Simon Maillet work

[YannR]

Hey everyone !

I am eyeing on Simon Maillet work actually, and enjoying a lot his recents batch.
However, there is no many review on this craftsman here.
Can some people who recently bought his knives talk about their feelings ?
Talking about grinds, profile, cutting performance, heat treatment?
Many french craftsmen are getting much hyped this times, and i wanted to know why Simon is not often mentionned.

Thanks in advance for your answers.


Yann

 

[enrico]

I’ve owned one and seen a lot of his work on IG.

Mine was a very stiff blade that had “WH” vibes with good taper. Great geometry on it too, was a fun work knife for the short time I’ve owned it. Not a knife you had to baby. I’m sure others will chime in. But his work is super impressive at the price point and I’d love to eventually snag one of his with a nice bog oak handle. Easily comparable to all the other “high-end” makers IMO.

 

[martinhuber]

in my collection, my Mailett Gyuto is for sure at Top 3! So for the price he is asking...10/10 buy one!!

 

[dAtron]

Excellent knives. Go for them. Super Underated. I have two knives, one small gyuto in 26c3 and one petty in 135cr3. Love both of them. I use them both constantly. They can take a lot of abuse and are very responsive on the stones. Excellent distal taper. I wan't to get a third one from him soon.

 

[labor of love]

Glad someone started this thread. That wh1 gyuto at modern cooking looks like fun

 

[YannR]

Thank you everyone for your answers, always pleasant to have differents point of view. That's even more confirming the fact that i would like to grab one ! Now, patience. (Europeans, don't hesitate to PM me just in case haha)

 

[Leo Barr]

Hey everyone !

I am eyeing on Simon Maillet work actually, and enjoying a lot his recents batch.
However, there is no many review on this craftsman here.
Can some people who recently bought his knives talk about their feelings ?
Talking about grinds, profile, cutting performance, heat treatment?
Many french craftsmen are getting much hyped this times, and i wanted to know why Simon is not often mentionned.

Thanks in advance for your answers.


Yann

I sharpen a few of them for Chefs the wide bevels on his knives are good and flat both he & Two Sticks Forge make excellent knives there are a few other Uk makes that are good I would say the good ones make a low volume of knives & usually post them onto the web about once a month both makers use various steels including Hitachi steels.

 

[labor of love]

Hey everyone !

I am eyeing on Simon Maillet work actually, and enjoying a lot his recents batch.
However, there is no many review on this craftsman here.
Can some people who recently bought his knives talk about their feelings ?
Talking about grinds, profile, cutting performance, heat treatment?
Many french craftsmen are getting much hyped this times, and i wanted to know why Simon is not often mentionned.

Thanks in advance for your answers.


Yann

I’ll be able to provide feedback after a week or so if you’d like.

 

[YannR]

I’ll be able to provide feedback after a week or so if you’d like.

It would be a pleasure !

 

[tcmx3]

Im SUPER curious.

His shirogami 1 is listed with crazy HRC, like 65?!?! Ive been resisting as best I can the full tang on modern cooking because I prefer forward balanced knives but hot damn.

 

[labor of love]

Im SUPER curious.

His shirogami 1 is listed with crazy HRC, like 65?!?! Ive been resisting as best I can the full tang on modern cooking because I prefer forward balanced knives but hot damn.

Yeah I just picked up the 230. Balance point is at the “pinch grip”

 

[labor of love]

Just wanted to share a few thoughts on the 230mm wh1 Maillet I picked up from modern cooking…
Probably the best thing going for the knife is the grind. At 225grams 54mm 230mm it has some beef but really doesn’t cut like a thick knife rather it’s a very smooth cutter. No wedging at all around the shinogi. The bevels were very close to even and was 90% ready for polishing ootb.
Handle is bolsterless western made from oak. Feels great in hand, Infact I don’t think about the handle at all when using it which is a good thing as it just feels natural.
Profile is on the flat side tbh I think I’d prefer tad more curve but it’s not a big deal just more of a pull cutter push cutter feels awkward to attempt to rock chop. I like how the tip is pointy but not too pointy.
Only sharpened it once so far but the retention is quite good for shirogami.
Overall I think it’s a very very good knife and perhaps this maker is flying under the radar. Couldn’t find much info about Maillet knives before I purchased and just decided to a take a leap of faith, which I’m glad I did.

