Michel Bras

Cutlery from Michel Bras was conceived in the Laguiole area of France and like all knives designed in the region, each Michel Bras piece is marked with a playful bee. Williams-Sonoma offers this fine cutlery in sets as well as individually. The Michel Bras knives follow a number system so you always grab the right blade for the cutting board, and these blades do all the jobs, from the messiest, toughest de-boning to the most delicate bread slicing.

Several key details set Michel Bras knives apart from the competition. The handles are made in a French-Japanese fusion of black PakkaWood with a chestnut-shape that's easy to grip and control. The matte-finish blades have a tough stainless-steel core and flexible stainless-steel outer layers for long life and they’re coated in titanium to further protect the metal from oxidization. Each piece of cutlery is one of a kind and has its own serial number stamped on the blade to ensure authenticity and ownership. The fennel plant symbol is Michel Bras professional logo and is also artfully etched on each blade. Add a pair of Williams-Sonoma kitchen shears to one of the sets and you have cutting tools for anything.

Japanese craftspeople make the knives using a great deal of handcrafting in the process to create a knife that feels just right in the hand. The numbers on handle ends are hand-stamped rather than machine-etched so when knives are stored in a butcher block or other knife storage it’s easy to see which knife you need by the bold numbers that won’t wash away. When you own a set of Michel Bras knives you’ll quickly learn the numbers that correspond with the sizes, and you’ll develop your list of favorites that become the go-to cutlery for your routine and specialty knife work.

The 10-piece Michel Bras knife set has all of the cutlery you need for most tasks. The #1 is an ideal paring knife for peeling and coring veggies and fruits for the juicer and feels wonderfully lightweight in the hand. Knife #2 has a delicate blade meant for filet work and slicing through tender foods, while blade #3 is a larger slicing knife that’s indented on both sides to glide through foods. Slicing and dicing are the specialties of #4 with its thick convex blade to handle harvest or stew veggies. Knife #5 is a perfect carving knife designed to glide through meats without tearing it. For heavy-duty chopping and carving, # 6 has the surface area and the power to cut through the kitchen prep, while #7 is a wonderfully compact table knife all set for cutting up chops and steaks. The #8 boning knife is designed for more ease in cutting through bone and gristle to make shorter work of that task when making sausages or other boneless meat dishes.

For baked good and bread slicing you’ll adore Michel Bras #9, which is a long serrated bread knife designed to gently saw through breads and baked goods without leaving a lot of crumbs or tears behind. The other specialty blade in the collection is #10, and is a large cleaver for heavy pounding and cutting. The 10-piece set includes all of the above pieces, or you may order smaller starter sets of three to seven knives. A set of steak knives is also available and includes a maple storage sheath that has magnets to hold the knives safely inside a drawer or other furnishing.

It’s easy to care for these knives with simple hand washing and air drying. Citrus or other harsh cleaners are not recommended. If you keep the blades protected, and avoid cutting on hard surfaces like glass and metal, you should be able to get away with using a sharpener around once a year. You will want to hone the knives once a week for a touch up, but the Michel Bras knives will hold their edge through many hours of kitchen work and will always look and feel good in the hand while you’re doing all that labor.