Paring Knives

[lindag]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

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?

Noy necessarily, just want a knife with an Asian (15 degree blade) 

[lindag]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

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

Oh, I should take another look

 

[weinoo]

I think any blade can be brought to a 15° bevel - so isn't your best bet is to start with a Japanese paring/petty knife?

 

Here's one that's almost 15 right out of the box...https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/shun-hikari-4-inch-paring-knife/

 

 

 

 

[dscheidt]

3 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

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!

 

We have one of those, along with a shorter one.   It's a nice knife, sharpens pretty easily, stays sharp a decent time, okay but not great handle.  It's a bit longer than what @lindag asked for (~4.75").  I think the shorter one is a 90mm (little over 3.5").  They have gotten quite a bit more expensive since I got ours, there may be better values these days, but I haven't looked at knives lately.   the victorinox parers @blue_dolphin linked to are excellent values, we have a few of those.  They're super thin and a little flexy.  They sharpen very easily and take a great edge, and for $10 or so, they're hard to beat.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, lindag said:

Noy necessarily, just want a knife with an Asian (15 degree blade) 

 

I consulted the Wusthof site today and they say the bevel on their European style knives is 14.9 degrees and on their Asian style knives the bevel is 10 degrees.  I have a couple Wusthof Le Cordon Blue paring knives (no longer in production) and I prefer the Le Cordon Blue to the Classic series because of the gigantic bolster on the Classic.  If I wanted another Wusthof pairing knife I would choose the Ikon.  Not only are the bolsters better but the handles are longer than the Classic and to me more comfortable.

 

However if I really wanted a pairing knife I would go with Watanabe.  I have two Watanabe knives and they are superlative.  There are three pairing knives on this page, one of which is out of stock:

https://www.kitchen-knife.jp/special/petiteknife.htm

 

Those three are double bevel, but if you wanted to know the exact angle you could write and ask him.

 

Other than that I have an almost antique paring knife from Chicago Cutlery from back when Chicago Cutlery made knives and was not just a brand name as sadly it is today.  I reserve mine only for scarifying loaves.  I also have a MAC paring knife.  The MAC is sharp and cuts OK, but it is too light.  For me the MAC does not spark joy. 

 

Have fun on your search!

 

 

Edit:  the Wusthof knife @ElsieD shared I believe is this one:

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

I was surprised it does not have the typical bolster of the Classic series European style paring knives.

 

Edited August 21 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[Rickbern]

I love this little paring knife from Japanese Knife Imports. Super pointy blade, really sharp, I actually have the 105 but only the 90 is in stock now 

 

https://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/products/gesshin-90mm-paring-knife?srsltid=AfmBOorEaWEHT42ChTriHHtbU6kalH4_njLXaZBIBEjtUZ-WURZrk_ir

 

action shot of me degerming garlic:

Edited August 21 by Rickbern (log)

[Shel_B]

I have this same knife, this cheapie Victorinox paring knife (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  I bought it for Sweetie some years ago and eventually inherited it, and have been using it for a few years. The handle recently got damaged and I'm looking for an upgrade.

 

I prefer a knife with more heft and better balance than the Victorinox, and am comfortable spending about $35.00 or so.  I feel that the Victorinox is a good value. Sweetie loved it.

 

Any suggestions?

[Rickbern]

59 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

I have this same knife, this cheapie Victorinox paring knife (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  I bought it for Sweetie some years ago and eventually inherited it, and have been using it for a few years. The handle recently got damaged and I'm looking for an upgrade.

 

I prefer a knife with more heft and better balance than the Victorinox, and am comfortable spending about $35.00 or so.  I feel that the Victorinox is a good value. Sweetie loved it.

 

Any suggestions?

I’ve never used them but I’ve always been intrigued by Opinel

 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Opines+paring&rh=n%3A8521791011&ref=nb_sb_noss

[lindag]

Update:

After some deliberation I settled on this knife.

The specifications were tight on and the handle fits my hand perfectly.

Sadly, I just missed the sale. 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

42 minutes ago, lindag said:

Update:

After some deliberation I settled on this knife.

The specifications were tight on and the handle fits my hand perfectly.

Sadly, I just missed the sale. 

 

 

I looked just now and the knife was still on sale.

 

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Update:

After some deliberation I settled on this knife.

The specifications were tight on and the handle fits my hand perfectly.

