Laguiole en Aubrac: a certificate for your knife
We examine your knife and enter it into the A.I.P.C.L., even if you bought it elsewhere
Videos about this forge
We visit the workshops ourselves and show how the work is done. One click opens the video on YouTube.
You own a knife by Laguiole en Aubrac but did not buy it at original-laguiole.de? You can still have it entered into the A.I.P.C.L. A genuine knife from this forge stays a genuine knife, whichever counter it crossed.
Who is Laguiole en Aubrac?
Set in a harsh and unspoilt landscape, Laguiole en Aubrac works with deep respect for local materials and traditional shapes. Its knives breathe the terroir: handles of horn and wood, sometimes with their natural patina, spring work sanded by hand, and forms that are at once plain and expressive. A knife from Aubrac carries the spirit of that country: rough, beautiful, true.
What we look at on a knife by Laguiole en Aubrac
Every forge has its signature. With Laguiole en Aubrac it is the local handle materials, the spring work sanded by hand and the shapes that breathe the Aubrac. That is exactly what allows a knife to be identified, and it is what we examine in your photographs. If a question remains, we go to the forge itself.
A portrait of the forge
In Espalion, in the heart of the Laguiole country, Laguiole en Aubrac brought the cutler's trade back to life. Knife making there goes back several centuries: as early as the seventeenth century the plain carters' knives were made here from which the Laguiole later grew. The Salettes, Calmels and Pagès families shaped the region, but a fire in 1930 destroyed much of that heritage. In the 1980s the tradition was taken up again, with a clear intention not merely to preserve it but to carry it forward.
Every knife is made from start to finish by a single cutler, including the hand worked spring decoration and the bee. No stamped parts are used. The forge and workshops are in Montézic and Espalion, with their own furnace and their own history, which is rare among Laguiole makers. France has awarded the house the state label Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant. Almost three quarters of production is exported, and the house has been honoured at Nuremberg in 2003 and 2005 among others.
The range runs from pocket knives in plein, brosse and brillant finishes through double platines models to cutlery, wine accessories and kitchen series. The damascus knives and special editions by master Pierre Martin enjoy particular recognition and are among the most sought after collector's pieces of all. Every knife carries a lifetime guarantee against manufacturing faults.
More about this forge
How it works
You order the examination. In the original-laguiole.de shop, for 10.00 euros, like a product. Then you upload photographs of your knife in your customer account: open and closed, the bee, the spine, the blade with the forge mark, and if available the receipt or packaging.
We examine it. We compare your knife with what we know from 30 years of trading with French forges, and when in doubt we ask the forge itself.
You get the result. If your knife is genuine it receives its own number, its page on aipcl.com and the certificate as a PDF. If it is not, we tell you that too.
What it costs
10.00 eurosExamining and registering one knife costs 10.00 euros.
If the examination shows that your knife does not come from a French forge, we refund the amount, of course. You pay only for a certificate you actually receive.
The examination is ordered in the original-laguiole.de shop. With the purchase you buy the examination, not the certificate; whether we issue it depends on the result of examining your photographs.
Order the examination (10.00 euros)