Refurbished Ideal Pattern 9" Chef Carbon Rosewood Thiers, France 1960-80

Re-furbished slightly bent (is straight now) new old stock unmarked 23cm / 9" carbon steel chef knife. These knives are unmarked, so dating is a little difficult, but they were most likely made in the the 1960s or 70s as it has a tapered tang, but was found with other 23cm without tapered tangs (70s or 80s) and of the 31cm that do have a tapered tang; the largest chef knives were the last to be hand forged after drop forging in the early 90s.

These were hand-forged after being drop-forged and hand-ground in the old Thiers style. This lends to a great geometry, making them nimble where they need to be and tough in the heel. These are the quintessential post-war French chef knife design with integral bolster / ferrule first developed in the 1920s but really took off in the 1950s and 60s.

This knife was straightened and then thinned, removing the tooling marks. There were some shallow pits from some rust that the knife developed over decades in storage. That is mostly gone, but a few shallow pits remain. The rosewood handle with brass rivets is in great shape.