Facas de Portugal (Knives of Portugal)

[Grant Lamontagne]

I want to preface this by saying, it has been a long time since I have obtained this many knives at once.  I think I am going home with roughly 30% of Portugal's National Steel Reserve.   

I am going to start with the most important ones though, the gifts from a certain member who shall remain nameless, and whom I met up with last week when I was in Lisbon.  Whomever that may be, it was dark and I wasn't paying attention.

And yes, I am well aware that's what she said.

Seriously, a HUGE thanks to Paulo not just for babysitting Megan and I that night, but also for the exceptional gifts.

I had said before I left that I was going to get a SAK when I arrived, largely to deal with my fingernails as I hate having crap under them.  I have also mentioned about eleventy bajillion times how much I love my nail clipper SAKs, and so the first thing he handed me was a Victorinox Cavalier.

https://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Cavalier

It's a discontinued model in absolutely mint condition and with the small slip sheath, but the thought goes deeper than that- it has the standard nail file on it, not the one with the SD tip, which is again something I have said repeatedly over the years.  It's almost as if he actually reads the threads and absorbs the info rather than just looking for an opportunity to post memes!   

If that's all their was, I would have been very grateful for the amount of thought that went into that particular model.  But, this is Paulo, and we all know he's over the top, so there's more!

This next one is a SICO knife, with SICO Handcrafted INOX Portugal on the blade.  I'll admit, I was looking for some info online about it so I could sound all smart and stuff, but the reality is that most of what comes up in a search is a Martin blade that is very similar, but with a slightly different wooden handle.  Either way, this one is very cool in that I have never seen a bottle opener cut into the edge side of the blade before. 

My initial thought was "oh a fork, that's really cool!" and I didn't realize that there was something way cooler hiding inside.

Hold on to your butts, there's more coming.  This is just Part 1.

Of many.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

While I do appreciate all that Paulo has done for me, from the gifts and his time/gas, not to mention being a valuable member of this forum for many, many, many years, I do have a bone to pick with him.

And that is this- Why have you never told us about Portuguese knives?  There seems to be a giant market for such things here, the craftsmanship is amazing and the prices are... well, a hell of a lot better than you'd pay anywhere else for hand crafted knives!

You've been holding out on us, and keeping all of this to yourself!   

Like this ICEL knife!

In case it doesn't come through in the pics, it says ICEL INOX Portugal on the blade tang.  The exposed rivets and bolt on the bottle opener means no one will accidentally mistake it for a SAK, even though it is very reminiscent of 91mm Waited model- it just has a can opener instead of a combo tool, but I will say this- the edge on the can opener is sharp enough to take the place of a second blade!  It has a seriously wicked edge and point to it, and I'd hate to forget to fold it and drop this one in my pocket!   

As far as quality of manufacture, this one is new in box and it feels tight and good. I'd be proud to carry this as my only knife for years and I have no doubt it would hold up.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Of course, as we are still looking at gifts from Paulo, you knew this was coming.  This is where it gets weird!

You'll notice that this knife is not entirely open in the photos, and with good reason.  I promised Paulo I wouldn't use the knife until I had adequate practice with the lock mechanism, and I'm not quite there yet! 

It has horn handles, brass bolsters and a really neat locking mechanism that really doesn't want to release under any circumstances.

It functions kind of like a rocker lock on an old Leatherman, like a Fuse or Blast, but there is a pin in the tang of the knife that fits into a slot on the rocker to hold it open.  To release, you have to lift the rocker over the pin and fold the blade, and that would be easy enough, except there is no lever to release the rocker.  There are small lips on either side that you need to depress, and it's not easy- it takes both your thumbs, one on each side and a certain level of technique that I have yet to master to pull the rocker enough. 

Once you have pried the rocker enough that it releases the pin, you merely use your third hand to fold it in.   

It's a similar system to the old Laguiole knives, although I don't think they had a pin?  As I recall (although it has been a while) the rocker on the old Laguiole knives just sat on the flat of the blade tang.

To make this knife extra special though, Paulo has made a very nice leather slip sheath to go with it, which I thoughtlessly forgot to get a photo of.   

That just about covers the knives from Paulo, but there is a lot more to this thread so stay tuned!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

If you recall from the Portugal 2026 thread which I know you read as a dutiful forum member, I went to a local gun dealer (A. Montez) and spent a lot of money on knives.  While they were all interesting, one of them is a call back to one of the knives from Paulo, so I will start there.

