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The joy of vintage K-Sabatier carbon

Discussion in 'The Kitchen Knife' started by schanop, Feb 28, 2014.

  1. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    Sabatier is more of a recent discovery for me. Frankly I have not heard of Sabatier before joining knife forums and already delving into Japanese knives. There are not many places in Sydney with Sabatier knives on display or even in stock at online shops. I only recall seeing Sabatier on display at Peter's of Kensington (Sabatier lion) and Johnsons Est. 1912 (K-Sabatier).

    Last year I bought a vintage k-sab from an Aussie online shop that turned out to be another head of Johnsons Est. 1912. The knife came in an ok condition with some surface rust and well shrunk handle. It was also warped and bent a little bit, but it wasn't too trouble some to put an edge on. I have been using it a bit on and off for a while, and feels that it cuts ok, but still quite far from other Japanese knives that I have.

    It was not until a couple of weeks ago, that I decided to straighten, thin, and a clean it up a bit more. Although thinning was not that high, approximately 1-1.5cm from the edge only, but the resulting bevel is now a lot smaller than before. The end result was "wow, this is nice." Nowadays, it cuts nicely and much better than before thinning.

    Here are a few pictures of it after the work and a few meals after.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Engraving says " K-Sabatier acier France, Supplied by Johnsons Overalls, Sydney "
     
  2. gavination

    gavination Founding Member

    Looks great! Nicely done! There's a certain degree of simplistic beauty with a Sab that I just love.

    Was the blade bent or just at where the bolster meets the blade? What method did you use to straighten it? I've heard of people hammering and also putting it in a vise with dowels. I have one where the blade is bent and thought about fixing it, but haven't gotten around to it. I'd love mine to look like yours!
     
  3. John Fout

    John Fout Founding Member

    Here is a Veritable Sabatier Chef au Ritz I cleaned up next to a Richmond Artifex with a Sabatier profile.
    [​IMG]
    The Chef au Ritz takes a good edge and is a joy to use. The Artifex with Sab profile is pretty decent.

    I have an 8" 2Lion that I love as a line knife. I don't have a picture of it by itself. It was cheap on ebay. I feel like I stole it.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    Blade and handle do not align as well, but I am not too bothered by that.

    The actual blade was, and still is, bent or warped in a way that if I have the spine straight from simple bending, the edge curves or has a little left/right hump at one point . It's not a lot, so I only ended up hammering it out a just a touch. And with a bit of extra thinning around the protruding area above the edge, it makes the knife easier to sharpen. Over time, edge will be straight as it travels up the thicker part of the knife.
     
  5. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    Chef au Ritz looks nice, John.
     
  6. John Fout

    John Fout Founding Member

    Thanks. :D I'm getting a thing for old dirty carbon knives and cleaning them up. I have a Henckels 102 on the bench that I fear is too pitted to ever use again. Still going to keep at it but it will be towards the back of the bench a lot.
     
  7. gavination

    gavination Founding Member

    Hmm. I wanna give it a try at some point to see if I can get it straight haha.
     

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