Looking for "Grab and Stab" petty, 130-150 mm

[beanbag]

Hello folks,

I decided that my knife skills aren't very good, and even a 180 mm gyuto doesn't give me enough control for certain tasks.
One of my most often used knives is a Victorinox 5" utility knife. The rough, grippy Fibrox handle and relatively short blade lets me really "go to town" on certain tasks requiring more dexterity, like cutting the florets off of cauliflower, slitting (but not chopping) garlic, and general poking and prodding at weird angles- as opposed to board chopping.

For example, when I cut cauliflower florets off using the 180 or 210 mm gyuto, what I ended up doing was this:
hold knife in right hand, cauliflower in left
put the tip of knife against a floret stalk
use my left hand's thumb or index finger to push the tip of the knife thru the stalk

That's probably not the pro way to do it, but it just shows I don't have enough control to do everything with my right hand.

I want to get a knife that would serve a similar function to my Victorinox, but with slightly more gyuto properties in case I want to chop something. Anyway, some example tasks I would like to do with this knife are:

core and clean up bell peppers
cauliflower
cut slits in garlic, or other fine tasks on small things
(cut up a pineapple? I wonder if it would work better than my gyuto or suji)
occasionally roughly chop up salsa ingredients, which I am going to throw into the blender anyway (tomato, onion, peppers, garlic, etc)
whenever I need to cut things at unconventional angles?

The features I am looking for are:
130-150 mm (unless u suggest otherwise)
No rusty outer layers, but high carbon inner layer w/ stainless on the outside is ok. Mono-stainless ok too
Thin blade so it won't wedge in an onion or carrot (very important)
Don't know which handle type is better, as long as it can give me a good grip. No fully round wa handles, though
Prefer handle color not black nor ho wood tan
Prefer stamped / embossed logo
Barely enough knuckle clearance for board work, but if not, no big deal
<$130 or so
Whatever steel that can be made very sharp, but not too brittle in case I hit a hard chunk of something
Prefer not to have Vg10 or AUS8 (already have enough of those)

Some options I found on the site were:
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/minabl2pe13.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/dojopetty135mm.html (not enough finger clearance?)
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/tamir2pe13.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/gibl2pe15.html (blade too thick?)
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/kapswape15.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/kapspe15.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/koaosupe15.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/koweaspe15.html
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/mihape15.html

Thanks

[kmtyb]

I have the takamura r2 150mm petty. You will be very happy with Takamura. It fits everything you are requesting.
-Handles are red
-Its a stamped knife with embossed logo
-R2 stainless steel
-blade does not wedge in onion or carrot (its sharper than laser)

Takamura petty is the second most used knife in our house.

[beanbag]

I too have a Takamura 180mm, but that is too long for this purpose. Maybe the 150mm is too long also, but the 130 would be better?
Also, what type of handle (western vs Japanese) tends to give better grip?

[arthurfowler]

+1 on the 130mm Takamura R2. Most versatile petty that I own.

[Chefspence]

Agree on the 130mm for in hand and light board work...not sure about the pineapple part

[rootbeersoup]

150mm seems long for that task. I wouldn't go above 130 personally. 120mm might be ideal.