Paring Knives

[Gul_Dekar]

I own some fairly inexpensive paring knives (made by Victorinox) and have been trying to learn some decorative knife cuts for interest. However, I find the paring knives need to be honed or even sharpened pretty frequently to use them with ease. Recently I got a gift voucher at a kitchenware store from some friends and was wondering if I should spend the money on a better paring knife. So my question is, how much a difference would say, a Henkels Professional-S paring knife (Henkels is all the store has...) make compared to the ones I currently own? I guess maybe it's obvious due to the price but just looking for opinions. Thanks!

[Lynn Dinwoodie]

Certainly having one really good heavy duty paring knife is important as long as you sharpen often..

however having said that..we find that in our kitchen we go thru pairing knives like popcorn..part of it is because of the heavy duty industrial soaps that we use in the commercial steralizer.....I know ..you should not put knives in the dishwasher..but in a commercial kitchen..and they do become pitted etc...so I must say...I do go thru a lot of inexpesive paring knives....a cheap price to pay for lovely clean sharp cuts......

[DRColby]

Do you have - or have you ever tried - a bird's beak paring knife?

Dave

[iriee]

if you want a really nice paring knife,,try a global. i have there basic paring knife and its really nice. much more weight and balance than a basic victorinox.

[Irishgirl]

I can't be bothered to buy expensive paring knives....

For me:

- they usually are more difficult to work with for doing intricate things...(I have small hands and like a thin handle in a paring knife.)

- my $7 victorinox sharpens faster and easier than the Henckels that I used to have.

- Paring knives easily get misplaced or thrown in the garbage by accident...(sweeping the pile of parings in the garbage)

I have never had a problem with my $7 knife.

I would put your gift voucher to better use.

[Fat Guy]

While I like my Wusthof bird's beak paring knife very much, I can't say it actually does anything better than a Victorinox, Forschner, whatever. The inexpensive (relatively) stamped knives from those manufacturers are excellent pieces of kitchen equipment -- they're economical in price but not cheap in construction.

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

For me, it really depends upon what I'm using the knife for that dictates which of mine I choose. I use a Victorinox a lot...works great, but if I'm going to be doing a lot of paring or turning, I tend to use my Shun. Part of that is just the feel of that knife in my hand...it's a heck of a lot more comfortable.

[Gul_Dekar]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Really appreciate it. I'll probably spend the voucher on something else given the general consensus here. I suppose I just need to practice a lot more to get better at paring/turning etc. using the paring knives I have now. I actually have both a regular and bird's beak, so I think I should be alright.

[joiei]

I have a Sabatier that I use for specific carving purposes, otherwise after losing too many expensive paring knives, I now use inexpensive ones. They do the same basic work for a lot less and if it disappears, it is not $30+ gone.

[Matt_T]

OK, collected wisdon says you can get by with two knives: a large cook's knife of some type, and a paring knife. The various types of cook's knives - French, German, Santuko, Gyuto, Chinese cleaver - have been pretty well covered here. But what about the paring knives? What's up with all the styles?

Why would someone want a sheepsfoot paring knife? It looks like it's meant for chopping on the board....by someone without knuckles. The birds beak I think I understand, but what about these newish parers that look like tiny santukos?

I've probably bought a dozen parers of various shapes and sizes at the discount store in recent years, for my home kitchen and for work, and have decided my personal favorite for what I tend to use a paring knife for is a spear or clip point about 3.25" long. But I'm wondering about these other shapes....there must be some techniques I've never heard of that they're intended for.

Anybody care to run down the uses for the various types of parers, or point to an article somewhere that discusses them?

MT

Edited July 24, 2007 by Matt_T (log)

[Matt_T]

And by the way I have seen the quick rundowns manufacturers provide on the applications for the different types....for example this page from Wusthof. I'm wondering more about personal experiences, reasons why I should shop for more paring knives to try new tricks with.

MT

[Darren72]

Cooks Illustrated recently tested a variety of pairing knives. Their full report is only available to subscribers to the website, www.cooksillustrated.com.

Here is a free summary of their report, via MSNBC

Pairing knife

Why you need it: When you need more dexterity and precision than a chef's knife can provide  — such as when you're peeling and coring apples, coring tomatoes, deveining shrimp, or removing patches of fat from a roast.

