Consider Your Handles
Handles are extremely important to our discussion about paring knives, because we often work with paring knives away from a cutting board. Holding your food directly in your non-dominant hand while cutting it with your dominant hand gives you the control you need to perform some of the intricate tasks most associated with paring knives. Unfortunately, this practice also puts your non-dominant hand at incredible risk if you lose control of your knife.
To maintain optimal control of your knife you will want to select one with a thick handle. As a general rule, thick handles are much easier to control than thin handles, because you will be able to hold them more firmly and they are less likely to slip or flip around in your hand.
Select a paring knife with a handle is neither completely round nor flat. Round handles can spin in your hand, especially if your hands are slick or sweaty. Flat handles can become uncomfortable over time and usually aren’t thick enough to allow for proper control. An oval or D-shaped handle is best suited for a paring knife.
Speaking of grip, you will want to be sure that your knife’s handle is not one which will easily slip and slide around when it is wet. We all get a certain amount of juice or sweat on our hands from time to time as we work. A handle with some sort of texture or non-slip coating will offer the best control in these situations.
Full Tang is Better
This brings me to my second major point – it is always better to choose a full-tang knife. In all honesty, this point applies equally to all kitchen knives. In the case of paring knives, there are two major reasons why this is important.
Before we get too far into this discussion, allow me to give you a quick lesson as to what full tang means. If you already understand this concept, skip ahead to the next paragraph. Full tang knives are those that have blades that extend all the way through their handles. Of course, the sharp part of the blade is external, but the metal itself proceeds downward, through the handle. Usually, these blades are held inside the handle with two or three metal rivets.
As we discussed in the section above, no one wants to experience their knife snapping in half. While thin blades can snap in half while you are coring something, knives can also break apart at the area where the blade meets the handle. As I’ve already said about snapping blades, a breaking knife can be both frustrating and dangerous.
The Overview
I would like to quickly summarize what we have discussed here. To start with, it is important to know the differences between the different types of paring knives. For more information about that, please visit our Different Types of Paring Knives page.
When selecting a Curved Blade or Bird’s Beak paring knife, choose one with a thick, sturdy blade and a sharp tip to reduce the likelihood of its bending and snapping during coring and carving. When selecting any paring knife, try to find one which is full tang for increased safety. Handles should be thick, oval or D-shaped, and textured or covered with a non-slip coating to increase the control you have over your paring knife.
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