Comfortable and long paring knife
I bought this for my wife. She has increasing joint pain and had mentioned that a couple of her knives were hurting her hands when she had to use them for more than a few minutes. We are not knife snobs (most of our knives are Victorinox, Global, etc.) but we *do* care about them. I was leery about buying a cheap Chinese knife, but I took a chance on this knife, mainly because of the handle shape and the decent reviews.She also mentioned that she wanted a longer paring knife. All of her paring knives have been in the 3 to 3.5 inch length, and usually with relatively thin blades. This was a bit of a departure, more like a utility kitchen knife than a traditional paring knife.She has been very pleased. We've only had it for a few weeks so I can't say about long-term durability or edge-holding, but they came out of the box sharp enough (again, not snob sharp, but as sharp as our Chef's Choice sharpened knives), and they've held up for a few weeks now. The thicker, rounder handle feels better in her hand, and she appreciates the balance, with the center of gravity a bit more toward the handle.The handle is attractive enough, but know that it's not really what a normal person would call "wood" (that is, cut from a tree and put on a knife). I'm not *exactly* certain what "pakkawood" is, but if you told me it's really a composite material (you know, sawdust and plastic binder), I'd believe it in a second. The color and "grain" are printed on, which is not what I expected, but it *should* have been what I expected when you consider the (very low) price. Frankly, we're both fine with it: you can't expect more for this price, and it's probably a lot less fussy this way anyway.Besides, fit, balance, sharpness and durability mean a lot more than handle material. For what we've been able to experience in a few weeks, this knife is certainly good enough, even before you consider the very reasonable price.