Paring Knifes

O

oldoregon

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Nov 15, 2007
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What kind of knife do a buy thats a good paring knife, i usually buy the expensive one at the store whether it be a hardware store (old Hickory) but as always they get dull, maybe i am not sharpenind them right, i went to a flea market and the man had old hickory's so i asked how do you sharpen, he showed me i forgot, what i have been doing is taking that knife sharpening stick thing, and making it go one way down each side, before i was doing the back and forth thing. I have even used a regular tool file that i use on my yard stuff.

Do you have a link here as to how to sharpen.

thanks in advance
 
For an inexpensive knife, I like the Ikea $5 kitchen knives. They work well and are easy to sharpen on a ceramic stick.

I don't go back and forth on a ceramic stick. The move is as if I'm trying to slice off a little of the ceramic stick. I do it
on one side of the blade and see if I'm getting a little burr. Then I do the same move but to the other side of the blade.

No need to be fast and fancy like the guys on TV with their steels. Go light and not so fast on the ceramic stick. It's
not for show. You just want to get it reasonably sharp. It is easier if you don't go too long without sharpening your knife.
 
All knives get dull if used, even the best and most expensive.
Most of the expensive knives are made of good steel, well heat treated and they get dull slower than cheap, poor knives--paring knives are no exception.
There is a 'maintenance' forum here that has lots of info on sharpening and many experts on tap. The techniques for getting good edges aren't rocket science, they just require a bit of knowledge and some application.
Getting GREAT edges is much closer to rocket science, and sometimes seems mixed with magic and religion!
Greg
 
Just be sure the "knife sharpening stick thing" isn't a steel. At some point, a knife isn't going to come back with a steel. If your knives aren't returning to sharp (notice I didn't say "getting sharp"), then you need to use something that will remove metal. As was suggested, check out the maintenance forum. There is more about sharpening there than most people ever need to know!
 
Carbon steel is awesome!
I wish it wasn't such a taboo scarcity. It's great, cuz once you put a good edge on it, you will rarely ever have to do anything more than strop it or take it to a fine stone a couple times to keep it that way unless you abuse it.

Sharpening isn't rocket science. You simply grind crap off the blade until it cuts. You will gather awesome info here, but don't forget the simple physics, and don't be afraid of sharpening your knife.

Get a 9 dollar, 2 sided stone from ACE, and practice sharpening your knife.
Don't F### around with angle guides and other gimmicks. It takes a a very little amount of practice to be able to hold a consistent angle by hand.

Again, don't be afraid of "ruining" your knife. The only way to ruin it is to sacrifice its functionality by shying away and letting it stay dull...
Just practice, man... just go and do it...

Once you get the feel, search "sharpening faq" on Google, and here on BF...
You will find TONS of advanced stuff for all your atom splitting needs!

Good Luck...
 
Victorinox paring knives are great and inexpensive, I bought a couple for kitchen use and ended up getting a few more for my toolbox as well.

If you prefer wood handles, check out Opinel paring knives. They are very affordable, you get two in each box. I love them.
 
Actually, the A G Russell Woodswalker has become my favorite paring knife...really works great for this!
 
Franciscomv said:
Victorinox paring knives are great and inexpensive, I bought a couple for kitchen use and ended up getting a few more for my toolbox as well.

If you prefer wood handles, check out Opinel paring knives. They are very affordable, you get two in each box. I love them.
Click to expand...

Opinel paring knives are great. Plus they come in stainless and carbone.
 
In the paring knife world you can get a quality product for every price (relatively of course):

$5 - Victorinox/Forschner (thin and fantastically easy to abuse) available everywhere
$18 - Warthers - D2 steel and only available from their website.
$30 - Wusthof/Henckles - not the greatest steel, bolsters hard to sharpen, but good fit and finish.
$45 - Shun Classic - VG-10 steel and fantastic fit and finish - local household stores

From here on out you have a dark rabbit hole/slippery slope of a Japanese cutlery ending with the $300 Hattori KD in Cowry-X (similar to ZDP-189 stee) with full Damascus that's reminiscent of Devin Thomas.
 
Well I was at a Japanese Steak house two days ago. You know the kind of place where they like juggling the pepper shakers and drumming with the spatula's and such. The food is great and the entertainment value is quite good as well. Anyway, our chef had two knives in stainless steel sheaths attached to his belt. One about 4" a little larger than a paring knife and one about 6". He was sliding through fillet mignon like it was melted butter. They were Japanese by make with what appeared to be a chisel grind. When I asked him what his knives were, he only smiled and said - "the best".

I've heard many people talk about using the Woodswalker from A.G. Russell as a paring knife. If you buy it with the neck sheath, you can also just grab it for an outdoor knife. That makes a lot of sense to me.

I have a set of Henckles myself and a larger Wusthof 10" chef - purchased about 10 years ago before I became more serious into knives. The Henckles have better handles IMO. Both sharpen up very well, but also need to be touched up quite regularly. I use a Spyderco sharpmaker and go through the full sharpening about once per month and just use the flats of the fine rods about once every 2-weeks. I strop them on a leather belt about every two days.

I keep reading great praise for the Old Hickory carbon kitchen knives and they are dirt cheap. I think this is what I will invest in next. My wife wants the Shun's for their looks, but I'm guessing I can get those Old Hickory's sharper and keep them that way longer. Good luck on your decision. It is always fun hunting down the next knife purchase!
 
I have the Shun paring knife and it's one of the sharpest out of the box of the knives I've owned, right up there with the Spyderco Calypso 3.
 
My two favorites. The old standby Vic and a hand-made small utility by Mike Irie.
paring002.jpg
 
One more for the woodswalker. My wife even eschews her Henckels and Wustoffs in favor of the woodswalker for paring. Of course that may be because I keep the Russell sharp and she refuses to hit her knives a lick or two every time they come out of the dishwasher (also not good for sharpness) so I refuse to regularly resharpen knives that have had the edges have been let go to hell.
 
Bark River has just come out with a paring knife that is awesome. Also the Mini-Northstar is an excellent paring knife.
 
Mine are part of a 5 piece IXL-Wostenholm set (also sold by Wilkinson Sword as their 'Gourmet' range) - 25 years of daily use and still going strong!

What about this much older knife from Grantons of Sheffield though, doesn't it have some character?

 
I have a Wusthoff paring knife that serves me well but takes a lot of abuse from others in the household, e.g. used to slice cheese on a ceramic dish, etc. I'm holding out for either a Shun classic or maybe a Kaji paring knife. I'll keep the Wusthoff as a beater, but the new one will go with the other knives that nobody will even touch for fear of inviting my wrath! ;)
 
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