Description
A Bryan Raquin chef’s knife is always of a special breed, and when a beast as elusive as a 300mm / 11.8” san mai butcher’s blade comes along, we are especially grateful to call Bryan one of the longest-standing Eatingtools bladesmiths. Forged by hand in his one-man studio in France’s Auvergne region, Bryan clads his well-loved 145sc (“super clean”) small-batch carbon steel with beautiful wrought iron, completing the remarkable instrument with a striking, high-contrast finish.
Polished through a progression of natural whetstones, the thin, razor-sharp edge shimmers beneath robust, convex kasumi bevels. Their foggy, matte sheen—achieved using Japanese finger stones—reveals the wrought iron’s alloy banding to beautiful effect. Above, Bryan’s dark signature flats retain a rough-to-the-touch texture that tells the story of the material’s hammered origins.
The blade’s long, straight edge sweeps upward to a pointed tip only in the final inches, performing superbly in the butcher’s or pitmaster’s hands, whether slicing and carving in the kitchen or tableside in the dining room. Completing the piece is the handle we’ve come to expect from Bryan: local, charred oak shaped into a comfortable octagonal wa form and finished with a wonderfully tactile surface chefs love.
