Sabatier 5" forged serrated utility knife

I ordered this little knife weeks ago and forgot about it until it turned up the other day.
It was only £17 delivered and is not bad quality for a budget model.
Of course it is made in China but is nevertheless heavy for it`s size at 69 grams or roughly 2 1/2 ounces.
It is full-tang 3 rivets with full bolster and black plastic handle like a lot of classic French, German, English and American kitchen knives.
Personally I can`t abide full bolsters because it is virtually impossible to sharpen the whole blade evenly; hence my preference for Asian knives.Living in the Far East changed my opinions of knives and any sharp tool in general.
I have a Kuhn Rikon 5" serrated that is not as well built, lighter and more expensive than this one.
I`m guessing the steel is about mid 60`s HRC which is a budget Chinese steel called X45 Cro Mo V15
so should be reasonably durable.

The K Sabatiers made in Theirs, France are much better but are 4-5 times the price.
So how does it perform - not too bad actually.
It can slice a ripe mini plum tomato into 4-5 slices for something that is less than an inch thick which will do me.

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Thanks Jim I find serrated knives are occasionally very useful like my bread knives.



Most of my knives are Chinese budget ones made with softer steels but that doesn`t bother me at all
; I just do them on a steel for a few strokes or a quick scrape on my 400/1000 diamond whetstone and they`re good to go.
I need to get more Japanese Atoma diamond plates I only have the #140 - I need the finer ones.

 

I had loaned my 4" Henckels paring knife to a custom knife maker. Never got it back! So I recently replaced it with a new one off Amazon. Made in Spain. Just didn't feel right. So I bought a vintage one off eBay. Surprisingly different. Also made in Spain. Felt and looked just like my old one. So I wasn't wrong with the difference in feel with a brand new Henckels.

I'm not a fan of serrated. Except for bread. I think it may have been Burns Manufacturing out of Syracuse NY that began the serrated chef knife. Maybe?

 

Yep serrated is best for bread knives Wagner the Wehrwolf.
The knife blades used in professional bakeries look like this and are on commercial bread slicers.

I just have two manual Appalachian fiddle bow knives which are unsurpassed for hot soft bread with a thick crust.
The serrated blades are only 1/16th of an inch thick with a BESS rating of about 50 - a shaving sharp knife is about 80-100 on the BESS scale - so as sharp as a slightly dull razor blade.
The individual blades for fiddle bow knives are unavailable in England so I had to buy a blade from Canada which is crazy.
You can buy the whole knife in the UK ; but not replacement or spare blades.

Saying that though the blades last a long time - I know a lady that has a bow knife for slicing her hot sourdough and artisan loaves and it still works fine even though it is from the mid seventies and it`s the original blade !

 

Yes I know Henckels knives - they`re brilliant so are the other quality German makes like Wusthof, Messermeister, Boker, Horl, AG Russell, Herder, Gude Alpha etc.
The custom hand- made Herder and Gudes are mega.
Of course a lot of them are quite expensive but they are heirloom knives.

I`m looking for antique Grant and sons, Wilkinson and Ragg - Sheffield, England knives from the early 17th to 19th Century now.

 

I think I just got the same 4" Henckels paring knife as you Wagner the Wehrwolf
Is it this one my good man?

I got it because it`s a heavy, forged, full tang and triple rivetted with a thick bolster so will not flex unduly and will last forever because it is a well-established quality German manufacturer.
I had no decent German knives until now.
I only get amazing budget Chinese models - I buy my lady quite good Japanese cutlery and handmade Sheffield scissors - she`s worth it !
How do you find the knife in use Wagner if you don`t mind me asking ?

 

Well Wagner the Wehrwolf, my little Zwilling / Henckels Pro 4 inch paring knife landed today and I totally love it and so does my other half.
It is my first decent German forged knife and it`s so balanced and nimble for little jobs.
My other ones are nowhere near the quality and I think it was worth it.
I`ve borrowed and used little Henckels, Sabatiers and Wusthof`s before but never owned one - until now.
Will I get more forged, full tang, triple rivetted, full bolster traditionally shaped European knives ?
Probably not because I have been using Asian knives for too long - over 40 years.
I gradually became "Easternised" and I even have family in Mainland China.

 

Here's a comparison. Top is from the 1980s exactly the same as the one I lost to a knife maker. That one was from the early 90s. Sadly this 80s version I bought off eBay has a slightly cracked handle.

The bottom one is brand new ordered off Amazon a few weeks ago.

Ever so slightly different. Seem to be the same thickness and overall shape. The new knife has many sharp edges along the handle so I would say factory finishing was better last century. You can see the bolsters are slightly different, bigger on the new knife. I feel this changes the balance in the hand enough to be noticable. Different silk screen markings on the blades but both are made in Spain.

 

The bottom new one looks rougher finished to me - different steel and less processing - I don`t know ; i`m just guessing because labour/fuel/steel has gone up etc.
IMHO weight and steel quality and finish has gone down noticeably inexorably in the last couple of decades - sharply - to coin a pun Wagner the Wehrwolf.
I am just waiting for two English Savernake handmade 8" chef`s to come from a very delayed DPD local warehouse.
They`re a bit rounded and for rockers for me but I`m sure my brother will love the profile - he`s more Western than me, I`ve lived in East Asia long enough to change my opinions on knives and sharp tools in general forever - especially gardening tools and bonsai/florist scissors.
Heck they`ve been doing it in simple formulations but maximum execution carbon steels for nearly a thousand years - so plenty of practice there from the Japanese.
Same with the Indians, English, Germans, French and Vikings in Russia and Scandinavia.
But the Chinese have been forging knives for 4-5 millennia so time for me to read up on blacksmithing history and get my cousin to translate the salient points if I come across anomalies.

 

All three parers look very similar in profile Wagner.
No idea about weight and blade width/steel composition/ edge angle etc compared to your old ones.