NORA #1635 - 3.5" Paring Knife - The Beetles
$ 221.35
KNIFE HIGHLIGHTS
- Blade Type: Paring
- Blade Length: 3.5 Inches
- Total Length: 8 Inches
- Handle Style: Western | Right or Left Hand Use
- Steel: AEB-L Stainless Steel
- Handle Materials: Lime Green G10, Burlap Micarta (purple), natural micarta pins, various colors of G10 for liners and pinstripe
- Rockwell Hardness: 62 HRC
- Grind Type: Full Flat
- This Blade is Ground...
- Thin for Performance (Best performance, but delicate)
- Thick for Durability (tough, built to last for heavy wear-n-tear)
- >>> Mid-Range with Special Geometry (specially ground for food release and glide but blade is kept slightly thicker for durability)
- This Knife Feels...
- Heavy in Hand (hefty, durable)
- Light (nimble, maneuverable)
- >>>Not too heavy, not too light (Switzerland)
GENERAL USES OF THIS KNIFE
PARING KNIFE
The paring knife is often overlooked but the truth is it is one of the single most-used knives in the kitchen. It is also unique with respect to where it is used...not just on a cutting board but also in hand.
With this in mind, we redesigned our paring knife to have a smaller, more nimble handle that feels great in hand and gives its user a wide amount of maneuverability. This knife works wonderfully for small tasks that are easier completed by using the knife in-hand, such as hulling a strawberry, paring fruit, or deveining shrimp.
HANDLE DESIGN & MATERIALS:
Every one of our knives is handmade, unique and numbered. This NORA knife has been handled with a quirky mix of lime green G10 that was painstakingly glued together with several colors and layers of G10 liners, and we added this to a base of super grippy burlap micarta. The overall result is a quirky mix of uber durable materials.
The burlap micarta is second to none when it comes to durability. This knife and the handle will see you through decades worth of solid work in the kitchen if they are treated with care. Heck, even if its not treated with total care, this handle is durable and will hold up.
And what is G10? G10 is an incredibly strong & durable fiberglass laminate that was originally used in the electronics industry. It has been adapted in the knife making world and has proven to be an excellent material for handles as it has high strength, low moisture absorption and can be found in a variety of colors. It’s one of our favorite materials to work with outside of wood.
STEEL INFORMATION:
AEB-L STAINLESS STEEL
This knife blade is composed of AEB-L stainless steel which is a high-quality Swedish metal, originally developed for razor blades. Recently, steel suppliers have made this steel available in thicker sheets and it has proven to be an excellent adaptation for the cutlery industry.
AEB-L has a beautiful balance of carbon and chromium and, with proper heat treatment, this steel produces both a very fine edge as well as excellent toughness and edge stability. The fine grain structure also makes this steel very easy to sharpen. We believe it is one of the finest stainless steels available on the market today for use with kitchen knives.
As a side note, there are two things we like to mention about this steel:
1.) This steel responds beautifully to honing and if the knife is honed regularly it should need infrequent sharpening.
2.) AEB-L is a stainless steel but just barely. The higher carbon content in this stainless is what allows it to get a fine edge and higher hardness than other stainless steels but it also has a tendency to sometimes form very fine rust spots on the blade. If this happens, these are easily removed with a green scotch brite pad and usually the rough end of a kitchen sponge will also do the trick.