the Dullard

[SharpestToolintheShed]

Which is the dullest knife in your kitchen (excluding the oyster shucker, butter knife, and maybe the frosting knife)...and why is it the paring knife?

How do you people get a paring knife sharp and how do you keep it sharp? I find it easy to keep my slicer and chef knives and petty knives razor sharp, but that paring knife? it's a #@#$#! to sharpen and even worse to keep sharp.

Almost tempted to get a Kyocera paring knife.

 

[Matt Jacobs]

truthfully I have sold all of my pairing knives for the same reason. I am very confident with my sharpening skills except for petty or EDC. I actually use a Lansky set for my EDC knives, maybe that would work better for a petty? In theory a pairing should stay sharp for a long time due to no/less board contact. I have heard some people have a lot of success with he stone in hand method on a smaller knife.

 

[Naftoor]

The simple answer is, your better half uses it.

It is the least scary knife, which means they gravitate towards it. Which then mean it inevitably gets used to cut on pretty much any surface that exists. Aluminum sheet pans? Check. In Pyrex baking dishes? Check. Ceramic plates? Check. Cast iron pan? Check. Directly on the countertop? Check.

They also tend to be extremely soft, unless you’re going fancy. My butch parers have great edge retention. Due to them being much harder than my victorinox number, and the fancy wood handle being an indicator to my better half that it’s off limits without supervision.

 

[jaydee]

Dullest is an old steak knife from grandparents (top), still good for many things! The paring knife underneath is actually very sharp.
From Zwilling, some kind of molybdenum steel. Easy to sharpen because its a sheepfoot/straight blade and stays sharp forever.
Would definitely get something similar again if i ever need one.

 

[sousme]

An old 8" Forschner Chef knife that was given to me by my first "chef" when I was elevated (heh) from the dish pit to "prep cook". I was 16 and didn't know yet that you shouldn't pay a mobile sharpening guy (who also sells knives) to grind the crap out of your knife every time he comes by. Needless to say, there's not too much knife left.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

The simple answer is, your better half uses it.

It is the least scary knife, which means they gravitate towards it. Which then mean it inevitably gets used to cut on pretty much any surface that exists. Aluminum sheet pans? Check. In Pyrex baking dishes? Check. Ceramic plates? Check. Cast iron pan? Check. Directly on the countertop? Check.

They also tend to be extremely soft, unless you’re going fancy. My butch parers have great edge retention. Due to them being much harder than my victorinox number, and the fancy wood handle being an indicator to my better half that it’s off limits without supervision.

my roommate uses my old Misono that I tired of.
my GF is a lovely person but she puts knives in the dishwasher *LOL* She knows not to touch my knives. She uses this horrific serrated dollar store knife with a nylon handle. More than once, I've broken the knife right out of the handle when cutting something. I handed her an old used full metal Santoku from a thift store (when I was practicing my sharpening). More than once I've seen it in the dishwasher or at the bottom of a sink.

I bring my own knives when I'm over to cook a meal.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

An old 8" Forschner Chef knife that was given to me by my first "chef" when I was elevated (heh) from the dish pit to "prep cook". I was 16 and didn't know yet that you shouldn't pay a mobile sharpening guy (who also sells knives) to grind the crap out of your knife every time he comes by. Needless to say, there's not too much knife left.

unless the said mobile sharpening guy is named Bob Kramer.

 

[sousme]

unless the said mobile sharpening guy is named Bob Kramer.

Kramer he was not. He was more like a carny working a rube.

 

[Just a DK]

its because pairing knife doubles as letter opener / box cutter.

 

[aporigine]

My Vic paring knife doesn’t get the real **** jobs. For those, I reach for one of my Dirty Harrys. As a consequence, my parer is usually in good shape.

One is a KitchenAid-branded bit of Chinese manufacture “steak knife” that gets to open things and then does scraper duty. Scales are trying to make a break for it — one of these days, a bit of epoxytherapy.

The other is one of those single-bevel bits of steel sold as paring knives for less than $1.- each. It has been a chisel, a clamshell-pack destroyer, a screwdriver, a wine-capsule peeler …

Both see a diamond plate fairly often, but they
just
won’t
die.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

my paring knife is the first one I reach for when remove the stems off a Strawberry, deveining a shrimp, cutting an Apple Fritter or a donut. TBH, the paring knife gets as much use (time wise) as the petty and chef put together.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

I’ve figured out why my petty and paring feel dull. I use the weight of the knife to cut and gauge sharpness based on how hard I push. A lighter knife needs more push. Hahaha