Wow! what a great knife set
This is my second Dalstrong Gladiator series knife, and man do I really love this set.- First, these are just absolutely beautiful knives.- Very nice finish on the knife. Polished High Carbon Steel- Beautiful handle and tang- Very comfortable to handle and use- Craftsmanship is very good, arguably some of the best knives I have ever owned, and the prices weren't nearly as insane as some of the others I have looked at.12" Slicing Knife - this was my first Dalstrong Gladiator blade. I specifically picked up this slicer for use on Brisket and it works amazingly well for that purposes. However, it was too long for some of my other needs like slicing Tri-tip.10.5" Yanagiba Knife - this was my second Dalstrong Gladiator blade, and I love it just as much as I did the first one. It's much easier to use on smaller cuts of meat like the Tri-tip. The slices are always smooth and even. There's a lot of heft to this blade so it cuts very easily, and is every bit as beautiful as the 12" slicer.I prefer the nice clean look of the gladiator series over some of the other Dalstrong knives which seem to distract from the craftsmanship with lots of fancy trappings like Damascus. While Damascus looks pretty its much easier to hide imperfections in the Damascus blades. But a flat polished steel blade will show absolutely everything and is one of the reasons I prefer the Gladiator series over some of the others (though admittedly they're all beautiful blades).If you are interested in one of the Dalstrong knives/series I highly recommend them. I generally try to find good quality kinves that are affordable. Previously one of my top picks were Chicago Cutlery, but I find that the Dalstrong knives are just simply better quality and they also generally have a much better selection of knife styles as well. You may be able to find a better quality knife, but I suspect in order to do so you will end up paying 2-3x as much before you find anything that might even be considered better and it will likely only be slightly better even then. Anyways... if you're considering these knives by all means jump right in and pick one up. You absolutely will not be disappointed.