Pairing knife

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CA_cook

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Please recommend me a new pairing knife. My old pairing knife from NewWest Knife works developed legs and vanished.... Some contraints: for the pairing knife I prefer stainless ( my gyutos are carbon, so I know how to maintain a carbon knife, but with pairing I don't want the hassle, unless they knife is truly exceptional). Price is not a huge concern, so I want something very well made, very good performer and half decent to look at. Thanks in advance!
 
I don’t have much personal experience with higher end paring knives, always Victorinox or Opinel types… But I’ve heard good things about MAC parings, they look pretty nice too
 
Believe it or not shun makes a great paring knife (classic 3.5). And nothing wrong with vg10.

Mac MBK pro is also a great stainless parer, but not pretty.

Misono swedish is also a great parer but not stainless.

Honestly I've found it difficult to snag the perfect parer. It doesn't seem to be a priority for most Japanese makers 🤷‍♂️
 
Believe it or not shun makes a great paring knife (classic 3.5). And nothing wrong with vg10.

I dislike the handle heavy shun. I much prefer the akifusa for similar price, real wood handle, and much better steel. The shun try-me is a valid option for $50, epicedge sells them. The try-me handle lacks the metal weight that makes it handle heavy.
 
I dislike the handle heavy shun. I much prefer the akifusa for similar price, real wood handle, and much better steel. The shun try-me is a valid option for $50, epicedge sells them. The try-me handle lacks the metal weight that makes it handle heavy.

Isn't the akifusa like $180?

SRS15 vs VG10 matters a lot less when there's no board contact.

🤷‍♂️
 
Isn't the akifusa like $180?

SRS15 vs VG10 matters a lot less when there's no board contact.

🤷‍♂️

i paid $123 from epicedge in July. The WA handle is cheaper than the western. However, epicedge is out of the stainless wa ones for now. Its available in AS though. I like the D handle PM Steel. If you want western or octagonal WA handle there are many other options.
 
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The Shun is good for me, but I take damn good care of it.

I see customers paring knives and I get the injection molded plastic handled el-cheapo paring knives just as sharp as Shun for 10% of the price or less.
 
I tend to like a short paring knife in the 3"-3 1/4" length range,,, with a small diameter wood handle that nestles nicely where the fingers meet the palm of the hand,,, and I very much like a sheepfoot blade profile. I believe I've got a bird's-beak parer, as well as several 4" straight-blade parers, and the sheepfoot. I also want a parer that sharpens easily and quickly with a honing rod.

The parer I use most frequently is a very old and beat-up 2-rivet rosewood-handled straight-blade parer that someone once used as a screwdriver. The tip was so badly twisted that I re-ground the knife to a sheepfoot profile. That knife is well over 40 years old, and still cuts beautifully. Sharpens in 2-3 strokes on a honing rod. The brand-name etched on the blade says "EXCELLENT",, made in France,,, stainless steel. I've got roughly 7 or 8 papers, but that beater gets used 99% of the time.
 
I just got one of the NOS vintage Sabatier K parers with nogent handle from Bernal. Not stainless of course, but a fantastic little knife. It's incredibly light at only 23g. Didn't come with an edge to write home about, but that was remedied quickly on the stones.
 
I just got one of the NOS vintage Sabatier K parers with nogent handle from Bernal. Not stainless of course, but a fantastic little knife. It's incredibly light at only 23g. Didn't come with an edge to write home about, but that was remedied quickly on the stones.
The NOS K-Sabs aren't particularly reactive and very easily get screaming sharp. If you want to use them on the board as well: those which I know come with a lip at the heel for heavy tasks, but so you can't use it in the middle of the board. Or you remove the lip, and lose 1cm / 3/8" of usable length.
 
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The NOS K-Sabs aren't particularly reactive and very easily get screaming sharp. If you want to use them on the board as well: those which I know come with a lip at the heel for heavy tasks, but so you can't use it in the middle of the board. Or you remove the lip, and lose 1cm / 3/8" of usable length.
I tested it out peeling and supremeing an orange and you're right, it wasn't very reactive. Definitely gave off that new carbon knife smell, but not much if any patina formed.

Indeed it was very easy to get screaming sharp. Only took a couple minutes to set a proper bevel on a 400 stone and another few minutes on the 800 to refine it.

Not sure what you mean about a lip. Here are the vendor pics. K Sabatier 'New Old Stock' 3.75" Paring 'Nogent / Cuisine Massive' Car

It's very short, so I'm not sure I'll ever really use it on the board, but it sure is nice for in hand work.
 
Out of all the knife styles that I've spent money on, I feel like I've gotten the least return on my investment with parers. I have way more paring knives than I need, but the only ones that I really like for actual paring are a Wusthof grand prix and the cheapo Victorinox and Opinel parers -- knives I've had since long before I fell down the knife-collecting rabbithole. The problem, as I see it, is that most of the fancier forged parers have thicker blades that make them not great at tasks like peeling an apple and keeping the skin together in one long strip. My favorite 85mm "parer" that I use all the time is a Saji R2 ironwood, but even it is no bueno at that kind of thing. Neither are my Gesshin paring knives, which I mostly like because they're so pointy. Super useful for some tasks, but the bevels are super asymmetrical and can cause some peeling problems. Or maybe I just have technique problems...
I have a French carbon umbrella parer that I got from Epicurean Edge and while it's nice, it's reactive so it's not my first choice when doing a lot of tasks. Paring knives and acidic ingredients seem to go together. I also have a Town Cutler classic k-tip parer that I have for god only knows what reason. It has my favorite handle out of perhaps all my knives and is super comfortable to hold in a bunch of different positions, but the blade is too thick to peel well and too short to work well as a petty. I mostly use it to top strawberries, which is a waste. I've always wanted to try a Harner XHP given their reputation, but I'm afraid that I'd just be buying another paring knife that's thicker than I prefer. I have no idea if that's true or not... it's just my fear.
 
Harner if you want a custom. Herder is a great performer and something you wouldn’t mind abusing. My go to is a Mac paring now and I think it’s the best all around paring knife I’ve owned.
 
I like a little more substantial/heavy handle for in-hand work as well. Gives a little mass when push-cutting through something.
I made my own from grind limit boning knives - surplus in the meat packing industry. Now I have a handle that fits my hand.
 
I have thought of converting a filet knife , maybe a Rapala. Not too expensive, and really thin.. Of course the problem is really thin means very careful in grinding down to avoid overheating and loss of temper.
 
If you know what you want and want something fancy... custom...

Otherwise: Herder or vintage K-Sab
 
Trying Misono carbon. Hopefully patina will come fast. I also really liked Miyabi Black, it’s great shape and ZDP189 stays sharp for a long time.
 
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