Paring Knife

A good paring Knife in the kitchen is similar to a crescent in the garage or a putting iron on the back nine, you just have to own at least one. Paring knives can come in a few different blade shapes, but overall the thin, short blade, generally 3-4 inches, does all the utility work in the kitchen, paring, light boning, pitting, and I bet just about everyone has watched a mother or grandmother peel an apple with one.

Bread Knife

A bread knife is a carry over from days gone by, when fresher baked bread was the norm. Seeing less and less use these days, it’s still a handy knife to have around. And if you are like me, you can enjoy collecting them, from the days when vintage advertising was stamped on the blades. A bread knife has a longish blade, 8-10 inches, with deep, large serrations. The blades are sometimes a little thicker than most other knives. It is not often you find a good Carbon steel bread knife, the tend to be stainless or some lesser quality metal. A gentle sawing motion on the bread is required, as any real force will quickly mangle your slice.

Chef’s Knife

When you think kitchen knife, Chef’s Knife is what comes to most people’s mind. A chef’s knife is as personal to a chef as is his/her spouse, perhaps more so, a good one may be even harder to get and keep. There are many different ways to use a chef’s knife, and thus, many different blade types. We could break this down further according to style blade, French style, Japanese or size, which ranges anywhere from 7-8 inches long, to 12-14 inches long. The Chef’s Knife is a all purpose, slicing, dicing, chopping, jack of all trade knife. In the hands of someone with good knife skills, It is a pleasure to watch, although sometimes you can’t help but hold your breath, waiting for the blur of speed to lead to a mistake. Generally a Chef’s Knife has a wider blade than others in the kitchen, except the cleaver, which works with the varied styles of gripping the knife that is used.