THE JUNE SALE IS CLOSED

YOU MAY VIEW THE KNIVES FROM OUR JUNE SALE BELOW, THOUGH THEY ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
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Here is a new thing for this sale! Below is our study in French Chefs for our June sale. In our newsletter this month, David took us on a deep dive defining our understanding of the French Chef (what makes it a French Chef) along with its particular uses. To illustrate this discussion, we have selected a number of chefs from our sale that take the French Chef and make various interpretations of that classic style. Here are some notes from David:

Our interpretations of the French Chef tweaks a few aspects:

1) We round the spine and choil heavily rather than extending the bolster to the heel of the blade. We find that easing the edges of these areas make the knife very comfortable in use. 

The bolster-to-heel construction of the Sabatier makes sharpening the blade on stones very difficult and means that the edge is not sharp all the way down. This construction also means that after a few sharpening sessions a swale generally develops along the edge, starting at an inch or so from the heel to the tip with the result that the knife edge is no longer in contact with the board.

2) We heat-treat our steel to around HRC 64 and grind our knives more thinly towards the edge. These adjustments mean that the knife is easier to sharpen and that the edge will be a higher quality and last longer.

3) We typically use a hidden-tang integral or hidden-tang construction instead of a full-tang build. This change limits the steel-to-wood joints and leaves the handle in one continuous piece. When we do make full-tang versions, we use stabilized woods and a flexible epoxy in addition to pins so that grease and food does not worm its way between the scales and the tang. (You will know what I am talking about here if you have every replaced the handle on a Sabatier).

Enjoy!

9" Mystery Burl Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Integral western mystery burl handle with coffeebag, blackwood, and leather spacers.

Notes: 206g. 53mm deep. This chef has a classic French blade profile with an integral Western handle. Also, the Blackwood is a little nod towards France:)

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Mystery wood - Twin Lakes, Michigan.
Coffeebag - Jittery Joe's, Athens, Ga.
Blackwood - cast offs, clarinet factory, Paris.

Price: $1050

8.5" Purple Heart Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Integral western purple heart handle with buckeye burl and leather spacers.

Notes: 207g. 52mm deep. Here we have another version of the classic profile with a little more curve from the edge going into the tip.

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Purple Heart - gift from a friend, Costa Rica.

Price: $950

8.25" Maple Burl Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Octagonal integral maple burl handle with leather spacer.

Notes: 189g. 47mm deep. This version has a flatter profile and a much finer point. The idea here is that the knife will feel faster and lighter out towards the tip. The octagonal handle highlights the knife’s sleek lines

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Maple - Wolfskin, Ga.

Price: $950

8" Black Maple Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Westernized octagonal integral black-dyed maple burl with redwood burl, blackwood, and leather spacers.

Notes: 177g. 51mm deep. This example exhibits a hybrid design where the tip curves invoke gyuto styling. The knife incorporates a westernized octagonal handle and a clean finish. The edge profile has a flatter curve to the tip than many French Chefs and a slightly forward-angled serpentine heel.

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Blackwood - cast offs, clarinet factory, Paris.
Maple - Wolfskin, Ga.
Redwood - Watkinsville, Ga, customer gift.

Price: $1025

7.25" Heart Pine Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Westernized octagonal integral heart pine handle with black-dyed sycamore and leather spacers.

Notes: 183g. 49mm deep. This chef is a shorter version of the chef that has a much more pronounced curve into the tip, giving this knife a strong rocking action and stout feel reminiscient of German chef design.

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Sycamore & Heart Pine - Water's Edge Woods, Athens, Ga.

Price: $825

7" Redbud Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Octagonal integral redbud handle with leather and brass spacers.

Notes: 173g. 46mm deep. This knife is a hybrid of the gyuto and the French chef. The thinner profile and the octagonal handle lean towards the gyuto while the spearpoint and edge curve are very French. (You will notice that many of our knives fall into this particular gray area).

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Redbud - Athens, Ga.

Price: $975

7" Cocobolo Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Westernized octagonal integral cocobolo handle with leather and fiber spacers.

Notes: 174g. 47mm deep. This iteration has a clean-finish with a Westernized octagonal handle. Cocobolo is frequently used on some of the older French knives and has been a cutlery industry mainstay for hundreds of years due to its natural oiliness and durability.

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Cocobolo - Twin Lakes, Michigan.

Price: $925

6.5" Black Maple Chef

Blade: Roller Bearing @HRC 64.

Handle: Integral western black-dyed maple burl handle with leather spacer.

Notes: 155g. 45mm deep. A petite version of the classic French chef in black-dyed Maple burl.

Sources: Steel - Roller bearing, machine shop, Birmingham, Alabama.
Maple - Wolfskin, Ga.

Price: $825