New Old Stock Nogent / Cuisine Massive 14.25" Chef Carbon Steel Thiers 1950s

Massive 14.25" blade Cuisine Massif/ Nogent style chef knife in re-ground but, unused condition. This blade had a small bend in the tip section which was straightened and the blade re-ground afterward to clean up straightening marks left from a carbide tipped hammer and to grind the edge thinner and straighter as well, especially in the heel. It is a major improvement and this knife is truly ready to get to work. 

These were top shelf Thiers manufacture with a hand-ground hand forged blade, a super clean fit up with an aluminum ferrule (which suggests 1950's construction) and an "ebonized" (dyed with iron acetate and tannin from oak galls) fruitwood handle. 

No markings but these would have been made in Thiers or nearby Saint Remy. These have a S grind where there is a slight concavity in the center of the blade with a bit of a bulge in the 1/3 near the edge, this is to lighten the knife, improve food release and strengthen the edge area. 

Cuisine massif / Nogent style knives are characterized by their one piece wood handles, with a rat tail stick tang extending to the end of the handle and a round steel or aluminum ferrule. ‘Cuisine Massif’ was used to describe the style in Thiers, as Nogent was a rival knife making city.

These knives were made thin and light for its massive size, being hand forged on an old style 'Martinet' mechanical hammer and then ground by hand on stone wheels, very similarly to how knives were made in the 19th and early 20th century, these techniques and equipment are now long gone.