Actually, you need to hold it in your hand to believe it. My knife collection is over 170 knives and this knife is at the top. Most of my collection consists of Damascus blades and these blades are the best I've seen. You have to move the knife around in the light to see what I mean. It is much like a hollow ground culinary blade. The blade comes razor sharp. I didn't purchase the knife for the blade because I didn't know how good it was from the photos. I was drawn to the knife because of the beauty of the Karelian Birch and the tone of the brass bolsters. When you are looking at both the handle and the blade, you are looking at a masterpiece.