Dalstrong Nakiri Knife - 6 inch - Phantom Series - Japanese High-Carbon AUS8 Steel - Pakkawood Handle - Vegetable Kitchen Knife - Sheath Included

When I first received the knife it was beautifully packaged, a sign that a company takes care of their products. As I opened it, I saw a beautiful polished knife. Pulling it out I almost didn't want to use such a work of art, but as a chef my need to cut came over me. It performed as perfectly as it looked! I'm writing this because I have used the knife everyday for the last two months. A chef's true test of your #1 tool in the kitchen comes after you used your knife so long it's almost a part of you. I used it today to cut 5 onions, no big task. I reached into my knife role I instantly went for my Dalstrong shogun 9.5 inch chef knife realizing I've used this knife more in the past 2 months than any other knife. I took my time cutting them just to reminisce. I am truly still impressed by this knife. It has been through many catering events, long days of prep, and line work and to be honest I wouldn't want any other tool in the kitchen by my side. The edge retention is outstanding, the handle comfortable, and the weight is amazing when your in a kitchen for hours! I want to thank Dalstrong for making a fantastic knife and having a solid customer service, you cannot go wrong with this knife. If you choose to give a knife from Dalstrong a try they will make sure every question and matter is taken care of as if you are family truly a amazing company! As a chef I back their knives 100%. My only credentials to people I don't know is after 200 plus hours with this knife it still has impressed me and kept me excited cutting onions (not a easy task for a chef that cuts bags of onions everyday). In conclusion I am a customer for life and will get their complete shogun phantom and gladiator series in time just because of the performance of the first knife I got from them. I truly hope you take the time to read this and give a great company a try. Thank you.

>>>It was an alright knife while it lasted. Sharp. It did rust rather quickly though so I was constantly working on trying to maintain it and keep it in good shape. I bought it back in January of 2019. I stopped using it about a month ago in july 2019. Regardless of my efforts the knife somehow chipped? I've had the cheeap 8 dollar knives from Walmart for over two years and I have not been kind to those at all because they were cheap. They are still going strong. This one I only ever used for veggies ad breads. So I really dont understand how a knife that costs almost 10 times the ones I have from wamart cannot even make it a full year. I wish I could be one of the people who gave 5 stars and got value for their money. I guess I was just unlucky this time. But for how much it costs, I will not be gambling on it again just in hopes that I'll get lucky.<<< >>>UPDATE: they sent us a replacement shortly after our review and it's been in excellent condition, I've been using it every day since! Same care routine as with the last one. I even bought one for my mom she absolutely love sit. Neither of us had problems this time around so the first one must have been a special case. Great knife, long lasting. Really thankful the company sent us a replacement so we could have this experience and build that trust with this product. If you're unsure, it is very much worth it!

Edited (5/5): Nancy from Dalstrong reached out to me after my previous review saying that I had received a defective knife. Whether or not this is true I have no way of confirming. But I know metal is finicky and making knives is probably really hard so having some variation in the end product is not inconceivable. She offered to send me another one, which arrived last week. I compared the two knives and on the surface they seem identical. The edge looks to be the same to the naked eye (as expected), although the weight did feel a bit better on the new one (maybe just in my mind?). I don't have any metallurgical testing capabilities in my kitchen so I have to believe the metal is the same grade of steel they say it is (although my old one has a tiny rust spot already). Ok so I am pretty skeptical at this point but as soon as I tested the new knife - WOW. The difference is night and day. Now I can actually cut through ripe tomatoes like butter and make paper thin slices. I don't want it to seem like I was bribed in any way but I am genuinely blown away - both by the quality of the new knife and the great customer service Dalstrong has shown. Honestly, I wasn't expecting anyone to reach out to me and fix the negative experience I had previously. Thanks so much to Nancy and Dalstrong! Would definitely recommend this product now! Previous (2/5): I received my knife last week and have been doing a lot of cutting with it and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. First of all the sheath that I got is a little hard to open. The round clasps are a slightly off-set from where they should be so you have to try pretty hard to open it. As you can imagine, this is dangerous with a knife inside and I cut myself when I first got it open. I haven't tried putting it back in the sheath since. The rest of the packaging is nice as others have noted. As for the knife itself, I have to say it's just ok. Maybe mine wasn't sharpened as well as it should have been. I am probably going to sharpen it on my own. I understand that the mark of a good knife is less about how sharp it is and more about how long it can hold its edge so on that front I have yet to see how it does. But I at least expect the knife to come well sharpened brand new. When I compare this to an older Cutco Santoku, I have to say the Cutco actually does better. The weight is ok; not as heavy as a German knife or sure and some force is still required to cut really hard/frozen things. Overall, I'm not blown away; perhaps my expectations were too high. My opinion may change over time as I continue to use it more and I will update it then.