What to look for: The blade should be flexible for easy maneuvering in tight spots (such as tomato cores) or for handling curves (when peeling apples).

Best buy: Forschner Victorinox Fibrox 3.25-Inch Paring Knife ($4.95 at cutleryandmore.com)

Our testers loved the great flexibility of this knife, which slid under silver skin on a roast easily and turned the curve of an apple nicely. Knife is very lightweight and blade is super-thin and razor-sharp.

I have a slightly larger version of this knife that also has a wood handle. I love it. I think it was $10.

[srhcb]

I have several paring knives, but about the only thing I ever use one for is cutting a cold stick of butter in half to fit into my butter dish.

SB (Pares not, lest he be pared )

[russ parsons]

hmm, i use a paring knife and a chef's knife almost equally. i use the paring knife for a lot of vegetable work and, of course, mincing garlic and shallots. the one i've got is about 6 inches long, carbon steel, an old French knife that seems to fit my hand better than any other knife i own.

[weinoo]

hmm, i use a paring knife and a chef's knife almost equally. i use the paring knife for a lot of vegetable work and, of course, mincing garlic and shallots. the one i've got is about 6 inches long, carbon steel, an old French knife that seems to fit my hand better than any other knife i own.

←

Wow, at that length is it still called a paring knife, Russ?

And is a paring knife called a "petty" knife in Japan?

[russ parsons]

it is by me. what else would you call it? and actually, i just measured it and it's 7 1/4 inches long--although 4 1/4 inches of that is handle. it's very thin, about 3/8 at the widest.

[Palladion]

it is by me. what else would you call it? and actually, i just measured it and it's 7 1/4 inches long--although 4 1/4 inches of that is handle. it's very thin, about 3/8 at the widest.

Oh, ok. So the blade is only three inches long. When I read your original post, I also thought that you were talking about a knife with a blade 6 inches long.

I think Japanese petty knives tend to be a little longer than Western paring knives, say, 4.5 to 5.5 inches or so.

[Octaveman]

A few Japanese makers do have small "paring" knives but most stick to "petty's" that start at about 110mm and go to 150mm. Shun, Hattori, Misono, Al Mar, Kasumi, MAC, Dojo make small parers starting around 70mm (2.75").

[paulraphael]

Unlike chef's knives, I'm happy to use just about any pairing knife as long as it's sharp. When I finally had to put a new edge on mine (a 3-1/2" Schaff) I tapered it to 15 degrees ... very sharp. This would be too fragile for a lot of purposes, but I only use the pairing knife for light duty things like coring and trimming. So it holds up fine.

I find this makes a big difference ... allows me to do things like cut out stems of strawberries with almost no pressure, just by turning the berry into the blade. This kind of task feels a lot safer when you don't ever have to push hard.

[lindag]

I need a new 4" parring knife with an Asian blade.  Do you have any recommendations?

I know there some sharp knife enthusiasts among us.

[ElsieD]

I have this one, the 4 1/2" Wustoff Classic and am very happy with it.  

[blue_dolphin]

39 minutes ago, lindag said:

I need a new 4" parring knife with an Asian blade.  Do you have any recommendations?

I know there some sharp knife enthusiasts among us.

Any chance you can link to a photo that shows the Asian blade?  I’m curious what it looks like an how it’s used. 
 

My paring knife went missing so I bought this cheapie Victorinox paring knife (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

It scared my old one out of hiding but it’s been handy to have a spare. 

[lindag]

6 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I have this one, the 4 1/2" Wustoff Classic and am very happy with it.  

I really like the look of that knife but I want an Asian blade for the extra sharpness

[ElsieD]

I guess that is not what you want, but it is advertised and sold as an Asian Utility knife.  Are you looking for an Asian brand?

[C. sapidus]

I have a Tojiro petty (paring knife) and have been quite happy with it, along with our Tojiro chicken boning knife. Other manufacturers may be better entries in a "my knife is sharper than yours" contest () but I have found Tojiro to be easily sharp enough for everything I need to do, quite durable, and excellent value.

 

Tojiro petty (clicky)

 

^ I did not do a price check, so other sources may be less expensive. Good luck with whatever you choose!