It’s still the knife I use every day. But when I began to purchase harder steel knives, I found a whole series of profiles and lengths that I’ve learned to love almost as much as the bigger gyuto, santoku, and nakiri I have. My first hard steel utility was a skinny 6" serrated, left handed Shun Classic knife that took me several years to figure out–which I’ve now paired with a non serrated hammered Xinzou Zhen Petty knife:
My “something in between” is my oversize Kaji paring knife–stg-2–that I grab for all sorts of momentary tasks. It’s on my magnetic rack–top left–and I can’t decide if it’s a paring or a utility knife:
I’ve purchased several of these Shun special knives for friends and family, but got a Tojiro Flash version for myself. Even though it’s hard steel, it’s unique design makes it very unlikely to chip. I’ll use it for most anything.
My Wusthof precision (first post) sits by my computer and is used every day. It’s really a mini chef knife, and I used it that way when I drove cross country. The bolster connects the handle directly to the blade
I’ve already listed them in my “batterie” thread and posted pictures of all of them in other threads. In this one, I’m interested in describing just the paring-utility knives I have.
I might contrast them with the artisan petty and paring knives–which are quite different.
Longer term, I may turn my batterie into a test bed in other threads.
Though I’ve been lurking for years, I recently joined Kitchen Knife Forums as a test–so I could comment–and was surprised to see so many relative newbies posting as experts in favor of very expensive artisan knives based on “grinder” reports.
There are mature collectors looking to these knives as works of art–and they seem to do quite well with their purchases–but that’s not how a simple home cook develops a practical batterie. I admire the designers of “one of a kind” knife art and appreciate the struggles they go through.
But the entire site seems heel bent on selling throwback knives with a Japanese heritage that don’t fit the practical needs of home cooks in the United States–or Japan.
Meanwhile, advanced technology is producing practical knives that fit in the home at affordable prices. I saw that in Japan thirty years ago with my Kai nakiri–and they keep improving at an affordable price point.
Meanwhile the importers try to sell supposed “master” hand craftsmanship using wheels and bands. I’d be more impressed if I knew that they had studied cad/cam.
Same here. I’m at a place where I can basically buy any cooking bauble I want - but why do I have to when “best “in my usage judgment isn’t “most expensive?”