New Old Stock Pino Extra 10.5" Wide Butcher Knife Carbon Cherry Wood Handle Maniago, Italy ~1950s 60s

New old stock Pino Extra 10.5" wide butcher knife made in Maniago, Italy, most likely in the 1950s or 60s. Blade is hand-forged, hand-ground carbon steel, and the handle is hafted in what looks like cherry wood with a pin-and-disc rosette rivet. Fine ground, this knife is not a cleaver, but rather designed for trimming, portioning, and cutting boneless meat.

These are part of a batch of unused vintage Italian knives we have found, and are very unusual to come by. These were not exported to the United States very often and hardly ever show up used. I can count on one hand the number of vintage Italian knives of this era I have found in 20 years of dealing in vintage knives.

This is a great example of historic small-industry knife-making from several small towns in Northern Italy. Similar to French knives of this basic construction, they were made to be affordable work knives in their day. Little vanity was paid to finish, but they have a lot of charm.

The blade was originally unsharpened. Typically, we leave new old stock knives with the original factory edge to preserve the history of their manufacture, but these needed more than just a quick trip to bench stones to set the edge.

It should be noted there is a fine crack on the inside of the grip from the heel into the handle about 1", it is otherwise tight and secure.