Two Barachin knives on a black background, one open with a boxwood handle and one closed with a grained wood handle

The Barachin

..here is the original, rich in history and tradition: you open it with one hand, and as for the safety.. just take hold of it!

A knife made entirely by hand, plain and distinctive in line. Made with the materials and the working methods of the knifemaking tradition of our valleys. The rustic finish brings out the handwork: it is solid and it works, meant both for people who love blades and for people who wear a knife out through use, the way tradition intends.

Seven Barachin knives open and fanned out on a black background, with handles in light and dark woods — Every handle is a single block of local wood: no two are alike.

The Barachin came about from the shapes of an old blade found in a cellar in Baracco, a small hamlet in the Monregalese, in an area with a strong blacksmithing tradition (Frabosa, Roccaforte and Villanova Mondovì). After a spell of research we put our family traditions as blacksmiths and knife grinders to work, and out came a knife made entirely by hand, in full respect of that tradition.

The old rusted blade found in a cellar in Baracco, its wooden handle worn by time — The old blade found in a cellar in Baracco, the one the Barachin comes from.

The blade is hand-forged carbon steel, normally between 7 and 8 cm long, hardened in a salt bath and tempered, left rough on the surface and finely worked at the edge.

Two Barachin knives on a gray background: the open one shows the forged blade with its rough surface — The hand-forged blade, left rough on the surface and worked fine only along the cutting edge.

The Barachin is a pure friction folder: it has no locking mechanism, and the blade is held open by your own grip. The mechanism is an evolution of the one on the Vernante knife: you press on the lever, the part of the tang that projects past the pivot, and it is your finger on the lever that keeps the blade from closing. On the Barachin it stands apart for the twist in the lever, which lets it be all of a piece with the rest of the blade, with no joints and no welding: it is stronger, and the line is its own.

Six Barachin knives open, seen from the handle end, points converging and the lever visible on each — The twisted lever comes out of the handle and takes the pressure of your finger: it is all one piece with the blade, with no joints and no welds.

The handle is a single block of local wood, usually boxwood: a very hard wood, once used for knife handles and hammer heads, and today for inlay work. The other woods I generally use are oak, laburnum, walnut and olive.

Six Barachin knives open and arranged in a fan on brown leather, with handles in different woods — Boxwood, oak, laburnum, walnut and olive: the local woods I usually use for the handles.

Every Barachin comes with its certificate of guarantee: a craftsman’s knife, made entirely by hand, in Italy, and free of any manufacturing defect that could affect its use or its working.

A Barachin with a boxwood handle resting on the jute bag stamped Barachin, beside the signed certificate of guarantee — Every Barachin comes in its own jute bag, with a signed certificate of guarantee.

For more information, write to me at info@fabbroforgiatore.com.