Children's Kitchen Knives, what do you think?

[Transmaster]

Many of the European kitchen knife companies make children's chef knives. The are intended, under close supervision, for children to help you cook. A great learning and inclusion thing. Understand I am not a family man. The only comparison I have is toy guns, if I had children, and by now grandchildren they would be trained up with the real guns, and taught the safety of them. In this case these are real kitchen knives, in sizes and blade designs for little hands. I very much like this idea. My worry would be those little hands getting into your own knives. In my case I do have nephews, and nieces, they are all adult now but this is why I have alway kept my knives together in knife cases that I can place way out to reach. What do you think?

Here is the Le Petit Chef 3 piece set knife Opinel makes

 

[Jovidah]

The problem with extra small knives is that they ingredients don't necessarily scale with them. So I'm not a huge fan; I think they might be better off starting with something that's at least the size of a petty, or otherwise just sticking to a normal paring knife.
Of the kids knives I've seen the Robert Herder model is the best one; it actually has a proper grind so it's actually cuts reasonably well. But it has the same problem that it's essentially an extra tall paring knife.

 

[WCV]

I use a Mac tall paring knife with my 7 year old and a Misono child’s knife with the younger ones. Overall, the Mac is a much better knife, but still too sharp for little ones who are working on hand-eye coordination.

 

[fortheloveofmoar]

I went with this Zwilling twinny knife link

 

[riba]

2nd one from the left works for my kid. Enough blade height, nice grind, not too big.
Kinda mini gyuto or santoku shaped.



Cuts nice enough that I have one in stock for when she eventually moves out.

 

[Transmaster]

Wonderful!

 

[blokey]

36cm gyuto and go out to kill a boar or I have no son

 

[Heckel7302]

My kids (8 and 11) have been using the opinel since they were 5 and 8 and they both like it a lot. It’s very intuitive for teaching a pinch grip and the finger guard is good for teaching the claw hold and inspires confidence in the beginning.

 

[tostadas]

My kid has been using knives since 3. I started him off with a modified kiwi. Then later upgraded to a silly custom set that I pitched to @MSicardCutlery that he's been using since 4yo. The mini gyuto is like 135mm, and the mini cleaver is about 140mm long, and I custom made the handles to balance the blade and fit his small hands. The blades feature laser thin geometry for easy cutting, but then I dulled the edge to prevent accidents. I personally tested em out on a case of veggies and they feel great.

more pics here:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/daily-knife-pics-any-knife-join-in.53225/post-1020066

this was the original kiwi project:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...ks-finished-handle-projects.49832/post-830937

 

[Gshep91]

My kid has been using knives since 3. I started him off with a modified kiwi. Then later upgraded to a silly custom set that I pitched to @MSicardCutlery that he's been using since 4yo. The mini gyuto is like 135mm, and the mini cleaver is about 140mm long, and I custom made the handles to balance the blade and fit his small hands. The blades feature laser thin geometry for easy cutting, but then I dulled the edge to prevent accidents. I personally tested em out on a case of veggies and they feel great.

more pics here:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/daily-knife-pics-any-knife-join-in.53225/post-1020066


View attachment 315704

this was the original kiwi project:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...ks-finished-handle-projects.49832/post-830937

View attachment 315705

Let me know when your kid out grows these, probably around the time mine grows into them.

We just started my kid (18 months) with a plastic set and he’s loving it. Works well enough to chop soft veg/fruit