K Sabatier Jeune 13" Chef Knife Ideal Pattern Carbon Steel Thiers 1960s

K Sabatier Jeune 13" chef knife with a very full carbon steel blade; it had a little bit of pitting on the tip but otherwise had a dull factory edge. Someone got a very large knife back in the 60s and didn't use it much. In keeping with the production techniques of its day for high-quality knives, it was drop-forged, then hand-forged and hand-ground. 

K Sabatier Jeune was an offshoot of the original K Sabatier company; at the time of the split, there were two brothers running the company, and the younger one left to form K Sabatier Jeune (younger). Their reputation as a top-shelf maker in Thiers is well deserved.

This knife had a few small cracks on one scale, which have been sealed with epoxy; the fruit wood scales have shrunk a little, but nothing too terrible. All is secure now 

Dating this knife is a little tricky as the Jeune stamp didn't change much over the decades but the slightly wider bolster in the heel suggest 1960s manufacture. 

The Ideal pattern was developed in the early 1920s in the Thiers area by blending the full-tang, thin-bolstered Canadian pattern with the form of the round ferruled cuisine massive 'Nogent style' and quickly became a popular design produced not just by Thiers makers but by knife makers outside of France in Germany and Britain as well as the United States.