Cheap petty for a friend who only uses a paring knife...

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dklyve

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I was visiting a good buddy and knife talk eventually happened. His wife does all the cooking and she has a bunch of really bad knives. She told me she uses the smallest knife in her block because she has small hands. It was very sad to hear she has been preparing meals for the family with a paring knife. :cry:

So I want to get her a decent petty, but don't really want to spend a lot(I'm hoping I can try and convince her that a 210 gyuto with a smaller than average handle would really be the best). The knife she's been using is probably 90mm, I can't even imagine how she cuts a large onion. I thought a 150mm gesshin stainless from JKI would be great at $60, plus I could be assured the edge would be good after politely asking the JKI crew to give her a quick sharpen before they send it off. But alas it is out of stock! I haven't called yet to see if they will be back in stock anytime soon (they are closed today) but this poor lady shouldn't have to use a tiny dull knife any longer than she already has.

A small handle, stainless, and trying to stay under $75. Doesn't have to be a petty I guess provided its not over 150mm. Santoku?......

Thanks KKF
 
Tanaka VG10 damascus 150 petty from Knives & Stones. Lovely little thing.
 
I'd check out Tanaka vg10 150mm over at Knives and Stones. Decent heel height for the size will better suit on-board work compared to many petty profiles. I picked up a couple Tanaka gyutos in vg10 for friends recently and didn't have any trouble getting them right sharp or deburring. The partial tang and simple western handle should keep it feeling light and nimble, considering the size jump from her current parer.

*edit* Jinx!
 
Castalia said:
Maybe she does this:[video=youtube;ZhFaQW1QMm8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhFaQW1QMm8[/video]?

What about one of these 'Funayukis'
or for $55 bucks a Tojiro 180mm
Click to expand...

Haha that is amazing! Those are some serious skills. Looks like a good way to lose fingertips.

A lot of love for the tanaka it seems. Took a peek at metalmaster on ebay and found this tanaka but didnt see any 180 gyuto. Any input as the handle difference? Being in the US, from MM on ebay its about $20 cheaper than the red handle from knives and stones.

Thanks for the input everyone!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Eden damascus, maybe?

For a small handed person, maybe a Kawamuki as a board knife, eg Dictum 719249 (NOT STAINLESS. this is a Tosa, very rust-prone indeed but IMHO not bad at edge retention. VERY flat profile though, usuba-like. Have one.) Most proper 130mm Santokus/Nakiris/Bunkas are sadly not inexpensive (the ones I am aware of are Watanabe, Takeda, Moritaka, Kamo, Anryu/Masakage, Shibata - all on the too-expensive side).

Two other Dictum items that could be interesting for her:

719195 or singles from that set (sold separately). STAINLESS. Probably VG-1 sanmai. You'll need to sharpen these for her initially though, OOTB edge isn't good IMHO.

719785 NOT STAINLESS, she'll love it or stab you with it. Needs some stone work before handover (has some kind of hamaguriba-like edge that is IMHO too wedgy, and needs some sharpening and polishing of the blade road).
 
Would also recommend you do an initial sharpening on Tanaka VG10 before gifting it out, in the 2 I have experience with getting some fresh steel on the edge helped
 
The Tanaka from K&S you'll get a lot quicker with better customer service and their Tanakas have f&f is better.
I've bought from MM couple of times and it's fine, but it'll take weeeks to ship and there's no communication. Otherwise they're the same knife.
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
The Eden damascus, maybe?

For a small handed person, maybe a Kawamuki as a board knife, eg Dictum 719249 (NOT STAINLESS. this is a Tosa, very rust-prone indeed but IMHO not bad at edge retention. VERY flat profile though, usuba-like. Have one.) Most proper 130mm Santokus/Nakiris/Bunkas are sadly not inexpensive (the ones I am aware of are Watanabe, Takeda, Moritaka, Kamo, Anryu/Masakage, Shibata - all on the too-expensive side).

Two other Dictum items that could be interesting for her:

719195 or singles from that set (sold separately). STAINLESS. Probably VG-1 sanmai. You'll need to sharpen these for her initially though, OOTB edge isn't good IMHO.

719785 NOT STAINLESS, she'll love it or stab you with it. Needs some stone work before handover (has some kind of hamaguriba-like edge that is IMHO too wedgy, and needs some sharpening and polishing of the blade road).
Click to expand...

I don't have any experience with Dictum. Didn't see sizes listed for the set of three but all looking pretty small compared to handles. Anyone else have any experience?
Nice price for 3, but paying almost as much for shipping as the 3 knives themselves so makes me wonder if im just better off with a tanaka....

And thanks for the input Java, makes sense with knives and stones reputation here, just never purchased from there before.
 
These are in the 10-13 cm range.

Tend to forget that dictum are EU-centric because, for a non-US, non-japanese shop, they are mentioned across this forum comparatively often.
 
FWIW, my mother insisted for at least a year that she loved her little 3-4" paring knives for everything "because she's small". After giving her a Takamura 210 for a housewarming present, and after she slowly started using it for a few months, she finally came around to the notion that she might be able to get used to it.

That said, the Tanakas from K&S are absolutely awesome, and the two things I don't like about mine are:

1) it turns orange if I hold it while thinking about an onion
2) it's so good it's hard to justify any other knife
 
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