 

[YannR]

Just wanted to share a few thoughts on the 230mm wh1 Maillet I picked up from modern cooking…
Probably the best thing going for the knife is the grind. At 225grams 54mm 230mm it has some beef but really doesn’t cut like a thick knife rather it’s a very smooth cutter. No wedging at all around the shinogi. The bevels were very close to even and was 90% ready for polishing ootb.
Handle is bolsterless western made from oak. Feels great in hand, Infact I don’t think about the handle at all when using it which is a good thing as it just feels natural.
Profile is on the flat side tbh I think I’d prefer tad more curve but it’s not a big deal just more of a pull cutter push cutter feels awkward to attempt to rock chop. I like how the tip is pointy but not too pointy.
Only sharpened it once so far but the retention is quite good for shirogami.
Overall I think it’s a very very good knife and perhaps this maker is flying under the radar. Couldn’t find much info about Maillet knives before I purchased and just decided to a take a leap of faith, which I’m glad I did.

Glad to hear.
Thanks for this review !

 

[HSC /// Knives]

I have an early work of Simon's from a couple years ago as we did a trade. It's a monosteel from Oct 2020. . I use it mostly for slicing bread loaves now due to the length and heel size and profile, it works great for crusty bread.
The steel takes a great edge and is easy to sharpen
His work has really evolved since and I think he provides an excellent value.

what part of France are you in?

 

[labor of love]

Yeah, what little info I could find about his work was from Reddit threads a couple years ago and they weren’t glowing endorsements. Seems like common thing though. Everyone has to start somewhere

 

[YannR]

I have an early work of Simon's from a a couple years ago as we did a trade. It's a monosteel from Oct 2020. . I use it mostly for slicing bread loaves,
The steel takes a great edge and is easy to sharpen
His work has really evolved since and I think he provides an excellent value.

what part of France are you in?

Thanks for your review, i am in Lyon !

 

[IMakeOnionsCry]

Just wanted to share a few thoughts on the 230mm wh1 Maillet I picked up from modern cooking…
Probably the best thing going for the knife is the grind. At 225grams 54mm 230mm it has some beef but really doesn’t cut like a thick knife rather it’s a very smooth cutter. No wedging at all around the shinogi. The bevels were very close to even and was 90% ready for polishing ootb.
Handle is bolsterless western made from oak. Feels great in hand, Infact I don’t think about the handle at all when using it which is a good thing as it just feels natural.
Profile is on the flat side tbh I think I’d prefer tad more curve but it’s not a big deal just more of a pull cutter push cutter feels awkward to attempt to rock chop. I like how the tip is pointy but not too pointy.
Only sharpened it once so far but the retention is quite good for shirogami.
Overall I think it’s a very very good knife and perhaps this maker is flying under the radar. Couldn’t find much info about Maillet knives before I purchased and just decided to a take a leap of faith, which I’m glad I did.

Thanks for the review. I picked up the other full tang maillet on MC. Do a lot of push cutting so don’t mind a flatter profile. Will be a little while before I get to test it out though. Seems like a knife everyone is going to want once they become hard to get ahold of.

 

[labor of love]

Thanks for the review. I picked up the other full tang maillet on MC. Do a lot of push cutting so don’t mind a flatter profile. Will be a little while before I get to test it out though. Seems like a knife everyone is going to want once they become hard to get ahold of.

Nice! That one looked nicer tbh but I’m a lefty so the 230 was closer to 50/50

 

[Mikeadunne]

Thanks for the review. I picked up the other full tang maillet on MC. Do a lot of push cutting so don’t mind a flatter profile. Will be a little while before I get to test it out though. Seems like a knife everyone is going to want once they become hard to get ahold of.

Man I’ve been staring at that one off and on for a few weeks it feels like. Interested to hear what you think.

 

[labor of love]

His western handle is actually octagonal. It’s very interesting. I hope he makes more and this isn’t a one off.

 

[IMakeOnionsCry]

His western handle is actually octagonal. It’s very interesting. I hope he makes more and this isn’t a one off.

That’s pretty interesting. As far as I can tell, these are his first westerns. I really like a full tang knife that’s still got some forward weight. As far as I can tell, the extra work that goes into a full tang isn’t necessarily reflected in whatever extra you can charge, so it sometimes feels like makers gravitate away from them. Aesthetically at least, I find his knives to be incredibly attractive. Excited to see how it performs.

Super jealous of your saya though

 

[IMakeOnionsCry]

Man I’ve been staring at that one off and on for a few weeks it feels like. Interested to hear what you think.

Had it really been sitting there that long? I’ve been following his drops for a while, and now they seem to go pretty quickly. The retailer markup was there, so maybe that was it. Sitting and looking available probably didn’t help.

While his drops are now selling out quickly, I still feel like there’s a good chance to snag a specific knife. Tbh I’m a huge fan of a bog oak handle and was waiting for a 220-240 gyuto, but this one called to me. Will try to provide some detail when I get the chance to use it.