Greg,
I had the 3.5" Kaji Shun. Both the blade but especially the handle were way too big for my taste.
And I am 6’ 1.5" with large hands. Guess I like tiny paring knives.
Gotcha. I had the 3.5" Classic Shun parer. I agree, the handle was out of proportion to the rather tall-&-stubby blade. I love the 4" Classic, especially during peach season! 
I do like my 3.25" Rosewood Forschner SS pairing knife. The ergonomics are much better balanced on that one.
I assume you are trying to move to carbon steel knife then (from all the “dropping SS” talks)
Greg,
For grins I went to their website and discovered that the paring knife I like, K-Sabatier, has a 2.75" blade.
Prior to that I had a Hinkle Pro S 3" paring knife and that was acceptable.
I think I got imprinted with the smaller blades for the paring knife. The 3.5" blade felt huge, and when I saw that handle sticking out too, and I pretty much knew right away it was going back.
How I got the Kaji paring: I was with friends and family in Atlanta and had just come out of a tequila establishment (my favorite poison) where we a little too enthusiastically shared favorite tequilas and mescals. I knew that the sale at Williams Sonoma ended that day . . . . The walk to WS was short, and I was hopeful and weak. Bad judgment, I never pulled the knife out of the box until I got home.
I returned the knife here near Seattle and the sales clerk was amused with my story.
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Chem,
No I was thinking of returning to SS. Been using carbon K-Sabatiers for about 7 years. With the exception of this new kiritsuke, I will remain with the carbon steel knives. I put what few SS knives I have back into storage.
I have no idea what possessed me to purchase a SS meat cleaver a year ago, other than it seemed cool at Costco at the time. 440C that has been over hardened for the chore.
But I think you did say you are purchasing a Dexter carbon steel meat cleaver to replace a stainless steel meat cleaver?
I like carbon steel knives, and I have a carbon steel meat cleaver. Now, to be fair, is there a clear advantage of carbon steel cleaver? On average, Carbon steel is known to be easier to sharpen and take on a nice edge, but more difficult to take care. For a cleaver, sharpness is not the most important thing, so I would think in theory, a stainless steel meat cleaver is more attractive
Chem,
My experience with a 440C meat cleaver has not been good. It chips and bends. I suspect it has been over hardened (HRC 59). That hardness for that steel might work in a knife, but for a meat cleaver it’s too hard.
I’m betting that Dexter does a better job in carbon steel because it will be softer steel. That’s my thinking at this point.
The SS meat cleaver was an impulse buy about a year ago at Costco. One of those traveling sales booths.
According to Amazon, I should be in a position to test these two cleavers side-by-side starting tomorrow.
FWIW, my main use of a cleaver is to hammer the cleaver spine with a rubber mallet while taking out the backbone of turkeys and chickens for splaycock oven cooking. I much prefer that over scissors or knives.
Hi John,
I’m almost exactly the same height as you–maybe not such big hands.
I bought the larger Shun Kaji paring knife, but use it infrequently as a utility. It doesn’t feel quite right to me for most smaller knife tasks.
My favorite paring knife–maybe my favorite knife:
The knife that I have around me most of the time is the discontinued 3.5" Wusthof W-S Performance, now available as the Wusthof Xline. It has a more wedge shaped profile than other paring knives, and fits my hand perfectly.
Ray
Ray,
I get it. My favorite utility knife is about 5.5" and is thin like a paring knife with a shape like a mini chef knife. I use it a lot for undefinable “stuff.” True utility.
I see. I also split the backbone of chickens. In my experience, I found my harder carbon steel cleaver (carbon steel) to be better than my stainless steel because my softer 420 stainless steel knife edge easily get deformed.
That being said maybe it all has to do with the angle. My 420 stainless steel knife is a regular knife with a narrower edge angle, whereas my carbon steel cleaver has a wider edge angle. So what I saw may just be a matter of the edge angle. Well, let us know how it will work out for you.
Chem,
Here is a newer version of my SS meat cleaver. Mine is stamped with 440C yaddy-yaddy.
It was priced similarly, but Costco was letting them go for about $35 or $40 at the time.
Chem,
I agree the blade angle would be critical. This particular SS cleaver blade was not very acute at all. OOB sharpness was good, especially good for a heavy cleaver, despite the oblique angle. At first I was very impressed until this weekend I inspected the edge closely.
I’m kind of funny. I’ll put up with bending and deflection in an edge. But chipping drives me nuts. That’s just me.
John,
I purchased a 6 1/2" Shun classic left handed serrated utility knife, similar to the one you describe, and I hardly ever use it. I thought I would be using it all the time for undefinable odds and ends. At the time, it was a priority purchase.
Nope.
It is really beautiful, delicate, sharp, and it fits my hand. . . .
Maybe it’s the serrations. . . .
Ray
Chipping certainly looks a lot more irregular than bending. In addition, I guess the damage of chipping can be deeper than the visual chipping, so people worry that too.
