Michel Auriou - Forge de Saint Juery - The Home of Auriou Toolworks
Bonjour - I am Michel Auriou, fourth generation rasp and tool maker.
A little potted history for you.
The origins of my business date back over 150 years (to 1856) in Paris.
Way back then, the owner of the forge, Mr Duneau, made tools for artists (Maillol, Rodin, Camille Claudel, Belmondo…). At the time he was sending riffler blanks to Saint-Juéry to be hand "stitched" by Paulin Caussé, my grandfather's brother in law. Mr Duneau made a proposition to Paulin Caussé to come to Paris which he did and he subsequently bought the business from the childless Mr Duneau in 1921.
The Auriou's got involved when my grandfather, Louis Auriou went to Paris to help Paulin.
Louis came back to Saint-Juéry in 1933 and worked alone until 1960 when he and my father Bernard bought the company from Paulin Caussé. The forge and building where we now work in Saint Juery was built in 1967 and extended in 1975.
We are still the only toolmakers that use the same forging techniques that earned Auriou a deserved reputation for the highest quality. This reputation for fine tools is appreciated by artists and craftspeople throughout the world. Our methods may have been copied in part at least as well as our descriptive numbering system which is a kind of flattery we are told.
We are a small team and this team changes as people retire, move on to follow different interests or to be blunt they don't quite cut the mustard.
SO YOU SEE WE ARE A SMALL TEAM
NO ROBOTS.....
JUST....
HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS PRODUCING FINE TOOLS
FOR THE PRECISION SHAPING OF WOOD, STONE & PLASTER
We are so busy making things that we are unable to fulfil orders direct from the our forge although you can order through this web site. If you do this you will have your order fulfilled by the wonderful Classic Hand Tools in the UK. These guys try their best to have high stock levels (including left handed rasps) so any delay is minimised. They have been selling our tools for nearly 15 years and in fact they are a huge reason that we continue in business making fine tools. We are makers not retailers - we leave that to the experts.