Anyone using a Harner "stabber"?

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XooMG

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Sorry if the question is inappropriate or misplaced.

I've been looking for a shorter knife to complement my 210mm gyuto and 170mm cleaver, and I stumbled across some shorter knives by L.R. Harner that were sold by Lefty's store:

http://sharpandshinyshop.com/collections/found-a-home/products/butch-harner-90mm-3-5-parer-utility

I found the profile very appealing and thought it might fill a niche as a small knife for mostly board work and the occasional paring task. My kitchen is very tiny and even a shortish 210mm gyuto can be awkwardly big when working with garlic or ginger or other small stuff. However, I'm a novice and understand my intuition may be way off.

I was wondering if anyone's picked up one of these from Tom or from Butch directly, what you use it for, and how you like it. That'd help a bit. Butch actually emailed me saying he wasn't sure what people used them for, but that they were well-liked.

Thanks in advance.
 
Lefty just had a contest for a new run of these....I had to bow out of the second running because I just got a parer
 
Lefty just had a contest for a new run of these....I had to bow out of the second running because I just got a parer
I thought his contest was for more dedicated paring knife, which is narrower at the heel than the "stabby things" as Mr. Harner called them.
 
oh I didn't notice the difference they look pretty similar and anything that Lefty promotes on his website I'm sure is a good knife
 
They're different knives. One's a parer, the other is a...well...I dunno what. i finally figured out what I was gently trying to say to you in the emails. The Stabber is more of a knife that you find tasks for because it's fun, thin and different than any other knife in your kitchen. It's great for garlic, trimming and cutting wrap, sous-vide bags, etc, and does a really nice job on coring out strawberries. I think it's a knife that people who don't need any more petty knives buy and enjoy. I'd likely opt for a mini gyuto, or 150mm petty, but that's just me. I should point out that this is not a knock on these knives (I sell them), but more me trying to get you into a knife that makes more sense in your situation.
 
Lefty just had a contest for a new run of these....I had to bow out of the second running because I just got a parer

These are two different knives. One is a paring knife that Lefty and Butch designed and Butch produced. It was inspired by the Sabatier Nogent paring knife.



The knife the OP is asking about is a paring/utility knife that is of Butch's design.



Now, to answer the OP's question. My wife loves the "Stabber", and grabs it whenever she wants to cut anything. On the other hand, I find myself reaching for either a gyuto or a paring knife. The "Stabber" doesn't have enough flat spot for me to use it on a board, and it is just a tad too tall at the heel to be comfortable for in-hand use. YMMV.

Rick
 
Thanks Rick!

With the side by side comparison and someones actual insight on the knife I now see how it is different and a lot taller on the heel...My bad never meant for the skewed perception of the knife
 
Thanks to both Rick and Tom for the clarification. I'm glad I asked first instead of rushing to order. I'll keep giving it some thought, though, since it is quite a cool-looking little knife.
 
Just saw that this thread got moved to my sub-forum. Good call... Sorry for posting as I did. That was my bad. :)
 
It's a cool little knife, I keep mine for SV bags on line, she is nice and pointy and hasn't hit a board yet hehe.
 
I just bought a stabber from lefty. I love the handle size and shape, feels secure in my hand with the extra length and doesn't float around like a smaller paring knife would. I'm trying to decide what I like better between that and the ealy I have. I found the harner does well for me in hand work but for peeling hard fruit you have to peel toward the tip as it is quite tall. I haven't deveined shrimp yet with it which will be the real test for me as that's mainly what I use a paring knife for.
 
I'd love to try the other two ones I've been eyeing (butch's new sabatier paring knife and ealy's new slim design) but frankly I just don't use paring knives a ton. When I worked on a small line, I used a 210 petty with 180 nakiri, worked fine for me.
 
how do you like the Ealy I just got one from another member getting it today probably
 
great little knife, handle feels a bit short/thin at first but I haven't used it too much, will report back soon.
 
Thanks everyone for the information. While I still like the style a lot, I've decided to try to go a different direction. Now I'm in line for one of the new style Ealy parers, and Mr. Harner might still do a project with me regarding a smaller board-oriented knife. That ought to cover all my bases (except a bread knife), though a part of me still wishes to upgrade my cheap Chinese cleaver with a hard thin nakiri or something.

Thanks again!
Robert.
 
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