New Old Stock Canadian 10" Chef Carbon Rosewood Re-Ground at BC Thiers, France 1950-60

Reground, thinned, and straightened new old stock 10" Canadian pattern chef knife made in Thiers in the 1950s or early 60s.  

Hand forged after drop forging and hand ground with brass riveted rosewood handles in excellent unused condition. These have been lightly cleaned as most picked up some light rust spots, but are otherwise how they were made around 75 years ago. They were found in superb condition in old storage.

These are very light, fine forged, and ground. They are quite tall, but do not feel heavy or unwieldy. They are ground with an S grind- slightly hollow ground on the face of the inside, with convexity on the outside.

In the later part of the 19th century, the industrial drop forge was introduced into Thiers, initially in sizes appropriate for table knives and scissors. A smaller rope and pulley hand operated drop forge had been in use for folding knife blades. But, with the growing popularity of eating with table knives versus the previous preference of personal folding knives, many new designs went into production.

The addition of a full tang handle to the short bolstered triangular Cuisine Massive (aka Nogent) birthed the Canadian design.

These particular knives were made in Theirs, France in the 1950s. They are thin and light, hand forged on an old style 'Martinet' mechanical hammer after being drop forged and then ground by hand, very similarly to how these knives were made originally in the 19th Century. Sadly, these techniques and equipment are now long gone.

They are lighter and springier than their modern contemporaries with great cutting feel and are super easy to sharpen. Don't over-polish them with fine Japanese stones, these do better with a coarser edge (equivalent to 1000 Japanese grit stone) and kept up with a fine honing steel. The advice to use a steel before you use your knife is the result of these kinds of knives in a busy professional kitchens, but you can steel them once you feel the edge starting to lean to one side.