Damascus blade of the knife is the result of hours and hours of forging. Not many custom makers can keep such pattern of layers upon layers flowing all the way to the edge of the blade, which creates a saw-blade effect at microscopic level, allowing the blade to keep cutting while other blades have dulled. BCK Hand forged the blade of this chef knife with 1095 and 15N20. Blade was given excellent heat treatment and Rockwell hardness of the blade along its edge is 54 and along the spin is 42-45. Wonderful High quality Damascus Steel DIRK Edge