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Post by paranger on Oct 19, 2023 10:43:13 GMT -7
Coureur de Bois starter kit: This "casse-tete" (literally "head breaker") and "boucheron de pays" share North American curly maple hardware, so I decided that they would make a nice set. The casse-tete (it seems the French never adopted the pseudo-Algonquian term "tomahawk" like the English) is forged of a mild steel body with 1084 bit forge-welded as in the better originals. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of these smaller axes were not imported from France, but rather made by local blacksmiths in the St. Lawrence Valley. (see part III of Gladysz and Hamilton's excellent article series "Axes in New France," Journal of the Early Americas vol. II, Issue VI) This axe is based on originals from that article, and weighs just a hair over one pound. I took the liberty of pairing it with my interpretation of what a locally made boucheron (boucheron de pays) might have looked like. Though I have yet to come across a documented example, it shares the "type A" blade profile of its St- Etienne made cousins, and features a 3-pin, full tang construction hand forged from 52100 (yes, there were in fact 3-pin full tang boucherons: I own an original Claude Doron in this configuration found at an Ottawa site in the Mackinaw Straits area).
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Post by brokennock on Oct 19, 2023 17:51:19 GMT -7
Absolutely beautiful work. Thank you for providing reference citations. How common were local made knives? It would appear that in the English colonies local made knives were a rarity. Was this not the case in New France? Was it just the axes made locally or might sets like this have been common?
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Post by paranger on Oct 19, 2023 17:59:09 GMT -7
Absolutely beautiful work. Thank you for providing reference citations. How common were local made knives? It would appear that in the English colonies local made knives were a rarity. Was this not the case in New France? Was it just the axes made locally or might sets like this have been common? Great questions, Nock. Unfortunately, unlike axes, there just doesn't seem to be much documentation on knives produced in New France, so at the moment the knife is merely speculative on my part. But then again, full tang boucherons produced at St Etienne are as yet undocumented as well - but I own one with rock solid provenance. So stay tuned...
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Post by Black Hand on Oct 19, 2023 18:13:00 GMT -7
Very nice!
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Post by brokennock on Oct 20, 2023 1:21:24 GMT -7
But then again, full tang boucherons produced at St Etienne are as yet undocumented as well - but I own one with rock solid provenance. So stay tuned... Wouldn't you owning one, "with rock solid provenance," mean that they are documented? You have one, it exists. You provenance, that's documentation....
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Post by brokennock on Oct 20, 2023 1:23:34 GMT -7
Documentation or not, I'm looking forward,,, somewhat impatiently,,, to some pictures and reports of all these beautiful cutting tools in action....
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Post by paranger on Oct 20, 2023 3:05:10 GMT -7
Wouldn't you owning one, "with rock solid provenance," mean that they are documented? You have one, it exists. You provenance, that's documentation.... I suppose that's true. In the academic world, it's not "documented" until someone writes about it. But I guess technically I just did.😊
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Post by bushfire on Oct 20, 2023 4:11:01 GMT -7
As always beautiful work and fascinating information.
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Post by hawkeyes on Oct 20, 2023 9:31:10 GMT -7
Terrible starter kit, send it my way for a proper disposal. 😄
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