connecting some of the various comments and directions above: in canada, it will be very hard to get a carbon zkramer and even though there are many sources for the damascus / sg2 zkramer, it will be way over-priced; meanwhile, the cheaper stainless zkramer is fine and has a good steel and probably readily available (though, again, a bit over-priced) but, as mentioned elsewhere, is a little boring somehow. but it's ok. @ftermath is right, the etched damascus has a really unpleasant amount of drag as it goes through food. again, in canada, and if looking for german style, and if damascus isn't a consideration necessarily after all, it's not ridiculous to go back to thinking of, e.g., a wusthof 8" or 9" classic with a half-bolster, available from a number of places online during the lock-down, with the 8" being around $150cdn or less and the 8" being around $195cdn, delivered. they look nice, "professional", and... uh... "classic" and work pretty well, and it could solve the problem / fill the gap for a long time. i would really really not say the same about the zwilling pro, for example, because even though the steel (fc61 = aeb-l) is very good, they are very handle-heavy and have a very clunky/weird profile, so not actually pleasant to use. you could also do some searching on amazon.ca to see what other options look nice. may or may not be in the calibre of quality and flash you're looking for this particular situation, but you can be the judge.