Marjaqc Knives

[Hoodoo]

Anyone familiar with these? Just got 'em in the mail today and am really liking them. They were a bit dull but I smoothed out the bevel on one with a DMT diamond stone, and 5 minutes on the spydie sticks and a bit of stropping and it's scary sharp.
At $20 each, they are pretty cheap thrills!

 

[OhCanada]

Wow, made in France! I saw these at a local hiking store and thought they were a more fancy version of the Opinels. Think I will have to buy one now. They had light, medium, and dark coloured handles.

Are the both carbon steel?

 

[demographic]

Funny that you should mention it as I recently spotted those very knives as I was looking for a new block plane on the DICK fine woodworking website.

The knives can be found HERE.

I was particularly interested in the one with the horn handle as after owning a few Opinels in my childhood I found that one problem with them was that the wood tended to swell up if even slightly moist and cause the blade to stick closed

The blades were easy to sharpen but got dull rather quickly though, be nice if these knives addressed both these problems

Not sure how UK law would stand on the locking method either

 

[rapidboy]

I also just spotted these in the Axminster catalogue last night. (Page 9.52)

A little more expensive than the Opinels but they look nice.

Beech £7.27
Olive wood £8.51
Ebony £11.37

No mention of what steel they use ?

 

[dsgr]

On the german site dick.biz mentioned above, it says that the blades and locking collar are both stainless steel.
Has anyone ordered from this site? It seems to have a good variety of products.

 

[Hoodoo]

The blade is supposed to be made of X46CR13 stainless steel, whatever that is. My sense from sharpening is that there won't be much difference between these and a stainless Opinel, which is fine with me. I almost always maintain the edge on my opinels with a sharpening steel or crockstick. When they get beyond that and need a little profiling, I put 'em on a stone.

 

[Moonraker]

They are actually called 'Marjacq' They are being made by the Arno company in Theirs, France. They have revived the style, apparently used in the Savoy region previously.

I can't find a web site here in France.. From this French web site selling them I can glean the following:

HM Diffusion - MARJACQ OLIVIER, BUIS OU EBÈNE

This page has a few images including how the lock works and this nice image of the three models they make:

Key Details:

Overall length: 20cm. The handle is 11.5cm/ 4.5" opened overall length.
Blade: The blade is made from stainless steel and blade length is 8.5cm/ 3.3".
X46Cr13, hardness ca. 57 RC
Security locking ring: (open and shut) is also made from stainless steel.
Handle: Boxwood, Olive wood, Ebony

A quick translation:

The Marjacq knives, manufactured in Thiers (famous knife making town in France), are perfectly suited for leisure use or for the workshop.

Stainless Blade and Locking Ring

The blade and the blade locking mechanism/ ferrule ( it is possible to lock the blade in the open or closed position) are made out of stainless steel. Their production is thoroughly followed in order to offer the highest level of quality control.

Olive wood Boxwood or Ebony Handles

The "Marjacq" are offered with 3 different handle materials: Olive, Boxwood and Ebony. A small notch is formed on each handle to ease the opening of the blade. Each handle is finely sanded then buffed by hand (polishing with a flannel) for a very soft touch and a superb development of wood grain.

Assembled By Hand

The final assembly of the various parts of the knives is carried out entirely manually. It is the assurance of a top quality finish.

The Marjacq knives are available separately, in batch of 3 knives (one of each handle type) or in batch of 6 parts (assorted handles).

French site cost is €14 for olive and boxwood. €18 for the ebony

DFT has more info and steel details:

The revival of a legend: The Marjacq Knife
For the rural inhabitants of the Savoy region of France, the Marjacq knife has been the utility knife of choice for centuries. It is foldable, yet remarkably solid and perfectly designed to fit the hand comfortably, making it ideal for performing everyday cutting tasks as well as preparing and eating food. The Arno Company, one of France’s leading makers of traditional knives, has recently resumed making these classic cutting tools. The elegantly curved handle is not only comfortable to use, it also completely hides the blade when folded. A simple yet reliable locking mechanism securely locks the blade both in the folded and unfolded position. Both the locking ring and blade are made of hardened stainless steel (X46Cr13, hardness ca. 57 RC).

I see that Axminster say they offer a Beech wood £7.27 and Dick Fine Tools offers a horn version at €45.82 so assume there are more handles materials. DFT states they weigh 60g

I guess the ebony model would be less liable to swelling?

 

[rapidboy]

Pity ,i never got along with the stainless opinel's.
I had a nice rosewood No9 with a stainless blade ,it looked great but the blade was easily damaged.

 

[Moonraker]

Pity ,i never got along with the stainless opinel's.
I had a nice rosewood No9 with a stainless blade ,it looked great but the blade was easily damaged.

I prefer the carbon versions too. Also the handles of the Marjacq are noted as 'highly polished' which may not be so good. I tend to sand the varnish off the Opinel handles and treated them with some oil to reduce the slipperiness. Nice to have a choice though

 

[Hoodoo]

They are actually called 'Marjacq'

Oops! Sorry about that. I cut and pasted the name from another site and they spelled it wrong in their header but right in the description of the knives.


Smith and Speed

 

[Steve1701D]

Those are sorta cool!
Where did you get them, Hoodoo?

 

[Hoodoo]

Steve, the link is in my post just above yours.

 

[demographic]

Has anyone ordered from this site? It seems to have a good variety of products.

I have never ordered from them but they have been on the go for at least 5 years and seem well established (I have had their catalogue a few times in the past but never seem to have the cash, even the catalogue is worth having as some of the japanese tools are functional art).

As I remember I got their catalogue by ticking the advertisers slip in the back of a woodworking magazine (got the Axminster powertools catalogue at the same time also) and a while later it fell through my door