Pesky passed me this knife to try out and I must say, I am impressed. This knife is pretty much Kochi-thin. There are some flat spots in the edge profile that are slightly clucky. It takes a very nice edge (not quite carbon though) and so far, edge holding is at least adequate with no apparent chipping with light use. The handle is a very nice size - a little on the thicker side. The blade is taller than average and the damascus is heavily etched but don't produce nearly as much drag as I expected. Release is not bad but not awesome either. Very cool knife so far!