This knife is carbon steel. This knife does rust. It is the nature of carbon steel. I was looking for a 9" bread knife for my daughter as a gift. Everyone needs a good bread knife. I decided not to spend an excessive amount of money. I opted to purchase this bread knife. It was December and this knife was a good price point with good reviews, a sheath and the serration looked good. Unfortunately this knife rusted within a couple of months. My daughter assured me she hand washed and dried this knife immediately after using it. We take good care of our knives. However, whenever I visited my daughter this knife was a disappointment because of the rust. Good knives are expensive. Knives are beautiful. No one wants to use a knife with rust spots. This knife is carbon steel. Carbon steel rusts. * UPDATE: I eventually contacted customer service regarding this rusting issue. I stated my concerns. They immediately responsed and suggested cleaning solutions as an option. They assured me they wanted me to be happy. If the knife did not clean up to my satisfaction, they wanted to know. The manager of customer service followed up with me as well. The manager wanted to insure I was satisfied. The rust was a challenge to remove and did not clean up. CUSTOMER SERVICE SENT MY DAUGHTER A NEW KNIFE. Terrific customer service is what you get from this company as well and a beautiful knife. They stand by their products. The customer service for this company GOES OVERBOARD TO PLEASE THEIR CUSTOMERS.

Some context: I walked by a demo table for Henckels Pro knives yesterday and was completely unimpressed. After having the Shogun gyuto for a year, I went for one of my favorite tests with their chef's knife, the tomato. The sales person immediately insisted I use a "tomato knife" on the tomato. My gyuto is easily sharp enough to cut tomatoes into paper-thin slices, and their chef's knife is still well over $100? So yeah, I think dalstrong is turning me into a knife snob. Okay, on to the Phantom Nakiri review. Pros: Dalstrong makes great knives, and this knife is no exception. The knife is well balanced, feels nimble in the hand and has a nice pakkawood handle, part of which jets out along the side for comfort. The blade shape is also excellent for food transfer. Cons: The handle is a little long for my taste, but I guess you need that extra bit for the blade balance. The handle is also not as comfortable for me as the G10 handles on the Shogun series, but these knives are also don't have the Shogun price point (or anywhere near it). The blade could have been a little smoother, but it cuts vegetables very well. And touching up the blade is probably something you'll want to do anyway with a quality knife. Or if you don't like to keep your knives very sharp (if you need a serrated knife to cut tomatoes, for example) then this knife will exceed your expectations. All in all, this is a great knife. And unless you're storming the doors of Sur La Table on Black Friday, you'll get way more value from Dalstrong than buying from a store - better still if you can catch a Dalstrong sale.

DISCLAIMER: I *DO NOT* work for or receive any payment, kickback, or benefit of any kind from either Dalstrong or any third-party review farm. I'm just a bored cook in quarantine. Ok so...a few things... 1) First and foremost, this (the 9.5" chef's knife) is--simply put--a very, VERY good knife at this or any price point. I've owned and used (yes, in professional kitchens) Wustofs, Messermeisters, Globals, Shuns, Yoshihiros, and JKCs, and this thing was cheaper and works as well or better than all of them. The handle and bolster make it probably the most comfortable knife I've ever used, and the blade...hooooo man...that thing came out of the box ready to work. The *only* thing even approaching a complaint in regards to the knife' performance is that the steep angle and sheer finish tends to make food stick to it a little. That's more of a function of the physical universe we inhabit (simple physics) than any design/construction issue, but full disclosure, blah blah. 2) I wrote this mainly in response to the negative reviews on this knife. I realize it's possible/probable that those reviewers received defective items (it happens), but reading them carefully, it seems more likely that they either didn't read the description on the Amazon page, understand what a high-carbon knife is, just weren't really sure how to use a knife in general, or some unholy combination of all of those factors. Yes, using a chef's knife is a specific and technical skill that requires training and practice. No, not everyone has that skill. No, power-bingeing all 17 seasons of "Top Chef" does not miraculously impart said skill. Yes, carelessly handling ANY blade when you have no training or experience WILL lead to injury and/or a damaged knife. BUT...if you handle with care and respect,consider training/learning with this knife; its sharpness and ergonomics make it ideal for that. For the record, there are many...MAAAANNY...free and excellent online tutorials on knife skills. Go get your learn on. 3) This is not a stamped-steel, $20 Victorinox or one of those things with Guy Fieri's signature embossed on it. You'll need to take care of it. That means--at a minimum--knowing how to use and store it properly, keeping it as dry as possible, honing it weekly, and taking a whetstone to it at least twice a year. [CAVEAT: Whetstones are a whole other thing; again, YouTube is your friend, here.] The Phantom series is marketed and designed (I think) for professional chefs looking for a good, dependable blade that won't break the bank. That means they're made for work. Yeah, they're pretty and shiny and use "Japanese" steel (more on that in a second), but these are supposed to be workhorses and, from what I can tell so far, they deliver in that regard. So if you're looking for more of a status symbol/vanity piece that you use once a month than a functional knife that will be used in a real kitchen...well then go have one made for you, Moneybags. Also, stop reading and go away. No one cares what you think. :) 4) The steel; it says right in the description that the entire Phantom product line uses high-carbon AUS-8 steel with a little chromium added for stain resistance. RESISTANCE. This is NOT a stainless-steel, or even stainless-clad knife. For all of those reviewers who were complaining about rusting/spotting...don't lie...you left it in water, or you let it air dry. <clapping> You. DO. NOT. Leave. Your. Knives. In. Water. Or. To. Air. Dry. You wipe them off after every use (yes EVERY), and dry them with a towel when they're washed. Also, store it in the sheath. If you have an empty slot in a knife block that fits, fine, but be aware that the point on these higher-end knives can and will get bent if you try to drop them into the slot and miss. And for the "it-got-dull" reviewers...yeah. That happens. IT'S A KNIFE. Sharpen it. I'd bet cash money one or all of you left that review after you ran it through a fully-loaded dishwasher cycle. 5) BUY IT. I'll come back and eat a bucket of crow if this thing fails on me...but it won't. User error is a thing (see negative reviews). ADDENDUM: A word on steel. If you care, the AUS-8 used in the Phantom series is what's called a "softer" steel, and tends--TENDS--to perform a little less robustly in edge retention than other steels like AUS-10 and VG-10. However, this also means that it sharpens a bit easier, and retains its edge only slightly less than others. I have to assume its use in this series is a function of keeping the price of the knives down, as both of those tend to require more additives/refining. All that said, I've been using the Phantom knife for prep work several hours a day for about a week, and it shows no signs of dulling yet. With proper care, I have no doubt it will perform with the best knives out there.

