Thread: French Hones

Originally Posted by doorsch

Doorsch,

it says

"des couteaux et outils
ne pas user d'huile et de gr" I would guess that gr is graisse or gras.

"Ne pas user d'huile" sounds wrong to me... maybe it was the correct expression but dropped out of use or maybe it was printed in a non-native French speaking are. In modern French, it should be "ne pas utiliser d'huile" or "ne pas employer d'huile". I will check in some old books I have to see if "ne pas user d'huile" was correct at some point between the 18th and the middle of the 20th century.

The word under the logo could very well be "Marke", in fact by the position of R in the center under the logo there can only be 2 letters missing. I can't think of any 5 letters French word ending in "RKE" right now. Don't forget that some regions on the east of France also spoke German. I have a set of old hand planes from Alsace, some years they were stamped in German, some years they were stamped in French. It could equally have come from Trier or Saarland depending on the age of the stone.