Sabatier chef's knife

H

Headmanbrewing

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Aug 5, 2012
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Hello all, I have ended up with a few knives and would like some info please. I have two carbon steels that measure 14 1/2" total, blade about 9 1/2". The handles are black Bakelite type material with 3 aluminum rivets. Stamped into the handles are "Sabatier", 4 stars above the word, and a picture of an elephant to the right. There are no visible markings on the blade. I also have a smaller, 12 1/2" total, blade 7 1/2" with 3 brass rivets but no markings. I like these quite a bit, as they fit my hand well and take an edge pretty easily. Does anyone know approximate age, where they are from, anything? Thanks.
 
These symbols are the marks of Thiers-Issard, one of the best Sabatier you may find. It's very hard to give a date because the French producers hardly change anything.
The handles though make it likely they are from the sixties or later - no ebony from Africa as before. I guess they are not made of bakelite but of POM instead.
 
Thanks for the info! I am assuming some type of synthetic material for the handles, as I don't see any wood grain in them.
 
POM is good stuff, but NOT dishwasher safe. It will eventually break, partially due to pin oxidation. More about POM:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene
 
Crappy cell phone pics, sorry. The logo shows up white because I tried to highlight it with a crayon.
 
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Love them! Especially the first one from above could need some correction of the profile near to the heel in order to meet the original one. Traditionally they have a flat area of some 3" for cutting herbs e.a.
Therefore some of the finger guard should be removed. That would allow some thinning behind the edge as well.
Beside that - which normally occurs within one or two years of use - the profile looks great: no deep depression in the middle due to steeling abuse, no rounded tip.
With a little work they may become even greater performers than they're now.
 
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I had been thinking the finger guard would eventually be an issue, as the cutting edge gets worn away and the guard gets left behind. How would I go about thinning the finger guard maybe 1/4" up from the edge? Get a very coarse stone and get to work? Find a grinder and be careful of too much heat?
 
I wouldn't go for just 1/4"...
Beside that, most coarse stones I know dish easily. I use coarse sand'paper' on linen, and start with grit P120. Make sure not to touch the blade itself. I would grind parallelly to the edge.
 
I thought 1/4" would be enough for at least a few years, and still leave most of the guard to do it's job.

But then you went past me. "Dish"? As in cause a grind that is convex? And what is using linen to sharpen anything? I know some leather strops have a linen backing, that is the first step in sharpening a straight razor, but otherwise I'm lost. I have used both bench stones (which I never got very good with) and a Lansky rod system.
 
About the stone: I don't expect the stone to remain flat. To be more precise, the finger guard will cause grooves into it. Expect a lot of flattening afterwards - and the loss of a lot of stone material.
The sandpaper I mentioned is used for car repair. The substrate is linen instead of paper.
To thin behind the edge, or make a relief bevel - which is the same - I think you will need more than 1/4". See if that's enough to build a relief bevel of let say 10 degree. At the heel at least 1/16" of the blade will be lost go if you decide to restore the original profile and have it flattened.
 
my toosense. if you are going to keep the knives and pass them down to kids(they should hold together for a LONG time) dont do anything other than sharpen and polish. i have one with a 9 1/2" blade. was bought in 1982 out of the navy exchange catalog while on a med cruise. price then was $90.(was that low because store was allowed only 5% markup and there were no import duties.) you modify the blade and it will loose all value as a collectible. dont use mine that often, handle is kinda small and it stains if you look at it cross-eyed.
scott
 
Hi.
The first two with the ****Elephant logo is from Sabatier (Thiers Issard). I believe the riveted POM handle is from the 1960’s – present and think the aluminum riveted ones are older than the brass riveted ones. The third one with the brass rivets and thicker finger guard maybe a Thiers Issard from a different time period or different brand.

As Benuser said, the finger guard on the first knife needs to be ground away. If left unchecked, the finger guard will eventually prohibit the heel of blade from touching the cutting board. Grinding the finger guard with a stone will create a rut in the stone. I prefer to remove the bulk of it with a bastard file or back of a granite tile and then smooth out the grind marks with a stone or sandpaper.
 
I use a file or a belt sander with sharpening belts to do similar work.
 
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