Where are Morta knives made? Visit the Brière region, the deep cradle of this fossilizing wood. Because Morta and Brière have always been and will always be linked by the Brière subsoil. For 5,000 years, salt and fresh water have alternated in this marshy basin. Mangrove plants form peat, first brown, then black. Faced with these geological upheavals, two generations of oak trees collapsed. Their trunks took refuge in the peat. They begin a long adventure that ends in the shape of a knife handle. Brière and Morta, two inseparables that the JHP workshop brings even closer together in its cutlery. Knife enthusiasts and fans of beautiful blades, here’s the cutlery epic of the morta, the oak from the Brière marshes.
The making of Morta knives – JHP workshop in Saint-André des Eaux, France
« A knife enthusiast since childhood, I fell in love with morta and the Brière region. So I combined my two passions by creating this cutlery shop ».
Couteaux Morta was born when I discovered the Brière and its unique wood over 10 years ago. A story I share with visitors to the JHP workshop.
Every year, we welcome thousands of knife fans and craft enthusiasts to Saint-André des Eaux.
You too can come to our beautiful Brière region. We’ll be delighted to show you how Morta knives are made.
When artisans talk about knives and cutlers talk about craftsmanship, the JHP workshop is just around the corner.
After a few finely chiseled jokes (though not always 😅), we’ll chat about :
🔪 choosing the best steels for blades: Damascus, brut de forge or inox ;
🔪 knife types: folding, fixed. We’re particularly proud of one of the latest: the Morta Pompe rear ;
🔪 their different uses: kitchen, galley, chef, table, bread, oyster ;
🔪 the locking or closing systems of pocket knives;
🔪 the customizations on offer (vulcanized fiber, mini mammoth ivory inlays, written messages and art pictograms).
Pictograms representative of the Brière: morta extraction, the 4 types of fish, game, boat anchor.
Blade-making stages: from forge to top-of-the-range artisan knife
During your visit, you’ll discover some of the mythical worlds of the cutler’s craft. Starting with the forge.
The fascinating forge triggers a special emotion in our visitors (and in the heart of every knifemaker). Between the heat and the deafening noise, it leaves no one indifferent.
Tempering. This is followed by various phases of tempering and normalizing. As the blades are tempered, a very specific odor wafts through the workshop, identifiable among a thousand. Can you smell it 😉?
Heat treatment contributes to the steel’s hardness performance.
Grinding refines the blade to optimize sharpness.
Morta handle manufacture
At the same time, knifemakers prepare to cut the morta and plane the carrelets or plaquettes.
This stage depends on requirements.
A chef’s knife does not require the same amount of morta as a massive Mini Morta 😉).
Let’s move on to preparing the knife handle. You’ll need :
🔪 brush the plates ;
🔪 adjust them;
🔪 guilloche the spring.
Finally, the whole thing is crimped using matted pins to stiffen the assembly.
All that remains is to seal the morta to the metal frame and shape the handle to the backstand. Several bands are needed to remove a lot of material at the start of the manufacturing process, then much gentler actions finish the job once the handle has been formed.
Once the blade has been inserted, it’s time to polish. Here too, several pastes are used, on different discs, to obtain the desired level of finish, depending on the model.
We’ll also tell you about the laser-cutting processes used to manufacture blades. You’ll also learn what’s behind the leatherwork used for sheaths, cases and pouches that protect your knives.
Discover our knives with our team
In our workshop, you’ll meet a cheerful team of passionate craftsmen. We don’t have to take ourselves too seriously to be serious about our work, do we? The important thing is to pass on our love of knives and the marshes.
PS: we’re adding heart-shaped pictos to our special Brière list 😉.
In Brière, as in all French regions, we want to highlight our know-how and local products. Artistic craftsmanship is fragile in the face of sometimes unfair industrial competition. We frequently see plagiarism of the Morta name. Our best weapons of defense: the excellence of our product and sincere communication carried by convinced ambassadors (you 💪!).
We don’t prioritize quantity and economies of scale; we protect cultural heritage, while respecting the environment.
That’s why we sign an agreement with the Commission syndicale de grande Brière Mottière for morta extraction. This is drawn up in agreement with the Brière Regional Nature Park and biodiversity services. As a result, flora and fauna can develop in complete tranquillity. Perfect restoration of the site erases all traces of extraction.
