We met Jérôme at last Paris Knive Show. This young gifted full time knifemaker just had received his Spyderhole licence from Golden. He’s a huge fan of Spyderco.
I immediatly fell in love with the radical lines of his Lucane Folder. An efficient powerfull blade and an ergonomic handle, this is a workhrose designed by a worker who needed a strong a practical knife as an EDC. It’s a knife to use for mondane task and even to eat with it. The back of the blade was especially though after pushing aliments on a plate without to dull the edge.
My prototype is made of 02 for the blade and G10 with SS liners for the handle. It was made to be shown around at Amsterdam Minimeet 2011.
This will be also the occasion to achieve one of Jérôme’s dream: to have his baby pictured in the hand of Sal Glesser.
More on it later.
All the pictures down under are (c) Jérôme Hovaere (so, you will notice the hand of the maker!)
The G10 Proto with another clip.
The ergonomy is amazing thanks to its wasp shape handle.
A previous aluminium handle prototype. Notice how the lock release is not placed as on the G10 version.
The Lucane next to a Spyderco Tenacious
I have forgotten the specs:
Length: 203mm (with clip)
Blade length: 90mm
Once closed: 110mm
Blade thickness: 3,4 mm
Handle thickness: 16mm
Weight: 140 grammes
The steel on this proto is 90MCV8 which another name for O2.
NemoKnivesReview 
Hi Nemo,
Nice review of an interesting design. I am looking forward to handling it in Amsterdam. To see how thin the edge is and how the handle feels in the hand.
JD
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Do you know if either version are goin into production(lucane) and how can I get child of Tue designer? If thats possible. Thank you.
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Hi,
I have forwarded your message to Torpen !
cheers
Nemo
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I have just returned from the Amsterdam Spyderco meet where I have had the pleasure of getting to know this blade a bit better. It was not love at first sight but took a little while to win my affection. But is has succeeded at doing so. It is an unusual knife!
The smooth G10 handle felt good it in the hand once my fingers found their way around its curves. I prefer smooth G10 over the rough kind. Kinder to the hand and to the pocked.
The blade is quite big but seems very functional. I liked the low point and fairly strait edge. I have found this to be practical for daily cutting chores. The makers shows he understands blade geometry, the edge was nice and thin. A real pocked razor!
The lock was solid, there was no play on the blade. With a little practice the knife could also be closed with one hand.
All in all I enjoyed getting to know and appreciate this unusual design a little better. Thanks to the maker for providing it to Nemo and for Nemo to bring it the Amsterdam!
Take care,
JD
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Thank you JD. 🙂
It was so nice to meet you there !
I’m just derushing the pic today ! I will update that post soon ! 🙂
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Beneath you will find some of my thoughts on the Lucane after having it in my possession for a few weeks as written to Jérôme and Nemo:
Lucane
Lets start with the oldest one, the Lucane. I first met this unique, big folder at the Spyderco meet in March. Which lead to my 15 seconds of forum fame. 😉 Since I received it from Nemo (Merci beaucoup Nemo!) I have sharpened it and have been handling it quite a bit.
I like to experiment with different sharpening methodes. As this was the first sharpening and I needed to set te bevel I started out on the Norton Crystolon. This is a coarse stone that is well suited for this job. Once I had raised a burr on both sides I removed it with the Norton Fine India side of this same hone. I finished this of with a little stropping on leather with polishing compound. (Wayne Goddard, writer for Blade, advocates this methode) The edge that resulted can cut a free standing hair and cuts newspaper smoothly yet is still toothy. Later on I hope to test this edge on rope and wood, before refining it to a polished edge. I do not know how hard the steel is but it felt good. The burr could be taken of cleanly. Good steel with a good heattreat I would say!
One of the thirst things I look at with a new knife is the blade geometry. Is it ground thin for cutting? And this knife passes with flying colours. Distal taper and thin behind the edge. Good job!
The lock feels solid and dependable but a little bit gritty in the first part of the opening movement.
I like the finnish of the G10, smooth but not slippery, good looking. I like the overall shape of the handle, but for me the handle still has to many sharp corners. I like everything but the edge to be smooth and rounded on a knife. I also think your (Jérôme) wire clip would have been better. I like that style of clip as it is completely rounded. Good for hand and pocket.
The Lucane is a nice, interesting, knife with a lot of promise!
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Thank you JD for this great complementary review of a great knife ! This is one of the rare modern folder with a Carbon Steel blade and 02 is top reliable once well heat treated as Jerome does ! Good to know also Jérome’s (Jereon!) Hollander roots are featured by his first international fan nationality. 🙂
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