While looking in the knife cases at the gun shop I spotted this interesting knife from MAM, which is very similar to the SICO knife except that the MAM is smaller and has an attached bottle opener rather than the one in the SICO blade.  It was actually the first one I selected when I was in the Montez shop, so to see that Paulo had given me a different model along the same lines was very interesting- as is the fact that there is at least a third type, similar to these in the Martin knife that I mentioned earlier.

This leads me to wonder if this is a popular style here?  Other than Hobo knives I haven't really seen anything similar to these, and I think it is a really neat concept.  If I had to pick between the two (even discounting that I will always pick the gift!) I would probably opt to take the SICO with me as the attached bottle opener seems like it would get in the way of using the fork.

Still, it is very cool!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

This one was Megan's choice- she liked the whale motif and felt it was fitting because we share an ocean with Portugal, and there are many similarities that we have found between Portugal and Nova Scotia, which is no surprise as the Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonize Nova Scotia.  She really liked the wood inlay and I also appreciate the artistry in this blade.

The knife was designed by J.M. Jorge and is called the Ballena, which I am going to assume means whale, because it sounds a lot like what whale is in other languages.  I am confident in that assumption enough that I don't feel the need to Google it.   

The lock on this one is a bit heavy, but it feels remarkably good in the hand for a knife that has a whale tail type cutout in the handle.  The prominent backlock fills in a lot of space meaning that it fills your hand kind of like a Buck 110 would, although a little bit slimmer.

Def

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

This one was a bit of a boo boo on my part- when I saw the guard on this one I instantly thought of those smurfty Chinese tactical knives you see at flea markets, but Megan pointed out that all of the other knives we'd gotten had wood handles and we should get something in stag as well. 

You read that right, Megan made me buy another knife! 

So, I looked closer at this one and with the help of the gentleman working there (I didn't get his name, so senhor, if you are reading this, please feel free to introduce yourself!) I realized that my earlier assumption was wrong.  Those aren't fancy guards there for when you get into a Zorro style knife fight with a slip joint, it is actually a shell extractor sized for a 12 gauge shell.

Yeah, didn't see that coming, did you?

Neither did I.

It also includes other hunting related accessories like a corkscrew and can opener, so you can have some nice beans and a good Port with the duck you just shot.

For those wondering, this knife is a Curel Canivete knife, and like above, I am going to assume Canivete is Portuguese for "hunter."

Also, for the record, I don't much like stag handles on knives which is largely why all the other knives I had gotten were in wood!   

Don't tell Megan.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Are you still with me?   

Good, because while we are coming to the end, we aren't quite there yet!

As I said, I had bought mostly wood handles knives, and this is one of the first ones I grabbed.  It is from Jose Da Cruz, who is apparently a decently known designer/manufacturer as I have seen his knives in a few shops. 

As with many of the above knives you can see a preference for natural materials and a lot of French influence, particularly from Opinel.  This one actually has an Opinel style twist lock collar ring, although as you can plainly see it is knurled brass instead of smooth stainless steel found on Opinels.  I like this as the brass will develop a nice patina, and if your hands are damp it will be a lot easier to disengage the lock mechanism.

It is a nice knife and feels every bit the equal to an Opinel, though the handle seems to be a slightly larger diameter than a similar sized Opinel would have.  For folks with larger hands, that could be a good thing.

And, like an Opinel, at least the better ones, it has a carbon steel blade.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

This one I bought in a market in Porto.  It is a cheese knife made by a third generation knifemaker (if you believe the lady at the market claiming to be his wife!) and is a carbon steel cheese knife.  It also has a very thin profile like a lot of the knives here, so I don't doubt it will cut the cheese as easily as I do.   

She had a bunch of the other knives I bought earlier in one case, and had the ones her husband made, which were of more interest to me.

While she had a bunch of folders there I decided to try something different so I started looking at the fixed blades, which were mostly chef's knives.  I picked this one because it was about as different as you could get from everything else I'd gotten so far.  I feel like I succeeded in that.

As Paulo pointed out in the Portugal visit thread, the maker's name Andre Amolador means that he is a knife sharpener.  The lady at the market did say something about that, so it checks out.   

She also offered free engraving and so we asked her to put Porto 2026 on it as a reminder of this trip.

That's it for now!

Def

[pfrsantos]

While I do appreciate all that Paulo has done for me, from the gifts and his time/gas, not to mention being a valuable member of this forum for many, many, many years, I do have a bone to pick with him.