In short, at Saint-André des Eaux, you’ll be able to go behind the scenes of the cutlery industry, and discover our secrets (well, almost our secrets) and our difficulties (and there are many).
Where can I buy an authentic morta knife? The 2 points of sale
Finding a Morta knife is easy. There are two stores to choose from.
🔪 In our cutlery shop: the JHP workshop is located 96 rue de la Brière in Saint-André des Eaux (44117).
🔪 In our online store.
Ah yes, a third choice, but ephemeral: visit the Palais de L’Élysée between October 25 and 27, 2024. But are you really available on those days?
Where to find morta? La Brière, birthplace of this unique marsh oak
According to the work of Augustin Vince and Lionel Visset, the largest quantities of morta are found in the following communes and localities: La Chaussée Neuve, Bréca, Île de Fédrun, Saint-Joachim, Saint-André des Eaux and the Donges marshes.
Their extraction is strictly regulated. No, sorry, you won’t be returning from a vacation in Brière with a piece of morta in your suitcase. With a Morta knife, that’s for sure.
The geology of the Brière is at the origin of morta production. The Brière is a basin formed by the slow decomposition of vegetation over 5 millennia. Since 1965, scientists such as Augustin Vince and Lionel Visset have been explaining the formation of the marsh. They are refining the work of M. Maître, who in 1890 was already correlating the fall of oak trees with winds and floods.
The creation of a unique peat bog where morta is born
A succession of soil upheavals created a peat bog specific to the Brière region.
In the 2,000s, brown peat replaced the blue and black muds present since the Boreal period*. Brown peat is made up of sedges, phragmites, typhas and rubaniers. At this time, salt water dominates. The Brivet River serves as a natural outlet for the flow of water.
Then, from 1600 BC onwards, the fresh water rises, favoring reed beds and other marsh plants** that give rise to black peat.
* The Boreal period extends from 9,000 to 7,500 years ago, during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods.
** Palustre: originating from a marshy area.
Two generations of oak groves produce this age-old wood
Morta comes from the successive fall of two generations of oak trees. The first occurred between two and three millennia BC. The oaks sink into the brown peat.
Later, around 1,000 BC, vast expanses of brackish water (bitter and salty) redrew the Brière landscape. Peat, this time black, began to grow again. It suffocates the second oak grove and the reed bed develops. The trees are enclosed in the alluvial soil.
Morta production begins. Silica explains its black color and the presence of the two peats, its caramel highlights.
Augustin Vince, in Notre Brière, reports on the results of pollen analyses and carbon-14 dating carried out in the 1970s. They reveal that certain trunks are contemporary with the Egyptian pyramids. Their death dates back 4,300 years. They were therefore born during the 3rd dynasty of the Pharaohs.
In 1985, the Presse Océan newspaper reported the discovery of a 20-meter-long trunk at La Chapelle des Marais. Lionel Visset declared it to be 4,720 years old.
Pierre Pellerin, in Nature insolite en France – Le morta en Brière, writes that oak trees, under the weight of an evil spell, are defeated and laid down like Rimbaud’s Le Dormeur du Val.
And here’s our version of the story (from a cutler’s point of view)
Why is morta only found in Brière?
Let’s be precise! Marsh oak can be found in a variety of… swamps (who would have thought 😝 ?). On the other hand, morta is only found in Brière.
But why?
Because the term « morta » is part of the Brière dialect. In fact, it appears in glossaries of old-fashioned words.
We speak of Brittany granite or Guérande salt. But it would be a pleonasm to speak of « bois de Brière ». As for the expression « bois de Brière », it applies to any plant growing on one of the 22 Brière communes1.
Is every Italian car a Ferrari?
Source : association La Pierre Chaude
Source Le BT Journal
Already in 1923, Alphonse de Châteaubriant immortalized it (if need be) in his novel La Brière. Throughout the story, the morta becomes a character in its own right, a hero alongside Aoustin, the Brière guard. The author evokes an impossible love between two young men from Fédrun and Mayun. Hello Brière Romeo and Juliet.
For fans of ancient legends and ancestral tales, read Paul Burban’s Le Morta et le Corseau, La pipe en morta, Notre-Dame de Blanche couronne, where you’ll discover morta like never before. The formation of the Brière region is explained in a way that is, shall we say, more… romantic, even magical.
