Mad Genius: Funky but Functional ‘Kansept Dako’ Review

While design has always been important, in an age of virtually perfect machining and do-everything steels, design is the single most important part of knives, and all consumer products in general.

The Dako, an Eddy Martinez design produced by Kansept Knives, is superb, with very solid fundamentals. It marks his first collab with a company, though he does sell his designs under his own brand, Orbital Knives.

In many ways, the Dako reminds me of a Spyderco Spychief with an Axis lock, or a Bugout with a vaguely Santuko blade shape (general-purpose blade shape in Japanese kitchen cutlery), high compliments in either regard.

The Dako, with its size and weight, can perform a lot of different general-use tasks well, and its refined finish makes it a joy to use, carry, and deploy. It is clear that Martinez is an up-and-coming designer whose first offering portends good things to come.

In short: The Dako is a simple, swoopy design with a blade edge below the handle for aggressive, easy cutting. Still, it maintains enough durability to flex into a lot of different roles. Only a few missteps keep it from being an all-time classic.

Kansept Dako Knife Review

Kansept sent me two different Dakos to review: A basic, shredded carbon fiber, stonewashed model; and one with fat carbon fiber and a blade that has mirror-polished PVD (particle vapor deposit).

The lines, weight, and size of the knives hit just right — neither too big nor unsubstantial. The fit and finish and deployment were also spot on. The mirror-polished PVD blade is a real head turner, but probably not worth the hassle.

Blade Design: Superior Cutting

The cutting power of the Dako, regardless of the blade finish, was pretty impressive. The knife’s blade is quite tall with a high grind line. This translates into a knife that is pretty thin right behind the final grind bevel. The blade also has relatively thin stock, compounding its cutting power.

But the real key to the Dako’s cutting performance comes in how the knife handle and blade are positioned relative to each other. Often on folders and fixed blades, the edge of the knife and the bottom of the handle are roughly in a straight line with each other. This gives the user a lot of control, but it doesn’t make the knife especially good at repetitive or high-powered cutting tasks.

If you notice, most kitchen knives aren’t designed this way. Instead, on a kitchen knife, the handle and the edge of the blade are about 1 to 2 inches out of plane with each other, with the blade edge being lower than the handle. 

The Dako, with its comparatively short, swooping handle, placed the blade edge below the bottom of the handle. This allows the knife to contact the material being cut before the user’s hands and knuckles could hit the material.

In food prep, this setup, best seen on something like the truly excellent Spyderco SpydieChef, is really useful. You can cut all day, and though you don’t have the same sense of control you would if the blade edge and handle were in a straight line, you quickly adapt.

A Note on Length

Though not something that impacts cutting performance really, the lawyer in me is a bit puzzled by the blade length here. At 3.19 inches, it is longer than 3 inches, a breakpoint used in some statutes. But it is not so much longer that it offers a performance upgrade.

Going just over a whole number in blade length always seems silly to me. It presents a potential legal complication that is totally unnecessary. There is no benefit to doing this.

Instead, I like blade lengths just below a whole number, like the Small Sebenza’s 2.98-inch blade length.

Testing: Food Prep

All three of these design choices — the height of the blade, the thin blade stock with a high grind, and the swooping handle — make the knife perform much better than most EDC knives at food prep tasks. 

It ploughed through the soppressata and easily tackled sticky cheeses. The Dako also sliced an apple without popping it apart like knives with thicker blade stocks and stubbier grinds typically do. 

Both knives did well at food prep tasks. As the weather got nicer, we had a picnic in which this knife was the only utensil we used (aka “pocket knife lunches”) — crackers, cheese, cured meats, figs, and fresh fruit.

Outdoor Chops: Clear Winner

The Dako arrived just as the weather started to warm and made its way into my pocket for a large home improvement project. It also tackled everyday and general utility tasks. I carried both models, though the PVD-coated blade was quickly supplanted from my pocket by the stonewashed option.

Outside in the backyard during a few nice days doing yardwork or taking a hike, the Dako fared well. Notably, the PVD blade almost immediately looked terrible; though the coating was very durable, it looked so filthy that I stopped using it. Even my two boys noticed and commented. 

EDC Work

The Dako also did well in processing items for recycling. Its thin, fine-ground blade did well passing through cardboard, and the S35VN steel held an edge even through a stack of packages left over from my son’s 15th birthday.

The corrugated cardboard was easy, and the cardstock-style cardboard separated nicely. While I have not had to resharpen the Dako, I have touched it up on a double-sided strop.

While S35VN is no longer state of the art, it is still a very good steel and an easy way to help keep the costs down. Given that price difference, I’d prefer S35VN over a more exotic and expensive steel, as the performance “loss” is not noticeable, especially in general cutting tasks. And a stop also helps.

Work Knife

The last set of cutting tasks I did with the Dako involved some electrical work, along with the construction of a shelving system. I used the Dako as a marking knife, and to cut sheathing on 12-gauge Romex, clean up some excess glue, and tackle light drywall work. 

The thin blade punched through the drywall quite well, but did not have the aggressiveness needed to make long cuts. Very few non-serrated knives do. I switched to a drywall saw, which made short work of the gypsum board material.

As a marking knife, the Dako did well, especially because the shelves were made of birch plywood and pine. Both materials are relatively soft, making for easy cutting. The backing boards I used for hooks were made of very hard maple, and the Dako did OK there.

As thin as the edge is, it is still not as acute as a marking knife, and the ultra-high-hardness maple always makes steel cutting edges cry. I used the blade to get into tight spots to clean out glue (between angled cleats and plywood placed over drywall), and it did well there. I did not even bother trying the PVD-coated blade, as it would have marred the finish.

The stonewashed model wiped clean easily. The knife also cut the sheathing on Romex, which is a good challenge, as that tends to be pretty thick and hard to cut.

Small Issues

One thing that did come up was the exposed rear tang. Overall, the knife has really clean lines, but when closed, there is a gap between the knife’s rear tang and handle. It is pretty large, and while I didn’t have a problem with it on this knife, I have had lint get stuck in the rear tang in the past. It is also a snag point when pocketing a blade.

I’d like the Dako better without it.

There were a few other smaller issues, too. First, the upturn at the end of the pocket clip is a bit aggressive, and the fact that the clip is squared off instead of rounded accentuates the problem.

I also think the liners could stand some more lightening, as the knife was a bit heavy for what it is. I compare it to knives like the TRM N2 or the Spyderco S6, both of which are roughly the same size but at least half an ounce or more lighter.

These are small things, but in a market with truly outstanding designs, the difference between good and great is often found in the details.

Conclusion

I like the Dako a lot. Dropping the cutting edge below the handle makes for a nice cutting experience, and the S35VN steel is a good balance between performance and cost.

I also liked the rock-solid lock up on the sliding bar lock, something that is a rarity for the lock type. Deployment was snappy and easy. But the Dako is not a perfect folder. Its blade length is odd, the rear tang is a straight-up fumble, and there are other smaller issues that hold the knife back from greatness.

As a first collab with Kansept, Eddy Martinez’s design is good, and it makes me look forward to what is next. Notably, his personal knife brand, Orbital Knives, makes a blade, the Callisto, with none of these mistakes.