Nogent "Hand Forged" 12" Chef Knife Carbon Steel Walnut Nogent 1950s-60s

Refurbished hand forged chef knife made in Nogent in likely the 1950s or 60s. Blade has been thinned and re-ground with a convex edge, thicker in the heel and thinner in the tip half as it was originally forged and ground. This knife certainly was used for decades but never abuse, blade is straight without damage to spine and the handle is nice and secure. 

The town of Nogent became associated with this knife construction but did not invent it, and pre-dates Nogent's rapid rise in the late 19th century. Nogent adopted the drop forge before Thiers or Chatellerault and utilized the big increase in forging production it allowed to become a major player in French knife making. Initially these blades were hand forged after being drop forged which both improved thier geometry and allowed for the use of somewhat smaller drop forges on larger knives as the drop forge size needed to properly drop forge a 12" knife is much larger than forging a shorter thicker blade that can be further refined. The fact that this one says "hand forged" in English suggests it was made at a time that hand forging was being phased out in favor of straight drop forging which is more economical and can better allow mechanized grinding rather than hand grinding. I would say this puts this knife likely made in the 1960s.