# K Sabatier steel?



## deanb (May 4, 2013)

Just for grins, I bought a 10" K Sab carbon chef's knife. I've been watching some old Julia Child vids and those carbon Sabs that she used looked so cool. I'm trying not to compare it to Japanese knives and judge it on it's own merits.

The F and F are very good. It's soft (HRC 54-56) but it takes a very wicked edge. Balance point is about 1/2" in front of the bolster but there is that pesky bolster. 

It took a nice blue patina with warm rare beef but when I sliced a lemon the patina disappeared where the lemon touched the blade. I only have 3 other carbon knives and 2 of those are made from 52100. They were more difficult to get a patina and are surely less reactive to lemon (acids?) than the K Sab. I look it up and 52100 has 1.3-1.6% chromium. I cannot find what the makeup of the K Sab is but I'm thinking it may have no chromium. If anybody knows what the composition of the K Sab steel is, I thank you in advance.


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## GlassEye (May 4, 2013)

I was just using my recently acquired 12" chef and had the same question. Does any else's K sab have clouds, mine has a subtle, almost damascus look over the entire blade.


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## Benuser (May 4, 2013)

IIRC, they use XC75. No Cr added. 

http://coustil.free.fr/metal_coutel_fr.html

By the way: the finger guard is not really a problem if, from the first sharpening on, you level it with the relief bevel.


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## deanb (May 5, 2013)

Benuser said:


> IIRC, they use XC75. No Cr added.
> 
> http://coustil.free.fr/metal_coutel_fr.html
> 
> By the way: the finger guard is not really a problem if, from the first sharpening on, you level it with the relief bevel.


Thank you, just what I was looking for.


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## Vangelis (May 5, 2013)

Thanks from me as well. i have been wondering what stell K-Sab is using. I bought mine few months back and I love it. It is very easy to sharpen, although the edge isn't the strongest.

It has a very beautiful patina - a nice blueish -.


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## Benuser (May 5, 2013)

You're most welcome, guys. When you want the edge to get stronger without losing performance, you might consider a single microbevel à la Jon Broida:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&gl=NL&hl=en&p=EBF55079F53216AB&v=xwnFrjiAA_8

It allows you to work with an edge the steel would normally barely hold.


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## deanb (May 5, 2013)

Benuser said:


> You're most welcome, guys. When you want the edge to get stronger without losing performance, you might consider a single microbevel à la Jon Broida:
> 
> http://m.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&gl=NL&hl=en&p=EBF55079F53216AB&v=xwnFrjiAA_8
> 
> It allows you to work with an edge the steel would normally barely hold.



Great vid from Jon. Never heard of a single microbevel.


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## deanb (May 5, 2013)

GlassEye said:


> I was just using my recently acquired 12" chef and had the same question. Does any else's K sab have clouds, mine has a subtle, almost damascus look over the entire blade.



Where did you find the 12" carbon K Sab?


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## GlassEye (May 5, 2013)

deanb said:


> Where did you find the 12" carbon K Sab?



The Sabatier Outlet in Yemassee, South Carolina, the guy said he has been in that little shop for about 30 years. http://www.sabatieroutlet.com. I know he has more if your are looking for one, I was looking at the few he had on display and he brought out a box full of them so I could pick the exact one I wanted, he also had a carbon pig splitter on sale that I almost had to get.


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## Benuser (May 13, 2013)

Vangelis said:


> It is very easy to sharpen, although the edge isn't the strongest.
> 
> It has a very beautiful patina - a nice blueish -.


Another trick: don't hesitate to apply some pressure until you reach the finest grit. Hope it helps.


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## Gator (Jul 9, 2013)

Benuser said:


> IIRC, they use XC75. No Cr added.
> 
> http://coustil.free.fr/metal_coutel_fr.html
> ...


Thanks for the link  I dug up 3 alloys in there that were not in the knife steel database. 
If you have any other sources with French or whatever steels used in knifes not present in my database I'd be very interested


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## Benuser (Jul 9, 2013)

It was purely coincidental, I'm afraid!


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## Gator (Jul 10, 2013)

Well, you still have my thank you. If you stumble upon something like that, lemme know  I don't read French and running searches with translated texts is painful and quite ineffective.


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