DALSTRONGMeat Cleaver Knife -4.5"- Gladiator Series Elite-Heavy Duty Giftable Kitchen Knife - Black Handle-Razor Sharp Knife-Forged High Carbon German Steel -w/Sheath-NSF Certified

When I received my DALSTRONG knife, the first thing I noticed was the high quality the packaging. The box was extremely well made and the fit and finish was perfect. The inner box was wrapped by an outer sleeve, and it took some work to slide the box out. The knife box was very well crafted, which is rare these days. Most companies would skimp on the packaging, but you can tell that DALSTRONG feels very strongly about the quality of anything with their name on it. That says a lot, people.Upon opening the box, I was impressed that my Gladiator Series Cleaver was firmly secured in a rubberized form contained within the box. The knife was also secured within a protective sheath. I removed the knife from said sheath and was impressed with the shine and beautiful finish on the knife. The knife is very well made and heavy. No cheap, poor quality Chinese steel here. The blade was razor sharp, with a near mirror finish, and the well crafted handle felt good in my hand. Very balanced.I have very large hands, but this knife felt very substantive and comfortable.I couldn't wait to use it. I normally use standard chef's knives and not a large cleaver. I will use this knife primarily for chopping vegetables and splitting chicken. We eat a lot of vegetables with every meal, and I separate or split whole chickens 2-3 times a week, so it will get used almost daily. This was my first DALSTRONG purchase.I separated two whole chickens and diced mirepoix and some potatoes with ease. The knife did all the work and it made quick work of the chicken and vegetables. I cleaned the knife with hot water and soap and quickly dried it and placed it back in it's sheath and box, which fits nicely into my cutlery drawer. I'm very particular about my tools and keep everything from my shoes to my car in excellent condition. DALSTRONG makes it easy to store and keep an edge on this knife with their packaging.I am not a professional chef, but I know my way around the kitchen and will use this knife to prepare meals for my family. I would highly recommend this knife and I certainly will be buying more products from DALSTRONG. I can see that this knife will easily last many, many years. I'm big on quality cutlery and couldn't be happier. This type of quality would be a value at twice the price.

this an excellent piece of equipment. well balanced, great hand feel, durable, looks nice and retains a sharp edge for a long time. i cut thru bone with this.

After over two years of heavy use, the blade remains free of rust and pitting. Looks great, easy to use, cuts with no effort. I hand‑wash and dry it immediately, then give it a quick stropping before each use to maintain blade protection and durability. maintenance is minimal. While it’s technically dishwasher‑safe, I recommend hand‑washing to preserve the handle’s finish and the blade’s edge.

This very big “knife” is wickedly sharp out of the box. Scary and impressive. Still learning the cleaver usage, this is a serious kitchen tool, of exponential quality. The weakest part it that unlike the rest of brand the impeccable sheath has a plastic retainer pin verses the standard metal It broke immediately during use.

First impression is as follows.I like the knife it feels great in the hand. Its blade heavy as expected just due to the nature of the knife. When I first got the package there seemed to be water damage inside the package wrapping. I was slightly worried the knife might have recieved some form of damage due to the water. Once I opened the package I was quite happy with the sight I saw the knife was flawless from a distance. Specially in it's nice bpa free sheath. Pull it out of the sheath and inspect the blade it looks pretty nice great finish the edge is nice and sharp it looks as though its ground to 16 degrees one side and a bit less on the other. During my further inspection I believe I might have a small crack in the blade. For me not a terrible deal but for a kitchen or a shop this might not work with that type of heavy use.Packaging includes;1. Knife1. sheath1. Shirt pin1. Care booklet

I love this knife! It's seriously awesome.There's not much to say other than that. One thing I will say is that it is heavy, so if you really want a light knife that you will use for 12 hours a day this might not be the one for you. But it works great for cutting veg and meats (just no bones).

Hello everyone, I just received this beautiful hunk of German steel in the mail! First Impressions: very nicely packaged, worthy of gifting. The cleaver seems well made, fit and finish are good except the wood on either side of handle don't perfectly align, meaning if blade is resting on cutting board and you look straight down at top of handle the right side wood of handle goes toward blade maybe a millimeter further than left. No big deal for me just worth noting. I don't see any gaps between wood of handle and metal which is a good thing. Today I made a butternut squash soup and using this cleaver to break down the squash was way easier than using my chef knife. I basically purchased this cleaver to use like a very large nakiri vegetable knife for large produce; think whole heads of cabbage and the butternut squash I just mentioned. The cleaver seems sharp but not as sharp as say a Japanese chef knife but it's a trade off here, this is a very robust blade and you need an edge that holds up to very heavy use without the very annoying "chipping" phenomenon that plagues some razor blade edge chefs knives. This cleaver appears like it should not have that problem. The spine of the blade is squard and not rounded so pinch grip is not as comfortable and the edges of spine and fairly sharp. I don't mind in this case I do use the back of the spine for scraping so for me it works to have a slightly sharp edge, plus you don't risk dulling your edge prematurely. Overall I am very happy with this Cleaver it performed well for my intended use of it. I did not receive this item free in exchange for review, however I did purchasen this cleaver of a lightning deal for a reduced price. Thanks for puttingmup with my ramblings if you've made it this far. I will update this review as I use it more.