Stainless steel Chef's Knife (Kanesada)

This knife, like many or all, has a manufacturer's edge when you take it out of the package. In other words, it is not in a state of optimal sharpness, but you can get this very economically priced knife there with about an hour's effort that is well worth the time. It will require a set of sharpening stones of various grits (e.g., 600, 400, 220, and 1000, and a ceramic hone to burnish the edge). As a amateur with a sharpening kit, I end up with a 15 degree edge on this knife, although 18 degrees would probably work quite well. It is not hard to do but if you don't have the equipment or skill, it would probably be well worth the money to find someone who can do it for you. Thereafter, it can be "touched up" occasionally with ceramic hone or a finishing stone such as 220 grit followed by a ceramic hone. My wife and I have put it to the test for well over a year and are quite pleased (I do caution her to treat the finished (not factory) edge with due respect). In fact, I have purchased three others for gifts but have taken them out of the package and sharpened them as described above, then repackaged them and given them to recipients who have expressed their positive experiences and appreciation. In summary, don't judge the knife by its initial condition in the packaging; sharpen it properly, use it for a period of time, then make your judgement. Enjoy.

This knife has an alright sharpness. Since I also own a Shun chef's knife, I may just be biased though since this is nothing compared to that knife. For it's price, I guess it is to be expected, but when I bought this knife, it was about the same price as the Victorinox 8in chef's knife, and that has been way better in my experience.

this is a good looking knife but....it is too light for me....the blade too easily deflects....an example would be 1/2 an onion..it is not thin enough to do a razor and not thick enough to brute it out..it is also not seeming to hold an edge like my others and i have been comparing for the past week...more...i have discovered that i do not like the performance of the d-steel surface....everything seems to cling more so than my standard blades....and yes, i do know how to sharpen knives...i reckon i am pretty picky....mf

The knife looks pretty but I had to sharpen it upon arrival and after running it through the dishwasher it has some spots of rust appearing on the blade.I like the weight of the knife, just don't dishwasher clean it.

Balanced and comes very sharp. Holds an edge. The Damascus-steel look is patterned on, but doesn't bother me. Note the knife is not dishwasher-safe. After five dishwasher cycles mine developed rusty spots.

Nice knife, comfortable to hold and is a nice weight. Blade is not super sharp but still nice knife.

This knife has the look of Damascus steel .I love the handle .it's smaller than some other handles so fits me well .it' did have some grind marks left in places but not where it would hurt performance as small places at that .

Seems about as sharp as a 8$ special. I can't get it to cleanly slice through a tomato cleanly like some claims - even on first use.