I need a new paring knife. Can anybody recommend one? Unfortunately, I am terribly picky about my kitchen knives, and am not easily pleased. Hub likes knives to be heavy and thick, while I prefer my kitchen knives to be razor-thin AND razor sharp AND lightweight.

WalMart and K-Mart and Kohl’s and even Big Lots all have a wall covered with paring knives, but they are not thin enough or razor-like enough or anywhere near sharp enough. I do have a Cutco paring knife, but I hate the thick handle, and I only bought it because a friend’s son was selling them to help pay his way through college. Otherwise, way too pricey. Ridiculous. I never use it. I hate it.

Since I am the one who does most of the cooking (my choice; I LOVE to cook!) I get to choose the knives. I used to have a lovely Henckel paring knife, but I used it so much the handle got sort of crumbly and then it broke in two. I priced Henckel knives tonight at Kohl’s and was absolutely horrified at the price! No WAY would I pay that for a paring knife! I hope you did not pay that much when you bought that knife for me for Christmas years ago, Other Sister, dear.

I did love that knife, though. Sigh. I used it all the time.

Whatever happened to those lovely cheap Ecko paring knives that you could buy at K-mart for $1.49? I do still have one of those that I bought thirty years ago and even though I use it almost daily, it’s still as sharp as ever. But one paring knife isn’t enough for the kind of kitchen work I do, and I need another paring knife.

I want a few more knives exactly like this one!

Does anyone know where I can get a razor-like paring knife for a reasonable price? I don’t need a whole set of knives; I just want one paring knife, and I prefer not to have to get a bank loan to pay for it.