Equipment Review: Petty Knives

Byamazingfoodstv


With a blade that’s halfway between that of a chef’s knife and that of a paring knife, a petty knife or utility knife is the perfect blade for medium-size kitchen prep tasks. Which is best?

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39 Comments

  4. I bought my Petty Knife from New West KnifeWorks. Lifetime guarantee and lifetime free sharpening. Absolutely beautiful American made knives. Made with American steel CPM S35VN. I love the size, and it complements my WÜSTHOF Classic Ikon block of knives.

  6. I just bought your Petty winner knife the Mac and the blade looks nice and sharp but OMG the handle is so small and skinny!…Smallest knife handle I have ever seen….really wimpy handle. I may send it back. Can barely grip it.

  8. Very irresponsible work ethic concerning extra knife in work area on cutting board(1:46–1:51) A utility knife is not essential, it may be more comfortable to use for less experienced cooks. I personally use my Wusthof Classic 10"chefs knife for mostly everything with precise execution. An important consideration that was left out is the bevel on the blade. Single beveled blades perform differently than dual bevel blades, bevel angle also comes into play. Also anyone who doesn't hold and use knives for hundreds if not over a thousand hours a year holds no weight in my personal opinion.

  20. Sharpness out of the box isn’t really a factor that should be considered, what it’s going to be used for, how sharp it gets, how easy it is to sharpen, edge retention, how easy it is to maintain, manoeuvrability, ease of handling, safety of grip, how comfortable it feels and longevity/ construction/quality are the criteria to assess any knife.

  21. Wow…. your quality is so out of whack anymore. No mention of WHAT your friggin' test ended up showing for other blades. The final choice is such a non-starter that it begs the question… "How much did they pay to sponsor this piece?"… I won't believe that the three obvious front-runner blades in there didn't deserve a mention. I do think it's interesting as well that you're trying to pass off "Petty" as being a real term by just…. showing that it's already been a term and you're just running with it. 40 years of high-end cutlery experience… never heard THAT term before. Not that i'm the 100% encyclopedia… but I'd say that 1 time in 40 years won't stand up for a reasonable confidence interval. Sadly… ATK is no longer on my list. From the gadgets that you pass of as real tools to the cut-rate quality in skillets and appliances… it's time to move on. Hope you can get my attention when you decide that quality matters again.

  25. I have a Shun Classic Utility Knife (more a petty knife blade profile), which I received as a gift, that I basically never use. Partly because it has the Damascus-style steel which is just too pretty to dirty up with use. 🙂 I think this exact knife was one of the ones in your test lineup but you never mentioned it. Would have been interested to hear your thoughts on it.

    While it was (and is) super-sharp, I find that its in-between length makes it neither here nor there, neither short enough for paring nor long enough for how I normally use a knife. Also its shallow blade height makes it difficult to use for chopping/slicing.

    A 240mm Gyuto (Japanese Western-style chef's knife, so a relatively thin, hard steel blade with a curved edge for rocking) is my go-to knife for probably 95% of knife work. Its blade is thin and sharp enough to pinch-hit for a petty in most use cases, and its blade is thin enough that at almost 10 inches in blade length it is significantly lighter overall than a typical German-style (e.g. Henckels) 8" chef's knife, so it's easy to handle for delicate tasks. Also its bigger handle makes wielding it with force easier.

    On the rare occasions when I need a different knife, I almost never reach for the Shun. Never really considered using it for boning though; I always thought that its super-thin blade and hard steel would make it likely to chip even if I wasn't trying to cut through bones.

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