Two-Material Laguiole Bee Back Knife in Purple Elder Burl and Golden Matter Carbon Fiber – Chiseled Spring

1049€

A few of the most highly skilled cutlers in Laguiole en Aubrac’s workshops shaped this Bee Back by hand from start to finish, and it exists in one example only. Toward the blade, the purple elder burl reads like a nebula: pink and magenta pockets bloom across deep violet, sprinkled with golden flecks. Those shades come from resin stabilization; elder in its natural state is cream to beige. Toward the bee, Golden Matter carbon fiber spreads a night sky threaded with golden filaments. A central metal line and red spacers part the two materials, and a red stripe traces the entire outline of the liners.

At the very end of the handle, the bee sticks out just far enough to meet the thumb naturally. Finely worked, it is the single point of command. You will look in vain for a button, an exposed catch or a screw: nothing hints at a mechanism, and the Laguiole emblem does all the work. It may well be the most discreet lock there is, and the most elegant: a detail two centuries of tradition put in place long before anyone guessed it would one day go to work.

One try and you understand it for good. With the blade folded, a tilt of the bee locks it deep in the handle, where it stays put through knocks and bumps, even loose in a jacket pocket. Tilt it again and the blade rises gently by itself, clears its slot by a few millimeters and is ready to open to the traditional forced notch. Underneath all this, the spring is finely chiseled with alternating leaves and small flowers inside a toothed guilloché border, layering ornament over the mechanics.

This Bee Back is for people who like objects that read two ways. Seen from across a room, it is a showpiece in nebula colors; held close, it reveals the cleverest mechanism in Laguiole knifemaking, honored internationally and chiseled right down to the spring. It is a one-off to carry daily, to turn over in your hands, and someday to pass along, and there will never be a second.

two material laguiole bee back knife in purple elder burl and golden matter carbon fiber – chiseled spring

SKU: LEA PU - BEEBACK MCL – LPE SUR VIO/FC INT RGE RESS G Category: One-of-a-Kind Laguiole Knives Category: One-of-a-Kind Laguiole Knives

Born in the workshops of the Laguiole en Aubrac manufacture, the Bee Back reinvents the Laguiole knife: its emblematic bee becomes a mechanism and locks the blade, an innovation crowned at the IWA Knife Award 2023.

Laguiole en Aubrac Bee Back Knife in Purple Elder Burl and Carbon Fiber

Here, a pair of night skies shares a single handle: purple elder burl with pink and magenta pockets flecked with gold tones, and Golden Matter carbon fiber laced with golden filaments, divided by a central metal line and red spacers.

Everything runs through the tilting bee, which locks the closed blade, raises it slightly on release and then lets it swing out to the forced notch. The spring driving this prizewinning system carries fine chiseling of alternating leaves and small flowers, framed by delicate toothed guilloché.

Two materials: Purple Elder Burl and Golden Matter Carbon Fiber. Red spacers.
Exclusive model: this piece is one of a kind and will never be reproduced.
Stainless 12C27 steel blade, 3.1" (8 cm) cutting edge. Closed length 4.5" (11.5 cm).
Blade locked closed by tilting the bee. Forced notch.
Spring chiseled with small flowers. First prize, Innovation, IWA 2023.
Made entirely by hand by a single cutler.
Cotton pouch and numbered certificate of authenticity included.
14-page guide to the craftsmanship charter of the authentic Laguiole included.
Lifetime warranty against any manufacturing defect.

On one handle, a violet nebula and a starlit carbon night; at its center, a moving bee that carries the most inventive mechanism in Laguiole knifemaking.

Pink and magenta clouds drift across the deep violet of the elder, dusted with gold tones, while fine golden threads wind through the dark gloss of the Golden Matter carbon. On the spring, chiseled leaves alternate with small flowers inside a finely toothed border. Tucked at the back of the handle, the finely worked bee keeps the mechanism it commands entirely hidden.

Description

First comes the purple. The elder burl opens onto a nebula, with dark depths, pink and magenta pockets clustered like stars and golden flecks set into the grain. Facing it, the Golden Matter carbon fiber offers a night of its own, denser, with golden filaments winding under the polished surface. Two night skies share the handle, split by the bright stroke of the central line and the red of the spacers, the only streak of fire between two dark worlds in quiet conversation.

After the color comes a gesture no other model can claim. A press of the thumb tilts the bee, the blade comes unlocked and rises toward your fingers, and those few seconds quickly turn into a ritual, something you repeat for yourself in a quiet moment and show off to friends at dinner. Folded, the blade is locked for good and rides safely in a pocket or bag. Open, it settles into the traditional forced notch. What happens between those two states is a motion no other Laguiole knows, and it says everything about this piece.

Calling this mechanism a gimmick would miss the point entirely. It is the innovation that won Laguiole en Aubrac first prize for Innovation from the 2023 IWA Knife Award jury, at the largest cutlery show in the world. The profile announces it at a glance: sharp angles, cut facets and a faceted blade make a contemporary design that breaks with the traditional curves while keeping every method of the workshop, with assembly, chiseling and polishing kept in the hands of one cutler throughout. Years from now, this Bee Back will still mark the moment when the Laguiole bee first came to life.

Purple Elder Burl

Elder burl forms in swellings on the trunk, where tangled grain winds into patterns that obey no rule: pockets, knots, pale islands. On this piece the result reads like a nebula, deep violet opening onto clusters of pink and magenta dusted with golden flecks. Stabilized under vacuum, the wood takes resin into each fiber, which is where these celestial shades come from; untreated, elder ranges from cream to pale beige. In the process it also hardens, gains density and becomes stable for good.

Silky and full to the touch, it is unfazed by moisture, and no other burl will ever repeat this particular sky: the nebula belongs to this handle alone.

Golden Matter Carbon Fiber

Among the technical carbons found on high-end knives, Golden Matter is one of the most spectacular. Golden filaments wander freely through its black body, set in the resin during molding, so no two sheets ever match. It keeps everything carbon is prized for: rigidity and low weight beyond the reach of natural materials, plus complete stability over time.

Cool at first contact, it quickly takes on the warmth of the hand, and it dresses the rear of the handle, where the mechanical bee does its work.

This Bee Back gathers two starry nights around the most innovative mechanism Laguiole en Aubrac has produced, a piece you will always pick out at a glance, because there is only one.

Two-Material Laguiole Bee Back Knife in Purple Elder Burl and Golden Matter Carbon Fiber – Chiseled Spring

Laguiole en Aubrac Bee Back Knife in Purple Elder Burl and Carbon Fiber

Purple Elder Burl

Golden Matter Carbon Fiber

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