SylvainM, kitchen knifemaker based in France

[SylvainM]

Hi all,

As I just registered here is my intro post.
I'm Sylvain, a kitchen knifesmith based in France, just out of Paris. After a 15-ish years IT career, I've now been a professional maker since 2018. I'm focusing on kitchen knives (obviously ), forging blades out of european carbon steel essentially. Favourites include the pure 125SC (1.1563.01) and the mighty 115W8 (1.2442) as well as APEX Ultra a bit more recently. I have a taste for japanese-like blade shapes, going all the way from 70mm paring knives up to 350mm+ sujihiki.


Aside from occasionnaly showing my work, I joined the forum to share my experience where applicable, and obviously to learn from kitchen knives addicts

Speak soon !

 

[Matus]

Welcome to the forums

 

[daveb]

Pls read the "Pls read" thread.

 

[Corradobrit1]

France seems to have a bevvy of makers. Welcome. Where did you learn to forge and make knives?

 

[SylvainM]

France seems to have a bevvy of makers. Welcome. Where did you learn to forge and make knives?

Well I'd say not as much as in the US or Australia, especially in the kitchen knives area
I used to work in IT for 15 years. When I decided to move to a new career I took a 4 months intensive forging class at 'Couleurs de Forge' in south of France, which gave me the basics in terms of forging, forge welding, and heat treatment. Then I got myself a workshop and started working, or rather, learning. First year I spent making up basic skills and finding my style, without even trying to sell anything as I wanted to concentrate on the learning curve. It's been almost 6 years now, and still have a lot to learn, but at least my knives perform well and look not too bad

 

[YannR]

Bienvenue !

 

[mc2442]

Welcome!

 

[KasumiJLA]

Salut Sylvain! Je te suis déjà sur Instagram alors ça fait plaisir de te voir ici

 

[Corradobrit1]

Well I'd say not as much as in the US or Australia, especially in the kitchen knives area
I used to work in IT for 15 years. When I decided to move to a new career I took a 4 months intensive forging class at 'Couleurs de Forge' in south of France, which gave me the basics in terms of forging, forge welding, and heat treatment. Then I got myself a workshop and started working, or rather, learning. First year I spent making up basic skills and finding my style, without even trying to sell anything as I wanted to concentrate on the learning curve. It's been almost 6 years now, and still have a lot to learn, but at least my knives perform well and look not too bad

Not sure about Australia. France seems to have 5+ kitchen knife makers. I can only think of 3 off the top of my head Down Under. The USA is much bigger so not comparable. But interestingly one less when he transitioned to IT....

 

[SylvainM]

Not sure about Australia. France seems to have 5+ kitchen knife makers. I can only think of 3 off the top of my head Down Under. The USA is much bigger so not comparable. But interestingly one less when he transitioned to IT....

Well when speaking about makers truely specialized in kitchen knives, I can think of 8 to 10 makers, including myself. Some others are doing kitchen knives amongst other knives. Indeed the market is not the same, despite french people always think their gastronomy is one of the best in the world (to be discussed ;-) ), the average knife education is pretty poor. I'm giving sharpening classes in cooking schools every now and then and I'm always amazed how poorly educated about knives both students and teachers tend to be Our role to explain people what's the benefit of having a good knife in hands I guess...

 

[SylvainM]

Salut Sylvain! Je te suis déjà sur Instagram alors ça fait plaisir de te voir ici

Ah ah salut Julien, petit monde effectivement. C'est marrant je pensais à toi ce matin, je t'écrirais sur Insta...

 

[Benuser]

Soyez le bienvenu, Sylvain !

 

[pavhav]

Welcome to the forums. Look forward to seeing your work.

 

[SylvainM]

Welcome to the forums. Look forward to seeing your work.

Thanks. Will show my work soon

 

[SylvainM]

Hi all,
As requested several times, here are a few pics of my recent work. Hope this is isn't a bad place to post those, otherwise I'm sure admins will let me know
Feel free to share your feelings !

Have a good day !

 

[Cooksathome]

Bienvenue du sud de la France ! J'aime beaucoup les couteaux d'office récemment publiés sur insta

 

[KasumiJLA]

@SylvainM you can create a thread about your work in the Work shop in Handiwork display section. This way it's gonna be easier to follow your journey and it's gonna be in the right place!

Don't forget to read the guideline of this sub-forum

 

[daveb]

@hogbackforge

This

 

[Thetalai]

Hi all,

As I just registered here is my intro post.
I'm Sylvain, a kitchen knifesmith based in France, just out of Paris. After a 15-ish years IT career, I've now been a professional maker since 2018. I'm focusing on kitchen knives (obviously ), forging blades out of european carbon steel essentially. Favourites include the pure 125SC (1.1563.01) and the mighty 115W8 (1.2442) as well as APEX Ultra a bit more recently. I have a taste for japanese-like blade shapes, going all the way from 70mm paring knives up to 350mm+ sujihiki.


Aside from occasionnaly showing my work, I joined the forum to share my experience where applicable, and obviously to learn from kitchen knives addicts

Speak soon !

Such a cool story! You’ve got to be brave changing your life like this….well done! Can’t wait to check your work out!

 

[SylvainM]

Such a cool story! You’ve got to be brave changing your life like this….well done! Can’t wait to check your work out!

Thanks. Well that takes some sacrifices but it is definitely worth it.
You can check out my work in a few posts I published in the Handiwork display desction (one with my name, one about a meteorite thingy, and one from yesterday about a weird bolster, which by the way is available ).