Custom Dalman gyuto

[Mark76]

Robin Dalman is a young Swedish knife maker. He started making knives in 2014 and is now already trying to make a living out of it. Recently he started making kitchen knives. He sent two of his chef knives over the world for a pass-around. I was lucky to be able to try a 230 mm gyuto.

First impression

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the knife was its pronounced S-grind: a convex portion of the blade near the edge is followed by a concave portion higher up the blade. In theory this should give the blade better food release properties than a blade that is fully convex.

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For the most part the blade is not too thin at the spine (slightly less than 3 mm at the handle), but it tapers down to a wicked 0.5 mm at one centimeter from the tip. That makes this tip the thinnest one I have seen on any knife. In comparison: my 12 cm Carter funayuki knife is 0.7 mm thin at the same spot.

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The blade looks a bit rough: the two sides are somewhat uneven and the blade is finished rather coarsely. This may be only a cosmetic issue, but I like my blades to look good, too.

The profile is much to my taste. It has a good rounding towards the tip, but also a proper flat spot near the heel. I’d describe it as an all-round blade, although it may be geared slightly more towards push cutting than towards rock chopping. The knife is 45 mm high at the heel, which is comparable to most similar sized gyutos.

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The blade is made of AEB-L (Swedish as well), heat treated to 63 HRC.

The handle is made of curly birch (Swedish? 😉 ). It tapers from its butt to the choil of the knife. It was a bit too thin for my rather large hands where it matters most: near the choil. The handle has a ridge that was too sharp for my fingers. Personally I’d prefer a wa handle. I also think a handle made of such nice wood would benefit from a bit finer sanding.

Use

The knife feels very nimble in the hand. It weighs only 160 grams, which is quite light for a gyuto of this length. The knife has some flex, but not so much that it becomes unwieldy.

The first thing I cut with this knife were onions. In my review of a Haburn gyuto I wrote that that knife flew through onions. Well, if the Haburn flies through onions, the Dalman goes through onions like a rocket. Or a laser. Whatever, it is effortless. Obviously you have to be careful with such a knife, since you don’t want the tip to break off.

It also did great on harder vegetables, like carrots, potatoes and white winter radish. I experienced no wedging at all. Of course the knife also performed well on proteins. And it was fun to scoop up cut items with a blade that has such a pronounced concave grind.

And does the S-grind aid in food release? Yes, it does. 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.

Unfortunately I did not have the time to sharpen the blade. AEB-L is my favourite stainless steel, because when it is heat-treated properly, it takes a great edge. At HRC 63 it also should have good edge retention.

Conclusion

This knife cuts like a dream. Its geometry and profile are great. I just wish it had a wa handle and a better finish. When Robin makes such a knife, I am definitely in the market for it. The pictures of his latest knives on Kitchen Knife Fora look very promising…

Factsheet

Click on the factsheet for a larger version.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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