Dalstrong has been quite consistent over the many years I have been purchasing the product. I purchase chef knives as housewarming gifts. I’ve only used them these last 10 years and I have never had an issue.

I admit it. Over the past couple of years, I have become a knife snob. I’m NOT a professional chef by any means, but I do love to spend time in my kitchen and I do love to cook. I have been using Dalstrong knives for over a year now because in my opinion, they are truly the best knives out there. I knew when the Phantom Series of Dalstrong Knives came out, I was going to want them in my kitchen. The Phantom Series knives are different from the other Dalstrong knives in several beautiful ways. The Santoku knife does come in a magnetic closure box that is perfect for gift giving, even if that gift is just for yourself. This is consistent with how the other knives in the other series come. Printed on the inside of the lid you will find detailed information about what makes the blade and handle of your knife so special. As you remove the contents from the box you will find several items included with your knife. New to this series is a small Dalstrong coin on a red string. This coin is unique for each knife in the Phantom series and is not included with the Gladiator or Shogun series knives. You will find a polishing cloth for your knife, a detailed and actually interesting color photo booklet telling you about the history, care and construction/design of your knife. A card is also included that tells you about their VIP program and another card giving you information about reaching customer service. When you remove your knife from it's custom cut cushioning inside the box, you will see it comes inside it's own protective sheath. What is new with the Phanton Series knives is how the sheath is designed. Unlike the sheathes that come with the Shogun and Gladiator Series knives, these are designed to open through a hinged system to expose the blade rather than to simply slide on and off the blade. This is a significant new safety feature in my opinion. Having been in the medical field for over 2 decades, one of the things we NEVER do is recap a needle when we are finished. This was to prevent accidental needle sticks to the practitioner. I see this as a similar safety measure for the kitchen since you are no longer trying to slide the blade back inside a sheath, but you can close a hinged sheath around it and help prevent accidental injury. Once unsheathed, you will see even more definitive design changes. The blade is beautifully engraved and branded on both sides. This engraving does not interfere at all with your precise cuts and the blade cleans up after use so easily. The entire knife is forged from a single piece of steel and it is exceptionally sharp, with fantastic edge retention. Looking straight down from the top of the blade, you will be amazed at just how thin and razor sharp that edge actually is. The traditional Japanese D-shaped handle fits perfectly into the palm of your hand and is made from black Spanish pakkawood. The handle is attached to the knife with a mosaic pin of brass and copper that is also quite artistic and beautiful. There is not one detail that has been overlooked in the design of this knife. Performance - ultimately this is what really counts. I was able to prepare some of the vegetables and the herbs and spices for a beautiful stir fry dinner in just minutes using this knife. The blade is ideal for three specific cutting tasks which the knife performs well: slicing, dicing, and mincing. The Santoku knife relies more on a single downward cut and even landing from heel to tip, thus using less of a rocking motion than other styles of cutlery. The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, than a traditional Western chef's knife. I used this knife for slicing my zucchini and squash, dicing the onions and herbs and mincing the garlic cloves. Because of the handle design, this can all be done quite comfortably and with uniform precision. Clean up consisted of nothing more than a quick rinse under running water and a wipe with the cleaning cloth. It couldn't have been a more pleasant experience. I would have absolutely no problem recommending this knife to both professionals and amateur chefs alike.