Dalman custom gyuto

In the fall of last year a new Swedish knife maker, Robin Dalman, organized a pass-around of a prototype gyuto. I participated in the pass-around and was immediately impressed by the knife: it cut like a dream. The knife was quite thin, especially just above the edge and at the tip. It also had a very pronounced S-grind.

The fit and finish of this prototype, however, did not impress me. The grind was uneven and the handle was too small and uncomfortable to hold. However, pictures Robin had posted afterwards convinced me that he had much improved in this area and soon after the pass-around I ordered a 220 mm gyuto.


Ordering

I have seldom had so much fun ordering a knife as with this one. Robin and I had a many conversations on what I wanted. Robin was flexible. He was making a batch of 240 mm gyutos, but when I said I preferred 220 mm, that was no problem.

When making the knife, Robin posted pictures to keep me informed. And to convince me that the grind on my knife would be even . He even made a video with 10 handle options and added his personal advice, which would later appear to be spot-on.

The knife arrived the day before Christmas.





First impressions

I unpacked the knife one day later. And I was impressed. The knife seemed not only to have all of the great features of the prototype knife, but even to have improved on them. For example, the original knife had a very thin tip, but not much distal taper apart from that. This knife had a gradual distal taper from about half of the blade to the tip. The blade was 2.9 mm wide at the heel, tapering down to a wicked 0.5 mm at the tip.





And it was beautiful. When we were discussing the knife, I joked that everything about the knife was Swedish. Robin is from Sweden. The blade steel (AEB-L) is from Sweden. The wood of the handle is birch, which grows in Sweden. And the ferrule is made of reindeer horn, that... indeed. Particularly the lightness of the wood, combined with the almost white reindeer horn, fit the nimbleness of the knife perfectly.

And nimble it is: not only very thin where it matters, but also very light. At 112 grams it is the lightest gyuto I own. Yet it feels quite sturdy due to its relatively wide spine, at least when not near the tip. The knife does have a bit of flex, but not too much.

And it came with a surprise: a basic, but functional saya.





I decided to wait a couple of months before writing a review. If there was one thing that concerned me, it was whether such a nimble knife would hold up to everyday (ab)use. Would the edge not chip or would the tip not get rounded? Or worse: break off. And would I prefer it over my go-to gyuto, the Suisin Inox honyaki?


Use

Usually I first sharpen a knife when it arrives. But in this case the knife was already so sharp I could convince myself that really wasn’t necessary.

The day after Christmas we ate Spaghetti Bolognese. The sofrito would make a good first test for this knife. Like the prototype, this knife dealt beautifully with all of the greens. It went through the onions like a light sabre (the new Star Wars movie had just come out ) and there was not the slightest bit of wedging on the carrots. A couple of days later it also dealt without any problem with white winter radish, my ultimate wedging test vegetable.





As I wrote in my review of the prototype knife, the S-grind definitely helps with food release. It is much better than on "normal" laser type knives. But don’t expect magic from it. Potato slices will still get stuck to the blade, just not as often as on a thin blade with a convex grind. Your technique still matters most.




The knife also feels great in my fairly large hands. Its handle is now an octagonal wa handle made to fit my hands. Still, the balance point of the knife is about 3 centimeters in front of the choil, right at the makers mark.





Over the course of the last few months I have used the knife on most days and there is little it does not excel at. The only remark I have is that its profile is a bit more suitable for push cutting and slicing than for rock chopping. The first day already I rock chopped some herbs, but I can imagine that if you rock chop all the time, you prefer a more German profile.





Conclusion

This is a beautiful knife that goes through food like a light sabre. It is the lightest gyuto I have that is also thinner above the edge and at the tip than any other gyuto I know. With its relatively wide spine it is still quiet sturdy and its pronounced S-grind makes food stick less than on convex laser knives.

And does the knife hold up to my everyday use? Yes it does. No chipped edge or rounded tip. It is my new go-to gyuto: the best cutting gyuto I have ever used. Made by Sweden.


Factsheet

 

All questions and comments welcome. You can also read this review, more nicely formatted, on my blog, but the mods here don't allow me to post a link.

 

Nice review and good photos. My Dalman ranks pretty highly in my collection for its cutting ability. One of my top three thin knives, I think.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Really nice write up.

 

Thank you. very enjoyable reading. Good job. You too Robin...

 

Excellent! Thanks for the review and great photos.

 

Cuts as good as it looks
Thanks for the review.

 

I'm interested which ones cut even beter. (I mean pure cutting performance.) It beats my Suisin Inox honyaki and Konosuke.

 

Did you get a chance sharpenning it yet?

 

Yes I did. It's stainless steel, so it doesn't sharpen like carbon, but for a stainless steel it sharpens pretty well. (I use a Wicked Edge, that also helps.)