And that is this- Why have you never told us about Portuguese knives?  There seems to be a giant market for such things here, the craftsmanship is amazing and the prices are... well, a hell of a lot better than you'd pay anywhere else for hand crafted knives!

You've been holding out on us, and keeping all of this to yourself!   

Like this ICEL knife!

In case it doesn't come through in the pics, it says ICEL INOX Portugal on the blade tang.  The exposed rivets and bolt on the bottle opener means no one will accidentally mistake it for a SAK, even though it is very reminiscent of 91mm Waited model- it just has a can opener instead of a combo tool, but I will say this- the edge on the can opener is sharp enough to take the place of a second blade!  It has a seriously wicked edge and point to it, and I'd hate to forget to fold it and drop this one in my pocket!   

As far as quality of manufacture, this one is new in box and it feels tight and good. I'd be proud to carry this as my only knife for years and I have no doubt it would hold up.

Def

I knew I forgot something! I had that NDA with me the awl time! Great, now everyone will be coming after our knives and the prices are going to skyrocket!

 

[pfrsantos]

Of course, as we are still looking at gifts from Paulo, you knew this was coming.  This is where it gets weird!

You'll notice that this knife is not entirely open in the photos, and with good reason.  I promised Paulo I wouldn't use the knife until I had adequate practice with the lock mechanism, and I'm not quite there yet! 

It has horn handles, brass bolsters and a really neat locking mechanism that really doesn't want to release under any circumstances.

It functions kind of like a rocker lock on an old Leatherman, like a Fuse or Blast, but there is a pin in the tang of the knife that fits into a slot on the rocker to hold it open.  To release, you have to lift the rocker over the pin and fold the blade, and that would be easy enough, except there is no lever to release the rocker.  There are small lips on either side that you need to depress, and it's not easy- it takes both your thumbs, one on each side and a certain level of technique that I have yet to master to pull the rocker enough. 

Once you have pried the rocker enough that it releases the pin, you merely use your third hand to fold it in.   

It's a similar system to the old Laguiole knives, although I don't think they had a pin?  As I recall (although it has been a while) the rocker on the old Laguiole knives just sat on the flat of the blade tang.

To make this knife extra special though, Paulo has made a very nice leather slip sheath to go with it, which I thoughtlessly forgot to get a photo of.   

That just about covers the knives from Paulo, but there is a lot more to this thread so stay tuned!

Def

Remember: the thumb nail on the lip of the lock and index finger of the same hand on the back of the blade. The tip of the other thumb on the other side of the lock. Press thumbs down and index finger up at the same time. If it doesn't open, release the pressure, start from scratch.

Let it stay open for some days/weeks, in a way the blade presses the lock open, so as to make it "weaker" and easier to open.

 

The F&F on this knife is not the best, because it's completely handmade. This model is called Caneças and it's one of the oldest portuguese models. Unlike the wooden handled Corta e Pica (cut and stick), it's more elaborated and uses finer materials. It was a tool for wealthier people. People used it at taverns/restaurants, not only to show them off but because they're better at cutting food than the usual cutlery available there.

[pfrsantos]

This one was a bit of a boo boo on my part- when I saw the guard on this one I instantly thought of those smurfty Chinese tactical knives you see at flea markets, but Megan pointed out that all of the other knives we'd gotten had wood handles and we should get something in stag as well. 

You read that right, Megan made me buy another knife! 

So, I looked closer at this one and with the help of the gentleman working there (I didn't get his name, so senhor, if you are reading this, please feel free to introduce yourself!) I realized that my earlier assumption was wrong.  Those aren't fancy guards there for when you get into a Zorro style knife fight with a slip joint, it is actually a shell extractor sized for a 12 gauge shell.

Yeah, didn't see that coming, did you?

Neither did I.

It also includes other hunting related accessories like a corkscrew and can opener, so you can have some nice beans and a good Port with the duck you just shot.

For those wondering, this knife is a Curel Canivete knife, and like above, I am going to assume Canivete is Portuguese for "hunter."

Also, for the record, I don't much like stag handles on knives which is largely why all the other knives I had gotten were in wood!   

Don't tell Megan.   

Def

There's a long tradition of hunting in Portugal. The most commonly used guns are the double barrel 12 gauge. This knife took care of the (sometimes) jammed shells. The blast would expand the shells and they got stuck inside the barrel, making it hard to remove them.

Canivete is just the portuguese word for pocketknife. Curel is the brand. See their products here:
https://www.curel.pt/en/company/

[Farmer X]

You got some really cool knives there, Boss. Thanks for showing them!