Sadly, I just missed the sale. 

 

Nice!

[AAQuesada]

On 8/20/2025 at 9:17 AM, lindag said:

I know there some sharp knife enthusiasts among us.

 

Misono is a very reputable company that many chef's use and I would recommend with out reservation. 

https://japanesechefsknife.com/products/misono-molybdenum-steel-knives-series-paring-80mm3-1-inch

 

My friend Jon over at JKI also has a great little paring knife, which is unfortunately sold out at the moment but I'll add the link for posterity.

 

https://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/collections/petty-knife/products/gesshin-90mm-paring-knife

[lindag]

16 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I looked just now and the knife was still on sale.

 

Yes, but I bought before the sale.

[paulraphael]

On 8/21/2025 at 6:41 PM, Shel_B said:

I have this same knife, this cheapie Victorinox paring knife (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  I bought it for Sweetie some years ago and eventually inherited it, and have been using it for a few years. The handle recently got damaged and I'm looking for an upgrade.

 

I prefer a knife with more heft and better balance than the Victorinox, and am comfortable spending about $35.00 or so.  I feel that the Victorinox is a good value. Sweetie loved it.

 

Any suggestions?

The chef who taught me knife skills didn't blink at spending $500 on a gyuto or a Japanese single-bevel knife. But he made fun of me for spending $50 on a pairing knife. He believed the best pairing knife was the cheap Victorinox you're using. It has a very thin blade that slips through everything. He never found a high-end knife with such thin geometry. 

 

Victorinox steel is pretty good and is relatively easy to sharpen. But my friend didn't bother sharpening the pairing knives. When they got dull they'd go into a junk drawer and he'd get a new one. Hard to beat for $8.

[Shel_B]

4 hours ago, paulraphael said:

He believed the best pairing knife was the cheap Victorinox you're using. It has a very thin blade that slips through everything. He never found a high-end knife with such thin geometry. 

 

Victorinox steel is pretty good and is relatively easy to sharpen. But my friend didn't bother sharpening the pairing knives. When they got dull they'd go into a junk drawer and he'd get a new one. Hard to beat for $8.

 

And there's my dilema, such as it is. I appreciate the Victorinox - and have several of their knives - but I'm also a tactile person and the way something feels is also important.

[btbyrd]

The best upgrade from a Victorinox is probably an Opinel or a Robert Herder. These have thin bladestock that makes the Vic parer so desirable, but with better handles and ergonomics. I also like the Wusthof grand prix paring knife that I was gifted for similar reasons but I'd probably buy a Herder if I was starting from scratch and wanted something nice.

 

I have a lot of small knives and those are the main ones I'd recommend for a Western cook looking for a normal paring knife to do in-hand and some on-board work. The paring knife isn't really a thing in Japanese kitchens, but the Mac Pro is perhaps the most recommended Japanese paring knife. Tojiro makes a good one too, but the Mac Pro gets the most love. The Gesshin/Japanese Knife Imports ones are nice for some things - they're the pointiest knives around - but they're quite different from Western knives in that they have a highly asymmetrical edge bevel. They also have cheap plastic handles that I've been meaning to replace for several years. Anyway, they're relatively inexpensive, sharpen well, and are an interesting change of pace. Nice to have if you've already got the traditional version covered. 

[haresfur]

If you want a Japanese paring knife, as opposed to a petty, you could go with this Minke whale* now on sale at Chef's Edge

 

* Other whales also available

 

[Shel_B]

On 8/28/2025 at 9:35 PM, btbyrd said:

The best upgrade from a Victorinox is probably an Opinel or a Robert Herder.

Thanks for the recommendation. I looked into the Opinel and liked what I found. Ordered a set of 112s ... price is right, loved the wooden handle, and the thin stainless blade fit my preference. The price was a bonus, about the same price as the Victorinox. And it'll fit perfectly into my knife block.

 

I also found an Opinel that would be a nice gift for a friend of mine.

[dscheidt]

On 8/26/2025 at 9:28 PM, paulraphael said:

The chef who taught me knife skills didn't blink at spending $500 on a gyuto or a Japanese single-bevel knife. But he made fun of me for spending $50 on a pairing knife. He believed the best pairing knife was the cheap Victorinox you're using. It has a very thin blade that slips through everything. He never found a high-end knife with such thin geometry. 

