XINZUO5-Piece Kitchen Knife,Super Sharp Damascus Steel Professional Chef Knife Set with Pakkawood Handle, Gift Box

blade is sharp and well constructed. its durable as heck. I've used it daily for about 5 months and have just sharpened it. not sure how "Damascus layered" it is but its a fine tool for my everyday prep at work. well worth it.

Out of the box, these are dangerously, stupidly, wonderfully sharp. You have to treat them like little chainsaws, rather than normal knives: they will cut through flesh instantly and with zero resistance, and after using them for a very short period of time, you will learn to appreciate how careless you've always been with knives beforehand. I can more or less wave these through a celery stalk to cut it cleanly. That sharp.I have the full set, but there is one knife I use about 80% of the time. After 4 years of consistent use, the blade of that knife is still sharper than any of my old knives, but was no longer light-saber sharp, and needed honing for the first time. Brief sharpening with a diamond sharpening plate, followed by honing and polishing on leather with sharpening compound, brought it back to hair-whittling sharpness.I am very glad I splurged on these knives. They are gorgeous and very, very, very effective.

This knife ls beautiful. It is light weight and perfectly balanced in the hand. The manufactured wood handle is a lovely complement to the visible structure of the Damascus steel blade.There is some confusion in the instructions for care that are sent with this knife. The XINZUO team has kindly clarified that it is their intent for people to understand that the blade must be honed frequently to maintain sharpness, but that it should never be subjected to coarse sharpening processes that would destroy the steel layers. I think most cooks would do well to consult with a real knife sharpening expert before "working on" this extremely fine blade in any way.I like this fine Damascus steel knife so much that I have begun seriously studying knife sharpening, which will eventually benefit of all my cooking and gardening tools. In time, I anticipate replacing most or all my kitchen knives with knives from the XINZUO Damascus steel series. That's how nice this knife is.

I purchased the 5” utility knife on a flash sale. I am slowly replacing my 25 yr old German knives that are still good but mostly are too big for daily use (never need 8” chef’s knife). The Xinzuo 5” knife is beautiful and very sharp. Easily passes the newsprint cut test. The grip is large/full. The 5" is not light weight and has a sturdy/firm feel. As a result balance is OK if you grip slightly toward the back of the knife. Quality looks good. Price is about 1/2 of what a good German would cost on sale!Edit: After 4.5 years this knife has been sharpened twice and ceramic rod honed in between. Awesome for vegetable work and size is just right for most kitchen chores. Only straight blade knife I own that will easily cut through a tomato skin. Stays super sharp with a few strokes on the ceramic rod. Hand washed and the pakkawood handle looks like new.

the knives are sharp and made well but nothing like the picture portrays has a Damascus print. However, it does not have the contrast that is shown in picture. Will add pictures later.

The most beautiful knives I’ve ever owned and the sharpest. Cuts tomatoes better than my tomato knife!

These knives are just WOW...my fiance is a professional chef and turned me on to "real" knives. These are just beautiful and cut amazing, even the packaging was beautiful with black boxes and red inside. Def recommend, love them.

The first time i used this (cutting bell peppers) they cut well but the blade on the chefs knife chipped. It chipped at the seam where the so called damascus meets the blade edge.