To sum up the provenance of Morta knives
As you can see, any Morta knife that doesn’t come from our Saint-André des Eaux workshop is simply not a Morta knife. CQFD!
The Internet is full of sites selling knives with wooden handles. Some are even made of swamp oak. Sure, but not morta. The most common are from Eastern Europe: Lithuania or Poland.
Morta knives are made in their favorite workshop: JHP Cutlery. Buy them locally or via e-commerce. Just remember: not just anyone can be Morta! The easiest way is to go straight to the source – that’s what we’re here for.
Our sources
- Nature insolite en France – Le morta en Brière by Pierre Pellerin
- 8,000 ans en Brière by Lionel Visset, PhD, palynologist at the Institut des sciences et de la nature and professor of ecology
- Notre Brière by Augustin Vince, Doctor of Geography
1 – Reminder of the 22 communes of Brière
Assérac ; Besné ; La Chapelle des Marais ; Crossac ; Donges ; La Baule-Escoublac ; Guérande ; Herbignac ; Mesquer ; Missillac ; Montoir de Bretagne ; Pontchâteau ; Pornichet ; Prinquiau ; Saint-André-des-Eaux ; Saint-Joachim ; Saint-Lyphard ; Saint-Malo-de-Guersac ; Saint-Molf ; Saint-Nazaire ; Sainte-Reine de Bretagne ; Trignac.
Article written by Christelle Lorant 🪶
Article summary
Where are Morta knives made?
Morta knives are made at the JHP workshop in Saint-André des Eaux, Loire-Atlantique, in the heart of the Brière region, famous for its marshes.
The JHP workshop uses this precious wood to create top-of-the-range handcrafted knives, combining traditional know-how with respect for the environment.
What is morta and why is it unique?
Morta is a wood in the process of fossilization, coming from oak trees that have been buried in the peat of the Brière marshes for several millennia. This fossilization process began over 5,000 years ago, when generations of oaks collapsed in the marshes and were gradually enveloped by the black and brown peat, giving them their unique color and texture.
Morta is distinguished by its hardness and its black and caramel highlights due to the presence of silica.
Today, this age-old wood, a symbol of local history and heritage, is used to make exceptional knife handles, making morta both a rare and precious material, thanks to its exclusively Brie provenance.
What types of knives are made at the JHP workshop?
The JHP workshop offers a wide range of handcrafted morta knives, from folding pocket knives to fixed kitchen knives. Among the flagship models is the Morta knife with rear pump, which combines aesthetics and practicality with its sophisticated locking mechanism.
The workshop also offers table knives and paring knives, with blades in stainless steel, Damascus or brut de forge.
How is a morta knife made?
Making a Morta knife is an artisanal process that begins with the forging of the blade, where the steel is heated to a high temperature and then tempered to give it its hardness and strength. The blade is then honed to optimize sharpness.
At the same time, craftsmen prepare the morta handle, carefully cutting and fitting each piece of wood.
Every step, from cutting to final assembly, is carried out with precision and passion, ensuring that each morta knife is both an art object and an exceptional functional tool.
Why is morta found only in the Brière region?
Morta is a wood unique to the Brière region, due to its specific geological conditions. The term “morta” comes from the Brière dialect and refers to oak wood in the process of fossilization, making it a material that cannot be found elsewhere.
The fossilization process has been aided by the alternating movements of salt and fresh water in the Brière marshes, creating a peat that has protected and transformed these oak trunks over the millennia.
Although the marsh oak can be found in other wetlands, only wood from Brière can bear the name “morta”, because of its unique natural, linguistic and cultural history.
How do you protect the environment when extracting morta?
Morta extraction is strictly regulated to preserve the unique biodiversity of the Brière marshes. The JHP workshop has signed an agreement with the Commission syndicale de la Grande Brière Mottière and the Parc naturel régional de Brière to ensure that wood extraction respects local ecosystems.
Each operation is carried out with care, ensuring that the site is completely restored after extraction, to minimize the impact on flora and fauna.
Where can I buy an authentic Morta knife?
To buy an authentic Morta knife, visit the JHP workshop at 96 rue de la Brière, Saint-André des Eaux, Loire-Atlantique, or the workshop’s online boutique.
Beware of imitations: only a knife made in the JHP workshop, with morta wood extracted in Brière, can be considered a genuine Morta knife.
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