Fred Perrin: Knifemaker Extraordinaire

Fred Perrin is one of France’s most revered custom knifemakers. He is also one of the most respected makers and designers of tactical knives in the world. The reason is simple: When it comes to all things tactical, Fred truly “walks the walk.”

Perrin’s training in the martial arts began when he was a teenager. Although the Asian martial arts were becoming increasingly popular in France at the time, he chose to focus on his country’s home-grown fighting art: Savate. Created in the late 17 ^th century by the sailors of Marseilles, Savate had its roots as a rough-and-tumble fighting system particularly well suited for use on ships. Its arsenal emphasized accurate, powerful kicks supported by arm extensions that allowed Savateurs to lean against bulkheads, masts, and other surfaces for balance. Classic Savate’s hand strikes consisted only of open-hand slaps, but later it adopted the punches of English boxing and a sport form of the art emerged. Perrin’s Savate training, however, focused on its old-school streetfighting tactics and included the use of brass knuckles, blackjacks, saps, derringers, and other weapons, including knives. He also studied La Canne—a dynamic system of cane fighting based on French saber fencing.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Perrin enlisted in the French Army as an infantry soldier and quickly rose to the rank of sergeant. Although he was a member of the Army’s regular forces, his unique close-combat skills quickly caught the attention of both the French and Swiss Special Forces. After completing his active-duty commitment, he remained in the French Army Reserve and was frequently tasked with teaching specialized close-combat skills to elite units throughout Europe. During that time, Fred also continued to expand his own martial arts training, ultimately becoming a French national champion in both Taekwon Do and full-contact stickfighting.

After leaving military service, Perrin worked in Paris as a scaffold specialist, building scaffolding structures for various construction and renovation projects. Besides being comfortable with heights, that job involved lots of rope work and, consequently, a lot of knife use as well. Fred quickly realized that the off-the-shelf knives he was using did not perform well for the tasks of his job. He needed a knife that would cut very well, offered excellent grip security so it couldn’t be dropped on the people below, and ideally allowed the dexterity to perform other tasks without the need to sheathe or close it. Since no commercial knives satisfied all these criteria, Perrin, who had made a few knives as a hobby when he was a teenager, set his mind to designing and crafting the perfect tool for the job.

Fred determined that putting a large index-finger hole in the ricasso made his grip 100% secure and gave him ample finger dexterity to tie knots and work with rope without the need to sheathe the knife. He also realized that this unique feature made the knife virtually impossible to disarm when used as a weapon. Furthermore, when paired with a compact, pistol-grip-style handle, the index-finger hole allowed the knife to pivot quickly between a cutting grip and a palm-reinforced grip reminiscent of a push dagger.

The resulting knife design was Perrin’s now-iconic La Griffe (“The Claw”), the granddaddy of all subsequent knives with index-finger retention holes—including Spyderco’s Swick™ fixed-blade designs. That design not only served Fred well, but also attracted the attention of his fellow scaffold workers and his rapidly growing audience of military close-combat students. Realizing that his knife idea had more potential than his career as a scaffolder, Fred changed course and became a full-time knifemaker. He hasn’t looked back since.

Perrin’s other highly influential contribution to modern knife design is his deep index-finger choil. Unlike a conventional single or double crossguard, this elegantly simple feature does not increase the width of the knife, making it more streamlined and easier to conceal. It does, however, provide outstanding grip security and is just as effective as a guard in preventing the user’s hand from sliding forward onto the edge—even during a powerful thrust.

A passionate student of edged-weapon history and design, Perrin’s index-finger choil began with his love of the classic Corsican dagger. He appreciated the integral guard of that timeless design, but wanted better grip security. By widening the handle everywhere except the index-finger groove, the shape literally locks itself into the user’s hand. In addition to preventing the hand from sliding forward, it also works in the other direction, offering a positive, secure grip when drawing the knife from its sheath.

All of Perrin’s early knives were made by the stock removal method. To broaden his skill set, he contacted legendary American bladesmith Jimmy Fikes to learn the arts of forging and differential heat treating. After several trips to the U.S. to study with Fikes, Fred was soon forging most of his custom blades. Later, he expanded his skills under the mentorship of pioneering tactical knifemaker Shiva Ki. Additional trips to America to train with Shiva honed his skills and knowledge as a knifemaker, designer, and martial artist.

Today, Perrin remains a prolific knifemaker who hand forges most of his custom knives in his rustic home shop in Burgundy, France. He shares both the shop and its coal forge with his life partner Elsa Fantino, who is also an accomplished custom metalworker and smith. He works primarily in tool steel and frequently uses reclaimed steel from shears, files, and farm implements he collects from the vineyards near his home. In addition to his signature fixed-blade designs, he also makes a wide range of large sheath knives, push daggers, friction folders, and even balisongs. He is particularly fond of small, concealable blades, as well as beautifully hand-forged bracelets and other jewelry that also function as formidable improvised weapons. Finally, he also enjoys experimenting with other weaponized creations that would make “Mad Max” smile.

Over the years, Perrin’s talents have attracted the attention of several production knife companies, including Spyderco, and led to multiple collaborative designs.

His first Spyderco design was the Street Bowie™, which was released in 2001. Still one of our most popular fixed-blade models, it inspired a demand for a smaller, more concealable version. That led to the Street Beat™ in 2007 and, in 2015, to the more economical Street Beat Lightweight. Together with fellow French knifemakers Philippe Perotti and Sacha Thiel, Perrin also co-designed Spyderco’s unique PPT folding knife.

Perrin’s most recent collaboration reflects his passion for ultra-concealable “hideout” knives. Released in 2022, the Subway Bowie™ is an extremely compact fixed-blade knife that can be easily carried and concealed almost anywhere on the body.

Fred Perrin is an extraordinary blend of martial artist, traditional knifemaker, and design genius whose visionary work has had a profound impact on the knife culture. What’s even more impressive is that, through it all, he has remained one of the most humble and genuine people you’ll ever meet. Spyderco is extremely honored to feature his designs in our product line.