Messermeister 3-Inch Sheep's Foot Parer with Matching Sheath, White

There are a lot of different paring knife designs: spear points, clip points, bird's beaks and sheep's foot knives for example. Messermeister makes some of the best.

Each paring knife has its particular uses. You wouldn't try to core a strawberry with a sheep's foot. But, if you wanted to slice up a mushroom or two really, really thinly; easily, without muss, then this is the knife for you.

Messermeister's Meridian 3.5 inch sheep's foot parer at $62.00 a pop (or thereabouts) is just a little too pricey for my blood. But their 3-Inch with the white (or black) plastic handle (for about $9.00) fits the bill nicely indeed.

I've been using a previous one for over seven years, and finally decided to purchase new (more on this later). And this purchase is the same quality as previous. Hoorah for consistency! The knife takes a very keen edge without much effort; probably because of its thinness and that its edge seems to be closer to the Japanese sharpening angle than Western angles. This also means that the knife edge can be easily nicked.

And that's why I'm buying a new one, `cause my wife kept using the Messermeister to open shipping cartons. DON'T do this. Also, DON'T cut into chicken or turkey joints, etc. with it. If you want to chop, use a cleaver. If you want to de-bone, use a boning knife. If you want to dice or chop in quantity, use a chef's knife. But if you want a very practical, excellent paring knife to slice and dice small amounts of veggies, etc., (and economically), then this knife will work extremely well for you.

PS

A sheep's foot knife is designed to put the full force of your hand onto the point. It is then "drawn" toward you to slice. Once you've tried this design, you'll not use a spear or clip point parer again. . . at least for small slicing jobs. Of course, you'll still want different paring knives for other kitchen work, as well as a good assortment of other knife designs as well.