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Claude Dozorme

The story began in 1902 in La Monnerie, close to Thiers, France. Blaise Dozorme, an expert steel worker, decided to use his expertise to create a small knife-making workshop in his home.  His entrepreneurial spirit coupled with a dominant personality resulted in his peers naming him « The Wolf » which a few decades later became the Claude Dozorme logo.  Over 100 years after Blaise Dozorme began his journey Claude Dozorme is known world wide as the creator of luxurious, high fashion French products from his workshop located in Thiers, known as the Capital of the French cutlery.

Today, the history of a Claude Dozorme knife is inseparable from the choice of steel. Exceptional cutting edge, simple sharpening, hardness of the blade… These are all qualities that are inherent to the steel used to make the knife. The steel undergoes a strict selection process to ensure it is fully conform to the brand’s quality requirements. 

The steel first undergoes a dual heat treatment, quenching, a high-precision operation that strengthens the blade’s mechanical properties and modifies the steel’s molecular composition. The blade then goes on to the hardness test, followed by grinding. This step, which consists in grinding the blade to refine it, gives the future blade its long life, a durable sharp edge, the quality of its cutting power and the possibility of re-sharpening the blade several times after use.

This is why the Claude Dozorme firm takes exceptional care over the grinding step in particular (blade grinding). In earlier times, this operation was done manually. Today, this crucial step in developing blade edge is optimized using high-precision, digitally-controlled grinding machines.

The blade then goes to the polishing workshop to be given its brilliant, shiny finish. The next step is to afix the "French Bee" that will decorate the back of the knife, while others still will receive one or more bolsters, riveted metal parts that decorate the handle. Most of these steps are done entirely manually, requiring high-precision, sophisticated work by qualified artisan knife-makers.

 

 

Locals still remember the hundreds of grinders who sharpened blades lying on their stomachs above the millstones with a small dog lying on their legs to keep them warm. 

This position was specific to the French cutlery industry.


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Claude Dozorme

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