Laguiole Cutlery

Wooden handle cutlery or buffalo horn: picking your handle

With wooden handle cutlery, the handle comes first, since many of the same materials are offered on steak knives, forks and spoons. Juniper is satin-finished, pale blond to honey, with small knots scattered through it, so each handle is slightly different. Snakewood is polished, brown deepening into dark red, with a pattern like snakeskin. Buffalo horn, polished too, is black and stands out on a white tablecloth. All three are made for steak knives, dinner forks, soup spoons, dessert spoons and the sets for one or two. Being natural, each handle varies a little, so sets match by material rather than piece for piece. For more on each material, read Knife Handle Materials.

Open stock flatware, sold by the set

Buying pieces on their own rather than as a full set is what stores call open stock flatware, or list as flatware single pieces. This range follows the same idea, with each kind of piece sold in its own sets. Steak knives come in sets of six, four or two, while dinner forks, soup spoons, dessert spoons, dessert knives and dessert forks each come in sets of six. You can start with steak knives for steak night, then add dinner forks later in the same handle. A household of four might begin with four steak knives and add sets of six as the table grows.

Which utensils for which course

For the main course, each place gets one steak knife and one dinner fork. Soup gets the soup spoon, the larger of the two, while the dessert spoon is saved for mousse, ice cream or berries. Dessert knives and dessert forks, smaller than the dinner pieces, come out for cake, tart or fruit once the main plates are cleared. If steak is on the menu more than soup, start with knives and forks and let the spoons follow. If you love long dinners, add the dessert pieces early.

Questions about Laguiole cutlery

What is cutlery?

In American English, cutlery often means knives, while the knives, forks and spoons you eat with are called flatware or silverware. In Britain the word covers all three. This page uses the broader sense: steak knives, dinner forks, soup spoons, dessert spoons, dessert knives and dessert forks, every one of them handmade in France by Laguiole en Aubrac.

Is Laguiole cutlery good?

It depends on who made it. Laguiole refers to a style of knife, and since the name isn't protected, mass-produced cutlery uses it too. The pieces here are handmade in France by Laguiole en Aubrac, whose name you can read on the knife blades. Handle choices include natural materials such as juniper, snakewood and buffalo horn, and each of those handles shows its own grain or sheen.

How much flatware do I need?

Plan one of each piece for every person you usually seat, then add a few for guests. Here, dinner forks and both kinds of spoons come in sixes, and steak knives in sixes, fours or twos. A couple can begin with the set of two knives and two forks and build from there, adding soup and dessert spoons in the same handle when needed.

Every order ships with care instructions. Hand-wash each piece, dry it right away with a cloth, and keep juniper, snakewood and buffalo horn out of the dishwasher, where the heat and long soak would dull wood and horn.