What is the handle made of? Black horn with inlaid pin decoration and polished bolsters at each end.

Can I use it as a steak knife? Yes. That is one of the jobs the pattern was designed around.

Model: BMK-506