Sabatier Aîné & Perrier is said to be the oldest Sabatier knife maker still in
existence and operated by descendants of the original family located in Thiers,
France. This prestigious brand has been part of the heritage of Theirs, the
French Cutlery Trade Capital, for more than 150 Years, and we are very proud to
offer their line of Carbon knives - the "Gamme Vintage au Carbone" - at The
Healthy Butcher.
The following videos will take you through the process of making one of these
knives, and are an example of a genuinely forged knife (versus a stamped knife,
made using different techniques).
The Forging
Carbon steel
is cut into billets, then heated to 1150° centigrade to enable forging to take place. The red hot billets are carefully placed under a drop hammer in a 3-part mould which exactly corresponds to the size of knife in production.
Three blows of the massive drop hammer are needed, one in each section of the mould, to forge the billet into the required shape. Showers of sparks accompany this operation.
After forging, the knife is returned to the furnace and heated to 800° C to make it malleable once more, in order to trim the rough shape to the exact form required.
The tang is then pierced to take the rivets which will be used to maintain the handle on it.
Tempering
Tempering gives hardness to the knife to ensure a long lasting cutting edge. The knives are placed in special trays, and put into the furnace at 820° centigrade. After a period at these high temperatures, the knives are immediately placed into oil. The knives are then put back into the furnace to "return" hardness to the steel (200°-300° C). For the K-Sabatier Carbon knives, the straightness of each knife is verified one by one.
Grinding
The blade is passed on several times in a grinding machine to remove the maximum of metal by friction of the grinding stone on the blade knife and to arrive at the best smoothness of the edge. Another operation will consist in removing all the stripes caused by the grinding operation.
Bulk Polishing
This step in the process removes all the stripes caused by the grinding operation, and prepares the edge for sharpening.
Polishing
It is necessary to grind all the rough parts of the knife to remove calamine and to make them brilliant. Several tools (different forms and different angles) are necessary to grind the various parts of the knife (bolster, tang, corbin, chin and back).
Mounting the Handle, Final Polishing and Grinding
The handle is mounted on the tang of the knife, and bored for the passage of the rivets.
All visible parts of the knife are then polished.
Finally the last operation of manufacturing: a grinding stone is used to refine the edge.
