Re: Sabatier and TBT

[EdipisReks]

used my Sabatier chef exclusively, today. it was used for dressing some lamb and cutting vegetables (sweet potato, onion, corn, and red peppers for a medley, and chard and shallot for crostini topped with graindorge petit livarot and swiss chard sautéed with shallot and onion, which was delicious). i don't have many complaints. it was comfortable, and stayed sharp enough throughout the whole process (i gave it a couple swipes on my Shun steel halfway through, when i noticed it starting to steer at the sweet spot, which fixed it up). no major reactivity, but i had forced a pretty solid mustard patina earlier. five or six swipes on a CrO/balsa strop brought it back to shaving sharp, at the end. i really like this knife. after using my new Kochi for a while, i didn't feel like the Sab was an effortless cutter, but after using the Kochi i don't feel like my Shigefusa is either, so that's not damning.

 

[Seb]

i broke all of the sharp edges on the chef's, refinished the blade (two grades of finger stones, followed by my rust eraser which pretty exactly reproduced the original finish), gave it a nice forced mustard patina, and chopped some produce today. it's a good knife!

Pics!!!

 

[EdipisReks]

bad lighting this time of day. i'll see if i remember tomorrow.

 

[EdipisReks]

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as you can see, the grind on the chefs isn't perfect, towards the heel, but i give it a bit of attention every time i sharpen it, and it's getting better.

 

[Seb]

Very very nice!

The grind is even wavier on mine, btw. And the Acier is even worse: held it up to the light - right side is ok but the left looks like sand dunes!

 

[EdipisReks]

sounds like artistic intent, to me.

 

[Seb]

sounds like artistic intent, to me.

Yeah, like the hole that is about to open up right in the middle of the edge is sooooo artistic! More like the grinder imbibed too much vin ordinaire during the lunch break!

 

[EdipisReks]

heh, sounds about right.

 

[Lefty]

...or breakfast....
Nice knives, edipis!

 

[EdipisReks]

breakfast wine break sounds even more about right.

thanks!

 

[EdipisReks]

just thought i'd update this thread. i bought a carbon 10" K-sab from the Sabatier outlet, and it arrived today (only took two days from order to arrival). first thing out of the box, the fit and finish looked great! definitely more belly than the Nogent, but not a bothersome amount. it's a heavier knife than my Nogent, but it is full tang with a larger handle, and the blade is a bit taller. the thickness seems comparable to the Nogent, with a bit more distal taper. i had been hoping for a thinner bolster, but i've decided that is a lot easier to slightly modify my technique to work around the bolster, both in sharpening and in cutting, than it is to take off all that steel. the blade was slightly wonky, with a hump at the spine that corresponded with a flat spot on the edge. those came off easily enough on a x-coarse DMT. now, the grind. despite the fit and finish being much better than the Nogent, the grind was about as poor. the tip was strangely tipped up, no pun intended, and one side was wavy at the bevel (well, both sides were wavy, but one side was just a little wavy, and the other was way wavy). fortunately, the problems were hills on the blade, and not valleys, so it could be flattened out. you can see where it almost looks like a clad knife, from where i flattened the side above the bevel. after doing that, i put an edge on with a King 800, followed by a green brick of joy, followed by .5 CrO on balsa, and the knife cuts great! very comfortable. i'm going to tweak a few things, but all and all, not bad for $87 shipped.

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