Sabatier ★★★★ Elephant
About the Idéal series in red pakkawood
Every knife in this series is forged in Thiers from one piece of steel: blade, bolster and tang together. This is the idéal construction, devised around 1920 by a smith named Dulac in La Monnerie, just up the valley, and adopted by the Sabatier makers as the standard for French kitchen knives.
The handle scales are pakkawood: thin birch veneers soaked in red resin and pressed into a dense block, fixed to the full tang with three rivets. It feels like wood but stands up much better to water. Most sizes come in stainless X50CrMoV15 or carbon C60 steel, all sharpened by hand by Thiers-Issard.
See the whole series · About Sabatier Elephant
Care
- Wash by hand and dry straight away. Never put it in the dishwasher: it dulls the edge, harms the handle and voids the Thiers-Issard warranty.
- Hone on a steel regularly; sharpen on a whetstone when honing no longer brings the edge back.
- Cut on a wooden or plastic board, never on glass, stone or a plate.
- Carbon steel version: wipe the blade dry after cutting, especially acidic foods, and expect it to darken. That gray patina protects the steel.