FINEST Antique GUYOT FRERES French Sabatier Carbon Steel Chef Knife RAZOR KEEN

Please read our Terms below for details. PLEASE NOTE: We take our photos in natural light outdoors and as a result there are sometimes reflections or shadows or glare shown in the blades. In person none of these exist; we will say so in the description if it may be otherwise.

But here is one of the single most beautiful examples either of us will ever come across, in a VERY desirable size, measuring 12.25" long with 7.5" blade. It's a remarkable piece for a number of reasons, not least because its maker was Guyot Freres, whose initials are on the front of the blade inside an oval and under its heel. They would eventually be gobbled up into what would later become the Sabatier consortium of companies, but this knife pre-dates that and as such, dates to the late 19th Century. It's finer than most antique Sabatier-marked knives you'll see with a blade that is thicker at the heel but whisper-thin at the tip with a much more severe taper--truly a sign of superior skill by the bladesmith.

This endows the knife with a much greater sense of balance in the hand and strength of the blade itself. Its handle is also considerably more plump than most comparable knives of this style and size made at the time, many of which tended to be somewhat thin. This is definitely a knife that will reward a larger hand with the kind of feel it needs and deserves in a medium-sized knife but probably hasn't found until now. One needn't be a giant to fully enjoy the piece by any means, but a larger hand will REALLY find using this knife to like shaking hands with a long-lost friend. Condition is outstanding, with a beautifully patinated blade and African ebony handle that is rare to be found so solid and tight, though it does have an X on one side of its handle to ID it for its owner and to keep a cow-worker from walking off with it.

And just look at it--a greater thing of beauty you will be hard-pressed to find at any price. There are few words which adequately describe it more than just plain Wow! It was expertly hand-forged with what's known as a Nogent-style handle, a magnificent French design named for the legendary knife-making city of the same name, near Thiers, that uses a rat-tail tang below the blade (tang, flared bolster and blade are one piece) to pierce the solid handle, anchored with a corresponding hooked tang rod inserted from the bottom, with a nickel silver ferrule at the bolster to provide added strength. The great deal of labor that goes into this design (my personal favorite for a vintage chef's knife of any configuation) favors a lighter-weight, higher degree of balance and, in my humble opinion, true craftsmanship and beauty in a chef's knife the likes of which are found no more in ANY modern knife. The casual observer will say something like, but it isn't all one piece like those fully-forged Henckels knives I see at Bloomingdales!

THIS design was the pinnacle of craftsmanship in chef's cutlery and was all but completely abandoned after WWII in favor of today's designs, only because they were far easier to mass produce. These, however, required one guild to forge the blades, another to finish them, another to make the handles and the "hafter's guild" to fit them all together. If you're someone who knows the FEEL of fine knives, you won't have to use this knife twice to understand what it's capable of, and you will experience nothing short of a revelation of performance. It is a DYNAMO in the kitchen, and your hand will BLAZE through jobs in the kitchen (if you're like me, you'll start looking for things that need chopping). Like all fine vintage carbon steel knives, it will rust if not carefully kept dry during use, but you'll be richly rewarded for your trouble with superior slicing in every way, shape and form.

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• Handmade: Yes
• Country/Region of Manufacture: France