Recommendation? Kitchen paring knife

totkst1

totkst1

Joined
Oct 14, 2016
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I have a relatively inexpensive set of kitchen knives and the paring knife is about as dull as a butter knife on a good day. My issue is that almost every knife in this set has what I will call "micro serrations" that remind me of what the serrations look like on the cheap steak knives that come in cheap sets. I am wondering if I was to put this on say either my lansky or probably my kme would the serrations possibly damage the stones and if so what can I do to rid myself of the horrid serrations without buying more kitchen knives.( taking into account most of the other knives in this set at the same and will need a new edge at some point also)
 
Hi,
totkst1 said:
I have a relatively inexpensive set of kitchen knives and the paring knife is about as dull as a butter knife on a good day. My issue is that almost every knife in this set has what I will call "micro serrations" that remind me of what the serrations look like on the cheap steak knives that come in cheap sets. I am wondering if I was to put this on say either my lansky or probably my kme would the serrations possibly damage the stones and if so what can I do to rid myself of the horrid serrations without buying more kitchen knives.( taking into account most of the other knives in this set at the same and will need a new edge at some point also)
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Hehe,

How much is your time worth?
How thin are the edges, more like a utility/razor/boxcutter or like a true butter knife?

Yes, too much pressure will "damage" most stones,
as in cause them to release grit and lose material (wear).
So if you're talking diamond plates,
and you're grinding on the serrated side not the flat back side,
you have to go much lighter that the usual
less than half a pound amount of lightness you have to use with diamonds
otherwise you're losing diamonds and then you don't have diamonds.

But the good news you can just sharpen on the flat/backside,
like a regular knife,
So give it a try,
do say do 10 strokes, then use the lansky triangle stone to do a few strokes on the serrated side, and repeat 3-6 times, should take 2 minutes tops
The triangle stone is more resistant to wear than the other stones.

Or just give it a few (a dozen) pulls using the pull through tungsten carbide sharpener exclusively.

Non-serrated knives can be had for $1,
and if you're looking to have some fun grinding out serrations by hand
a sacrificial sharpening stone can also be had for $1 at dollar tree at the moment,
put stone on shelf liner so it doesn't slip, two hands on the blade and grind away :)
 
Real serrations or micro serrations? Two very different edge terms. One is cut in the blade edge (small divots). The other is created from coarse sharpening. If they are the latter, put them on a stone and sharpen away. Refining them how ever you want. They won't damage your stones. DM
 
I will see if I can snag a picture of both sides of the blade tomorrow before I try any sharpening on it. However the pull through idea might be the route to go until if/when the serrations are gone.
 
Depending on what you mean by micro-serrations, you can probably still sharpen the knife freehand. Inexpensive knives don't need fancy setups.
 
jc57 said:
Victorinox paring knives are about $6.
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^This. Simplest and best solution. Inexpensive, with a great thin grind, and they sharpen up like a dream.

For what it's worth, serrations on cheap paring knives shouldn't damage any decent stone. Really soft stones might be grooved by them; but really soft stones are also very easy to resurface when that happens, and it goes with the territory in using such stones on any blade.

'Micro-serrations' should be real easy to grind off with a simple hardware store stone in aluminum oxide or silicon carbide, or even with some hard-backed sandpaper over glass, stone, etc., if you choose to go that route.


David
 
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Typically, if its serrated like the old Ginsu knives it's because the steel is low quality and won't really take a good edge. If you grind away the serrations it's highly likely they will perform very poorly. The serrations are there to compensate for the low steel quality.
 
Jason B. said:
Typically, if its serrated like the old Ginsu knives it's because the steel is low quality and won't really take a good edge. If you grind away the serrations it's highly likely they will perform very poorly. The serrations are there to compensate for the low steel quality.
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This is probably the situation I am going to find as the set mentioned probably only cost $50 total for a large chefs knife, a large and small bread, a fork, a filet, and a sort of hawkish looking peeler, a paring, and 6 steak knives. Was a gift from the wife's grandmother at our wedding
 
I have one of the inexpensive victorinox knives mentioned. It won't win a beauty contest but for the price it works great.
 
totkst1 said:
This is probably the situation I am going to find as the set mentioned probably only cost $50 total for a large chefs knife, a large and small bread, a fork, a filet, and a sort of hawkish looking peeler, a paring, and 6 steak knives. Was a gift from the wife's grandmother at our wedding
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If it were me and I were not just ultimately interested in the performance level afforded by such knives, I would regift those knives and purchase something like Victorinox/F. Dick. For the money, they come with useful edge geometry and quality steel... hard to beat value. Especially if you are willing to dial in the edge geometry a bit to suit what you are cutting.

That being said, I am interested in seeing just what cheap knives can turn into with some TLC... as ultimately for a paring knife blade the most important features for me are blade profile/grind/handle. I have reground cheap chinese paring knives with unknown stainless steel/ht and gotten perfectly serviceable use out of them. Sure I may need to sharpen them a bit more often, but it's no big deal the way these get used (with little respect).
 
Maggot Brain said:
If it were me and I were not just ultimately interested in the performance level afforded by such knives, I would regift those knives and purchase something like Victorinox/F. Dick. For the money, they come with useful edge geometry and quality steel... hard to beat value. Especially if you are willing to dial in the edge geometry a bit to suit what you are cutting.

That being said, I am interested in seeing just what cheap knives can turn into with some TLC... as ultimately for a paring knife blade the most important features for me are blade profile/grind/handle. I have reground cheap chinese paring knives with unknown stainless steel/ht and gotten perfectly serviceable use out of them. Sure I may need to sharpen them a bit more often, but it's no big deal the way these get used (with little respect).
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Me too. I've figured out, even with really cheap knives, most can be made more useful just by thinning out the blade/edge geometry. One in particular that I have, a cheap 'Barclay Forge' paring knife from a set of the same brand, finally turned into a pretty good user after I'd thinned it multiple times, to probably ~25-30° inclusive at the edge, and thinning the shoulders behind the edge. No matter how thick or thin, the steel requires fairly frequent touchups; but, at thinner geometry, it's at least a better slicer in the meantime. I've since done the same with a couple other knives from the same set, with similar results. It's turned these knives from ones I'd not use at all, into knives I don't mind using on occasion.


David
 
Deal spotting:
Cold Steel 20vpz paring knife at BHQ $7
Blade a tad shorter but the handle is longer and wider with a finger guard.
 
Im going to seventh(?) the Victorinox paring knife suggestion, for just over five dollars they aren't worth passing up. The plastic handled ones are indestructible and all of them take a great edge.
 
Victorinox paring knives are great knives for the kitchen. I just touch them up on a steel once in a while. the other one I like is the AG Russell Woodstalker.

My daughter had several disappear when her room mates moved out. I got her a couple more and etched it with " I stole this from Morgan" Still has them.
 
The reason the Victorinox parers are so effective is that they have thin blades. Any of the Japanese parers will provide harder thin blades providing better edge retention.
 
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