Bernal Cutlery Hand Forged 9″ Plate Semelle Chef Knife 52100 Nickel Corby Bolts Antique Bone Handle

Inspired by our travels to important historical knife-making centers, this knife is inspired by the plate semelle work knife of Thiers, France, the heart of French knife-making.

This French-style plate semelle (flat plate) chef knife was hand forged by Bernal Cutlery resident knife-maker Elias Sideris in 52100 carbon steel with nickel corby bolts on a vintage cow bone handle. The blade has a nice distal taper and is ground with a good amount of convexity in the heel, getting thinner towards the tip half of the knife in the old French hand grinding style. 

The plate semelle design is a very old work knife design consisting of a forged blade tapering in thickness along the tang and blade from the beginning of the blade at the handle. Plate semelle knives would typically be handled in wood, horn, or, in this knife’s case, cow bone. 

Made as sturdy work knives this simple design is at the core of Thiers history as a center of practical knife making and is the reason Thiers was prepared to become the center of knife making in France after the revolution at a time when other competing knife-making towns were either in decline or not productive enough. 

Elias began blacksmithing in 2011 and worked for many years in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which has a very rich history of American knife and tool making, before moving to the Bay Area and joining Bernal Cutlery as a machinist and knife-maker.  Watch about it on our YouTube Channel; Read about it in our substack.