[ThundahBeagle]

Really very nice stuff, Santos and Def!

At least nobody asked you to "pass the knife" over to them (it is said as "send" the knife) in Portuguese.  That phrase is wildly misinterpreted by the English-speaking world.

[Nonaute]

Great ! I'll visit Portugal in may 2026, and I'll certainly get some great knives (I hope so !).

Thank you for thoses informations and pictures 

I'll show you if I found someting 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm sure you will enjoy it- I know I did!

Just watch out for that Portuguese influenza- I still haven't unpacked my suitcase and I've been home for over a week!   

No wonder the Portuguese spend so much of their time drinking!   

I still have one more knife to post, and I will try to get to it soon.

In the meantime, I see a lot of influences of French knives, blades similar to Douk Douk, rotating, locking collars similar to Opinel and some shapes and locks similar to Lagoille, but all with a distinctive Portuguese flair.

For example, the Opinel style locking collars are knurled brass rather than the relatively slippery collars on Opinels.

There is also a greater variety of wooden handles, and more of an American influence on steel types.  I'm almost surprised I didn't see any Magnacut offerings!   

There were a variety of carbon, tool and stainless steels available and I tried to get a reasonable cross section, but I don't think I even scratched the surface.

Paulo has really been holding out on us all these years! 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Def

[Nonaute]

Thank you for your advices and informations

Regarding the influenza, I suppose that january is more dangerous than may, but who knows ? So we'll watch out. Hope you'll feeling better soon, influenza can really be very strong. Last time I got it (last year), it put me in my bed during 3 days and 3 night, just moving my ass of my bed for natural things, and doing that, I thought I was going to fall dead on the floor...

I'm curious about thoses knurled rorating locking collars, since I've always thought that slippery locking collars on opinel can be an issue, eather if you've got soapy hands, or just an old opinel with a lot of dust in the locking system.

Hope I'll find one !

My wife already lnows I'll buy some knives 

tell me "Laurent, you already have got enought knives, why not going in a gastronomic restaurant, instead of buying this knife, probably just to keep it and never use it ?"

  tell me "Laurent, you only live once, and you're on the last quater, so f*ck this annoying angel, buy this knife if it makes you happy, and after, go to a gastronomic restaurant, order a scotch whisky, and  with your wife !"

I'm not an angel, so I hope I'll show you some cool knives in may. Anyway, I'll do my best !

[Grant Lamontagne]

It's been two weeks since we got home and I'm still not 100% yet.   

We don't go on vacation that often, and we are reasonable when we do, but sometimes you just have to treat yourself.  I spent a little too much on knives on this trip, but we barely purchased any alcohol, other than meals and a couple of small bottles to bring home as gifts, so it all evens out.  Especially as the alcohol in Portugal is remarkably inexpensive!

For example, when we were in Athens a few years ago I was amazed that I could get a bottle of good wine for a mere four euros.  That's about $6 Canadian, and you can't get anything drinkable here for much less than $20 CDN. 

I bought a bottle of wine at a grocery store on the same block as our hotel in Lisbon because it amused me that it was only three euros, seventy nine.  That's absolutely dirt cheap, and after grabbing that bottle I noticed there were several others that were well under three euros!   

So yes, you will save more than enough on alcohol to buy many knives!  And, you shouldn't have any issues finding one with a brass collar as that seems to be a very popular style with many manufacturers there.

Def

[Nonaute]

Not so surprised about the time needed to recover a full fonctionnaly body. This influenza is "une veritable saloperie" !

It's about the same in Spain, where we go each year in summer (september), regarding the prices of wine. You can reach something drinkable (I mean it's not just vinagar) for 2€. Since 3.79  ->  5.89, you've got some decent wines. On a barbecued beef rib, it's pretty ok. At this price, you find some Rioja, and it's really surprising, because in france, it's almost 7 -> 12€ to reach a decent wine.

If you want something memorable (Priorat, a catalogna wine), you'll have to pay 30€ at least in France. In Spain, since 15€ (even in a gastronomic restaurant), you find some great wines. I bring home some Spanish wine pratically each year, it goes with everything (since I like "tanique" wine).

In Spain, the VAT is 10% on alcohol, 20% in France

I'll try some purtuguese wines, "for sure" 

We want to see "real" artisanal shops (not only touristic ones), we'll surely find some knives. I'll post a picture, the first day i'll found a brass collar one