You probably already own a paring knife. Goyon-Chazeau's Le P'tit Tradi is a serious upgrade, made for work done in the hand: peeling an apple, hulling strawberries, trimming beans over a bowl. Just in front of the handle, the blade has a short, thick, flat section angled back toward you, which doubles as a finger rest for extra control as you pare. The wooden handle comes in ebony with sapwood, olive or walnut (from top to bottom in the photo), and the knife looks as good on a cheese board as it feels at the stove. Channel your inner French cooking muse.
The blade is Sandvik 14C28N, a Swedish stainless steel with a very fine grain. It sharpens to a keen edge the way Japanese knives do, but it's tougher and less likely to chip, closer to a German knife in how it takes everyday use. When it starts to dull, a few passes on a honing rod or fine stone bring it back. The steel runs full tang through a riveted handle, so with hand washing, this is a knife to use for decades.
Goyon-Chazeau is a third-generation knife maker, now run by Magali and Vincent Soucille from a small workshop just outside Thiers, the town at the centre of French knife-making for centuries. The P'tit Tradi comes from a family story: a grandmother tired of peeling vegetables with dull knives asked her husband to make her something better. Its bigger sibling, Le Grand Tradi, came later.
Hand wash only. Made in France.
10cm blade, 20cm overall.
