It has to be the Laguiole. These are French wine and cheese knives of a certain type. There are quite a few makes. Like Swiss Army knives. In general they have a big, curvy, outsized blade and a swoopy, shapely handle. They’re handmade and the handle rivets are often set in the pattern of a shepherd’s cross. The backspring of the knife is usually filed decoratively. And a forged bee sets off where the blade meets handle. They often come with a corkscrew. Man, they’re sweet! —If you like wine and cheese, that is. And cold meats. And olives. And bread.
But at least as cool as the knife is the sheath. Sheaths are what make a knife, as any knife buff can tell you. (Like a rifle needs a sling or a handgun a holster.) Unless you use a pocket clip. Then anything snaggy will grab your knife out and fling it to the ground where you’ll lose it. Other than that, pocket clips are cool. So a sheath can be cool. Laguioles have a sheath in spades. They can be just as distinctive as the knives. They’re often carried horizontally at the back corner of the belt, just off the side of a hip. Dang!
A great website for shopping up this kind of thing, and much much more is: Cutlery*to*Go. Here are the groovy sheaths: Sheaths.
