Refurbished New Old Stock PD Sabatier **** Four Star Nogent / Cuisine Massive 11" Chef Carbon 30s?

Re-ground New Old Stock unused Patural Duprat Sabatier **** (AKA Sabatier Four Star) 11" hand-forged carbon steel chef knife in the 'cuisine massive' style, now largely referred to as 'Nogent style' by those outside of Thiers. This style of knife was developed in Thiers long before the upstart town of Nogent started adding knives to their manufacturing (they had been known for scissors in the early 19th century). These were found with other new old stock knives made in the 1950's and with some PD 'Sabatier Acier Fondu', suggesting a group of knives made in Saint-Remy, on the other side of the Durolle River from adjoining Thiers. They sport a hand-forged, hot-stamped, hand-ground blade (looks to have been ground on an old water wheel stone) with a convex grind, light in the tip half and thicker behind the edge at the heel; the heel is not sharpened. Handle is one piece of wood (fruit wood?) with a brazed nickel ferrule. These have been very lightly cleaned to remove the wax that kept them rust-free for decades, except for a few tiny rust spots, some discoloration on the ferrule, and a small crack in the wood (all handles are secure). We did pull some as second quality that have weak stamps and/or more significant cracks in the handles. We opted for as little intervention as possible to preserve their original surface grind and keep their character. It's uncommon to find knives like this in their original state. They could always be buffed, but never unbuffed to the factory finish. While it is hard to pinpoint the exact years these were made, the brazed nickel ferrule ring suggests 30s to early 50s manufacture; the brazed nickel ferrule is an older construction that was phased out in the 50s in favor of one-piece aluminum tube ferrules. Patural Duprat et Cie (PD) was established in 1901 and made in Saint-Remy, a small town with an old knife-making tradition across the Durolle river from Thiers. In 1918 Mathieu Feuillet Patural renewed the trade marks "Sabatier ****" (four stars) which had belonged to Gabriel Sabatier of Chabreloche and registered a new trade mark "Sabatier Acier Fondu" (Sabatier Cast Steel). Both the new-old-stock Sabatier Acier Fondu and Sabatier **** were found together with the same ferrule construction, the Acier Fondu mostly with etched markings and the 4-star with a hot stamp, suggesting they were likely made during the same period when the two stamping styles overlapped. In 1958 the Sabatier **** brand was sold and would become integrated into the Thiers Issard company name. PD advertised that the factories used hydraulic, hydroelectric, and gas power in Saint Remy Sur Durolle. Please note these can have small rust spots or imperfections, slight cants or waviness to the edge is possible as well. We do quality control on these, but imperfections are part of the picture. New Old Stock, Vintage and New Old Stock knives do not come sharpened. Please request sharpening if desired in the order notes section of the cart page.