Paring Knives Reviews

I'm the one who wrote the "disposable wusthof" review below.

After more than a year of steady use, the the bird's beak parer just snapped in half in my hand, right where the tang ends in the handle.

Full tangs strengthen the handle, but I figured for a paring knife (that never hit a cutting board) a 3/4 tang was good enough. I was wrong - cheap knives are cheap knives. I'm buying the Classic version to replace this.

I sure got a nasty surprise when I cut the cheese. A piece of one of the blades went flying across the room.

These knives are almost identical in materials and profile to the equivalent knives in the Wusthof Classic line.

The difference is in the construction: these knive's blades are cut, not forged, are much thinner, have no bolster, and are 3/4-tanged. The handles are molded onto the blades, and have two rivets, not three (though larger Emerilware knives have three rivets). The result is a very inexpensive knife that can sit next to your Wusthof Classic Chef's knife and carver, and still look like it belongs to the same set.

If you're used to forged Wusthof or Henkel knives, picking up one of these for the first time is a shock - because of the thinner, 3/4th-tanged blade, the knives weigh about half as much as you expect. This doesn't effect their performance, however - the blade steel is still just as sharp, and the handle feels about the same in the hand. I would never buy a chef's knife from this line, but for uses where weight doesn't matter, these are a definite win.

The birds-beak parer is just the right thing for trimming mushrooms or fine herbs (any place where the cutting surface is the curve of your thumb, not a board). The tapered point is a slightly more disposable version of the Classic (I put it in the dishwasher without cringing).

The serrated blade is the blade that lost the set a star; the edge is of good quality, and would be just the right thing for tomatoes, grapefruit, and bread loaves if it were just an inch longer. As it is, I can cut supermarket tomatoes but not heirloom, small grapefruit but not large ones or large navel oranges, and using it for bread is a lost cause. (If you want a smooth drop-point, buy the Wusthof Gourmet set, which is the same line without the signature).

The Amazon[.com] price is about what this set is worth. If the serrated blade were longer, I might even have been willing to pay the list price.

The first thing I noticed when I held this knife was how heavy the handle is. This 4" knife weighs 110 grams compaired to 55 grams for Wusthofs 3 1/2" knife. Even Wusthofs 5" utility knife only weighs 60 grams. I would be curious to know how much an 8" chefs knife would weigh. The handle while very nice looking feels bulky in dimention as well as weight. I think anyone with smallish hands would find these knives uncomfortable to work with.
The second thing I noticed is that the blade is stamped CHINA. That information is not included in the product description as well as another detail though minor, the handle is gray.
There is not that much of a price difference between the Boulud and Wusthof paring knife and having both I think the Wusthof is a better value. There is a big difference though in the open stock price of the 8" chef knives. I think it could be a good value for someone who would not be bothered by the size and weight of the handles but in general I think the Wusthof knives are well worth the difference in price especially for someone who uses their knives extensively.