 

Victorinox steel is pretty good and is relatively easy to sharpen. But my friend didn't bother sharpening the pairing knives. When they got dull they'd go into a junk drawer and he'd get a new one. Hard to beat for $8.

 

They'll also take a wicked sharp edge if you work at it a bit.  they don't hold that edge very long, but it only takes a few seconds to get it back.  I toss them when I've taken a little bit off the width, right when they don't cut against a board well anymore.  I don't do a whole lot of actual intricate paring, If I did they could go a lot longer. 

[dcarch]

When it comes to knifes, I always consider the following:

 

1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.

2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut.

3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.

4. Tool steel is so hard and so cheap, it is used to make tools to cut other metals. Some knife makers just use cheap files to make very good knifes.

5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .

6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.

 

So I make my own knives.

 

dcarch

Edited 4 hours ago by dcarch (log)

[btbyrd]

 

Town Cutler scalpel, Messermeister NSF Vic-like paring knife, Paraplui A Le’Epreuve Perfect Parer carbon, Kom Kom Thai fruit carving knives, 2 Gesshin pointy bois, 95mm Saji R2 Ironwood, Misono UX10 120mm petty, Yamashin 105mm tall petty in White no 1. I don’t know where my Wusthof has gotten off to, but I think I’ll be okay for now.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by btbyrd (log)

[rotuts]

 

Granton Knives , Sheffield , England .

 

Thin , very high quality steel .  hold edge . w the EdgePro , you can shave w these knives .

 

https://grantonknives.co.uk/

 

get their catalogue .   I have many others .  not that expensive considering the craftsmanship and steel.

 

all have Red Handles .

 

very nice.

 

[TdeV]

11 hours ago, Shel_B said:

Thanks for the recommendation. I looked into the Opinel and liked what I found. Ordered a set of 112s ... price is right, loved the wooden handle, and the thin stainless blade fit my preference. The price was a bonus, about the same price as the Victorinox. <snip>

 

Shel, how does one display the model number (i.e. 112) ?

[paulraphael]

5 hours ago, dcarch said:

When it comes to knifes, I always consider the following:

 

1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.

2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut.

3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.

4. Tool steel is so hard and so cheap, it is used to make tools to cut other metals. Some knife makers just use cheap files to make very good knifes.

5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .

6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.

 

So I make my own knives.

 

dcarch

 

1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.

They get dull. I don't sharpen them because I don't know how. And the best ones I've ever used (Kuhn Rikon Y-peelers) are so cheap I just get a new 3-pack once a year or so.

 

2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut.

That's why they can have such sharp knives. They're sharp in the first place because they're single-bevel blades with a very acute bevel angle; they're made with fine-grained steel (almost always low-alloy, high-purity carbon steel that has superior edge stability at high hardness), and the chefs themselves are excellent sharpeners who sharpen the knives after every shift.

 

3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.

There are many kinds of carbon steels and stainless steels, and some of the best knife steels are very expensive. A blank made of some steels costs more than what many people are willing to pay for a finished knife. 

 

5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .

Most metals cannot be made razor-sharp. Most knife steels can't be made razor sharp. If you're speaking literally, a razor needs an a tip radius that's close to the minimum possible for a very fine-grained steel. Otherwise it will give a rough and uncomfortable shave. 

 

If you're using "razor-sharp" colloquially, to just mean "pretty damn sharp," then sure, you can get most steels pretty damn sharp. But if you look at both edge geometry and edge fineness in appraising sharpness (which you should; they're both important) then steels are very unequal in their ability to form a usable sharp edge, and to sustain it through use without chipping or rolling. They're also very unequal in how easy they are to sharpen. 

 

6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.

Maybe. If you do something dumb while cutting or sharpening, you're more likely to just create a big tedious repair job for yourself. Or for someone expensive. 

[paulraphael]

37 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

 

Town Cutler scalpel, Messermeister NSF Vic-like paring knife, Paraplui A Le’Epreuve Perfect Parer carbon, Kom Kom Thai fruit carving knives, 2 Gesshin pointy bois, 95mm Saji R2 Ironwood, Misono UX10 120mm petty, Yamashin 105mm tall petty in White no 1. I don’t know where my Wusthof has gotten off to, but I think I’ll be okay for now.

 

 

How do you like the Gesshins? I'm interested in those. The shop is mysterious about the steel used for the stainless versions, but I'm inclined to trust them.