Refurbished New Old Stock Nogent / Cuisine Massive 7.75" Light Chef Carbon Steel St Remy Thiers 50s?

Maybe the most sought after size, just shy of 8" at 7 3/4" (aka 8") fine ground carbon steel blade Cuisine Massive / Nogent style chef knife in unused condition. These needed some straightening and edge repair from rough storage. The edges still have a small wave in the straightness near the heel and have been priced accordingly.

Hand-ground, hand-forged blade, a clean fit-up with an aluminum ferrule (likely suggests 1950's construction), and one-piece, old-style, ink-dyed beech or fruitwood handle. No markings, but these would have been made in Thiers or nearby Saint Remy. 

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 Massive’ was used to describe the style in Thiers, as Nogent was a rival knife making city.

These knives were made in or around Theirs, France likely in the 1950‘s. They are thin and light 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.