This Montblanc™ inspired Letter 11cm handle pocket knife was entirely handmade in the village of Laguiole and was created in collaboration with Montblanc® to celebrate the Masters of Meisterstuck collection. The handle features the famous rosary rivet work found on the Meisterstuck collection.
This Laguiole knife features a forged T12 steel blade and a forged bee and spring. Handmade in the village of Laguiole, France, Forge de Laguiole knives are indeed and by far the highest quality offered in the market today. Additionally, each masterpiece is handmade by the same craftsman to ensure pride in the completed piece.
What is a Forged Bee? You can recognize a forged bee when you look just below it, where it meets the decorated spring. If you do not see any gaps, it’s a good sign that the bee and spring were forged from the same piece of metal. You can also recognize a soldered bee by noticing a straight gap/ridge where the bee meets the spring.
Many Laguiole pocket knives from most manufacturers, including Forge de Laguiole (7 cm knives), offer “soldered bees” models. Most Laguiole knives found on the market are solder bee models. Adding the bee to the spring by soldering saves time and money; this is why the cost of soldered bee knives can be substantially less. The original Laguiole knives had forged bees.
Handle Material
African blackwood AKA Grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon) harvested in the dry savanna of Senegal.
Although this wood species is not in the “red list criteria,” it is listed in CITES appendix II under the genus-wide restriction on all Dalbergia species, including finished products made of wood.
Note that the wood used for this specific model is “old stock” and is no longer imported or used by Forge de Laguiole. Only two knives remain from the 2017 limited edition collection.