Bird's Beak Knives

[yummycrackers]

Inspired by panda's recent thread on paring knives, I was wondering what people's thoughts on bird's beak paring knives are. I've always used the little Victorinox one you can get for a few euros, but have obviously been wondering as to whether there might be a better alternative. Tried a Herder one but didn't like it all that much. Any ideas?

 

[Heckel7302]

Any potential benefit with that shape is outweighed by the PITA nature of sharpening them for me.

 

[stringer]

Inspired by panda's recent thread on paring knives, I was wondering what people's thoughts on bird's beak paring knives are. I've always used the little Victorinox one you can get for a few euros, but have obviously been wondering as to whether there might be a better alternative. Tried a Herder one but didn't like it all that much. Any ideas?

I used one once twenty years ago in a garde manger class in culinary school. Haven't really crossed my mind since then. Do you turn a lot of potatoes or something?

 

[jakuda]

I prefer the victorinox bird's beak (https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Classic-Paring-Shaping-Handle/dp/B000WL8DME) over my more expensive bird's beak Messermeister Meridian Elite, but it's pretty close in terms of comfort and performance when you have to collar and remove those triangles from a case of asparagus

 

[yummycrackers]

I used one once twenty years ago in a garde manger class in culinary school. Haven't really crossed my mind since then. Do you turn a lot of potatoes or something?

Thanks heavens no. But I actually use it instead of a regular paring knife. Just feels more intuitive for in-hand work, for some reason.

Sharpening is indeed a problem, one alleviated slightly by the lack of board contact. My Vics I just use a honing rod on sometimes. But I was actually thinking one of these might not be a terrible (if somewhat overthought) solution: https://www.ardennes-coticule.be/en/shop/bbw-vormstenen/bbw-multiform-132mm-45deg

 

[jakuda]

yeah I just use a fine grit (1200 or so) ceramic honing rod for my paring and bird's beak knives.

 

[stringer]

Thanks heavens no. But I actually use it instead of a regular paring knife. Just feels more intuitive for in-hand work, for some reason.

Sharpening is indeed a problem, one alleviated slightly by the lack of board contact. My Vics I just use a honing rod on sometimes. But I was actually thinking one of these might not be a terrible (if somewhat overthought) solution: https://www.ardennes-coticule.be/en/shop/bbw-vormstenen/bbw-multiform-132mm-45deg

I've always used the standard cheap paring knives. Last year I had HSC make me one. I love it. You could see if he could try to tackle a bird's beak profile for you. He's always up for a challenge

 

[stringer]

I've always used the standard cheap paring knives. Last year I had HSC make me one. I love it. You could see if he could try to tackle a bird's beak profile for you. He's always up for a challenge

Zwear I think. But I'm horrible at remembering.

 

[yummycrackers]

Zwear I think. But I'm horrible at remembering.

I saw that one in your chicken butchery video. Very cool, but probably beyond my European post-doc budget, alas.

 

[M1k3]

Zwear I think. But I'm horrible at remembering.

View attachment 316047

Cru-wear probably, but same thing, different name.

 

[yummycrackers]

After some more research, anyone have any experience with the Toijiro DP one? Looks like the heel might be a bit sharp.

 

[bsfsu]

I used one once twenty years ago in a garde manger class in culinary school. Haven't really crossed my mind since then. Do you turn a lot of potatoes or something?

I've always known them as tourné knives, and I don't like doing that....

 

[YumYumSauce]

We use bird beaks quite a bit actually. Lots of in hand work cleaning and trimming baby vegetables, asparagus, mushrooms, fruits, etc. I have a newfound appreciation for the knife style.

My chef uses the cheap vic's too. Replaces them every so often. Its probably top 3 used knives for him.
I've also been casually looking for a nicer one for myself, left hand friendly in my case.

 

[blokey]

We use bird beaks quite a bit actually. Lots of in hand work cleaning and trimming baby vegetables, asparagus, mushrooms, fruits, etc. I have a newfound appreciation for the knife style.

My chef uses the cheap vic's too. Replaces them every so often. Its probably top 3 used knives for him.
I've also been casually looking for a nicer one for myself, left hand friendly in my case.

I’m actually thinking buying this one, price is with VAT, they have discount if you buy another Robert Herder knife
https://www.knivesandtools.com/en/pt/-robert-herder-k0-peeling-knife-9730-1465-04.htm

 

[yummycrackers]

FWIW, I got a similar Herder bird's beak and didn't particularly like it. The Vic just felt better in hand.

 

[Absquatulate]

https://bernalcutlery.com/collectio...2-75-birds-beak-paring-carbon-steel-beechwood

I use this one for peeling and cutting fruit in hand for my kids. It's great. This will sound crazy but I found my chefs choice trizor electric sharpener to work great for this. I use stones for pretty much everything else but the pull through sharpener is able to get in to the edge on this great.

 

[240_Gyutos_Only]

I use my Messermeister meridian bird's beak a good amount. I like it because it is short and has a super fine tip, makes it easy to do certain things like remove potato eyes. Definitely not a required knife but I think it is worth having one since they are cheap and small, pretty easy to maintain with a sharpening rod until it gets really dull (I haven't ever gotten there yet). I don't think the tip will ever get dull unless you break it.

There are also applications where it happens to curve around a surface nicely, I use it to slice mangoes where it curves around the pit. Not sure if that is an efficient method, but it works for me.

 

[porcinecephalic]

bird's beak paring knife < bird's beak cleaver