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Home | Western Kitchen Knives | Foster Bros. French Cook 11" Heavy Chef Knife Carbon Steel USA Early 2

Foster Bros. French Cook 11" Heavy Chef Knife Carbon Steel USA Early 20th Century

$369.83
$369.83
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Hand forged "French Cook" heavy chef knife made sometime in the early 20th century with carbon steel blade, rosewood handle scales and 1/2 birdseye brass rivets.

In an interesting twist we posted recently a nearly identical but larger 13" knife also marked "French Cook" and Village Blacksmith (Washington Cutlery Co.1898-1940 Watertown Wisconsin), suggesting that Foster Bros and Village Blacksmith made knives for each other over their histories. 

This knife has a very heavy heel and thick spine at neck tapering quickly into a thinner edge. It had been sharpened down a little and needed a thinning along the face of the blade behind the edge to bring the original convex edge back, without removing all the markings it was impossible to blend these grinding scratch markes into the entire face of blade. 

Handle is a brass riveted rosewood and is nice and secure 

11" blade, 2.25" wide at heel 1/4" at the thickest point 17.25 oz

 

This is a carbon steel knife. Carbon steel is expected to develop a dark patina with use. It needs to be hand washed and towel dried soon after use. Do not air dry. Do not put it in the dishwasher. Long exposure to moisture and debris will result in rust. Any rust development should be removed with a light abrasive.

Use on a quality wooden cutting board will help the knife stay sharper for longer. Use on hard surfaces like plates and bamboo will reduce the edge life and can result in edge damage.

We recommend hand sharpening on whetstones. We have found that most western knives perform best with a medium finish starting around 1000 grit. Avoid pull through sharpeners and non-water cooled mechanized sharpening. Steel honing rods work well with this knife.

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