Dalstrong Carving Knife & Meat Fork Set - Gladiator Series Elite - 8" Honing Rod - Forged HC German Steel - 9 inch Carving Knife & Sheath - Hollow Ground Carving Set - Matching Fork - NSF Certified

I use my chef's knife for just about everything, but it's not the best tool for carving turkeys or large roasts so this Christmas I finally got myself a carving knife, and what a difference having the right tool for the job makes! Thinner and a lot longer than my chef's knife, this carving knife has a long narrow blade that tapers to a fine edge that's perfect for slicing large hams, roasts, and that huge Thanksgiving turkey. The long straight blade allows me to use horizontal strokes rather than downward pressure when carving so I can get straight even slices from the largest of roasts, and the divots along the edge keep the food from sticking so there's no drag.The handle is comfortable to hold and the knife feels well balanced. The blade is moderately flexible which lets me follow the curvature of a carcass to get around the bones. It has an extremely sharp edge, a well-balanced, comfortable handle, and plenty of flexibility. Thick or thin slices, hot or cold meat it didn't matter. This carving knife produces long straight cuts without having to saw into foods making for a beautiful presentation.It's razor sharp right out of the box of course, and it will probably stay that way for a long time unless you do a LOT of roasts and use it frequently in which case it will need to be sharpened. I notice that the divots don't go all the way to the edge though, so it will be easy to sharpen whenever it finally needs to be.If you like roasts or ham, get this knife because it makes like so much easier than trying to slice with anything else. It even comes with a sheath for storage between use which is nice. Personally, I always hand wash knives like this and dry them with a towel before putting them away. Never ever in the dishwasher! Anyhow, the bottom line is this is a terrific knife for the job and very reasonably priced for the quality too.

Let me start by saying I have many knives. I have Yaxell Gou's, Wusthof Culinar's, Dalstrong Shogun and Gladiator, Chicago Cutlery, etc. Outside of the kitchen I have a good connection of folders with several ZDP-189 Spyderco's.I'll start by saying I generally think Dalstrong is overpriced made in China Japanese wanna be cutlery but the company does stand by their product and put a lot of time into making customers happy. See my other reviews on Dalstrongs.In this case I was pleasantly surprised. I got this early in the Dalstrong launch. The knife came sharp, the grind was good generally good design etc. Is it a Yaxell Gou, absolutely not. Is it a good knife for the price? Yes.I used it to slice homemade Bacon on the first cut. It did a great job, cut straight. The blade was straight front to back. I'm happy with the quality on this knife and the performance for the price for hardened German steel.The fit and finish was good but not great. What you would expect at this price range.I also used the knife to cut brisket as I live in Texas. The crust doesn't slice as well as a $30 dollar scalloped dexter russell. Those points just penetrate the crust better. Still, for many things I'm pretty happy and this is serving the purpose I bought it for.Update:I now have the shogun. For the cost the gladiator is a better deal. It's not as solid feeling and doesn't have as much back to the knife but will do the job as a slicer. It's a touch longer in the handle than the Shogun as pictured.

Packaging was impressive and each component of the set had satisfying weight. The steel is a little short but that is ok. The knife performs well and looks great. However what would have been an excellent and ergonomic handle is ruined by the tang being proud uniformly along the handle and is rather sharp where it is. This is true of the steel and fork as well. Since I don't use a slicer in my home very often and when I do it is a short affair this is not a very big deal. However if this had been a chef's knife or santoku I would be working with for a while I would be very unhappy. I have purchased knives for half the price that have better assembly than this. I was considering Some Dalstrong Shogun knives to replace some of the cheaper Japanese knives in my block but was skeptical with them being such a new comer with distribution limited to Amazon. As a result I did not give their positive reviews too much credit assuming most of the purchases were by people who have never used a good knife before. Long story short, if this is what I can expect from the shogun line saving $30 on nakiri over a $139 Shun Nakiri just does not make sense to me.*****UPDATE*****In less than a day after my review Dalstrong has contacted me regarding the condition of the knife I had received and has made promises to resolve the issue at no expense to me. They however were out of this knife at the time of contact and I will have to wait for it to become available. Given the level of customer support they have displayed up to this point I have no reason to believe they will not make good on this promise. I will be upgrading my review from 3 to 4 stars until such time as I receive the knife they want me to have. In truth I have been so impressed with their efforts I would like to give them the full five stars but this is a review of a knife and not just customer service. I look forward to being able to update this review very soon.****UPDATE 2****Problem has been addressed with a replacement from Dalstrong, Great knife and stellar customer support.

I was a bit worried as this knife was quite expensive but most of all I just wanted it to work as advertised. It did not disappoint. This is the top-of-the-line knife that allows me to cut through different types of meat with complete ease.