# Review: Dalman Honyaki



## AT5760 (Mar 25, 2021)

My Dalman came in a couple of days ago, but work got in the way of any real cooking. So, I did the only rational thing and decided to work from home this afternoon to test out my new knife! I'll share some initial thoughts today and hopefully update this review in a couple of weeks after more sustained use.







*Initial thoughts*: It's a heck of a knife. The last time that I smiled this much while cutting was when I got my first "nice" knife a couple of years ago. I'm a home cook, so smiles per cut is probably the only metric I need to worry about. The profile and dimensions work really well for my cutting style and even though it's pretty thin behind the edge, it does not feel fragile at all. Very happy customer.

*Performance*: To test the knife, I made kale salad, lentil soup, and roasted potatoes and carrots. That gave me the chance to cut: apple, carrot, celery, cilantro, garlic, kale, lemon, onion, pepper, potato, and shallot. I feel like this was a pretty good assortment of ingredients and is a good reflection of what type of work this knife will see.

The profile is close to my ideal. I'm mainly a push cutter, but I don't like a completely flat heel. It has more than enough of a flat spot and I never had an awkward "clunk" as a finished a cut. It's fairly blade heavy. When I first handled it, I was unsure. Once I started cutting, it felt really well balanced.

I can't explain why, but cutting celery for the soup had me grinning like a goofy kid. It was really smooth. Carrots, no problem. Bigger ones did give a little "snick" at the end. Onions, shallots, taters - cake. Well, a little stickiness with the potatoes. Kale and cilantro were no problem. That said, I think a nakiri is still my first choice for greens. Pepper skins, particularly the ones I cut after all of the other ingredients, did require more force.

The knife has some reactivity. After about 90 minutes of use, there is already a solid patina developing. I left it on the board for a couple of minutes at different times and didn't notice any orange popping up.







*Look and feel*: The apparent simplicity of this knife provides the visual appeal. One piece of wood and one piece of steel. That's it. No spacers, no ferrule, no cladding, no ku. The handle is very clean with an octagonal shape that tapers near the blade to make a pinch grip more comfortable. The curly maple may not "pop" in pictures but it has a really nice chatoyance in person. Spine and choil are smooth and comfortable. It has a small tf-style finger notch that is subtle and comfortable.






*Specifications*:

Gyuto (wa handle)
Length - 216 mm
Height at heel - 51 mm
Weight - 176 g
Spine at handle - 3.5 mm
Spine at midpoint - 3.1 mm
Spine 20 mm from tip - 1 mm
Handle material - curly maple
Steel - Swedish Steel, differentially hardened
Grind - S-grind


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## Midsummer (Mar 25, 2021)

Lucky guy. Nice knife...


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## ModRQC (Apr 5, 2021)

Like that handle shaping a lot, and love simplistic aesthetics. Love the steel Dalman used for these. My heart pangs each time I see one of you Massdrop elected lucky bastards post pics of it, reminding me that I was so very last on that draw. 

Really nice write-up, cool knife, thanks for sharing more advanced insight into it. For a fleeting second it's almost as if I could feel it in hand cutting celery and carrots.


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