For the price this is a fantastic knife. As many other reviewers have said, mine came pretty dull. However, if you're the kind of person using a knife to make your marks you probably know how to sharpen a blade. The stuff about the steel type in the description is gobblygook to me but it sharpens and works like high carbon steel. IE it's easy to get real sharp but it goes dull fast. Generally a quick touch up is all it needs and i don't have a problem keeping it sharp. I'm sure there are better carving/marking knives on the market but this one is a pretty great value.

It comes extremely dull, don't expect to scribe crisp lines right out of the box, otherwise great.

This marking knife is on my person at all times. It's easy to sharpen, the blade is thin (which is good if you mark dove tails), and the handle makes it easy to grip and use. Highly recommended!

I was intrigued the moment I saw the knife. I've never considered a knife for finishing dovetails. It arrived today, and I put a few hours' use into it already. Out of the box, it is sharp, but not sharp enough for fine work. As you would expect, it has a hollow grind. It took me about an hour to work it up to a mirror finish up to 16000 water stone. The bevel is very easy to follow when hand sharpening. It works wonderfully in softwoods, but I've been using it on some Rosewood endgrain. It seems to chip fairly easily, and need resharpening. It does take a remarkably sharp edge, and holds it quite well in easy conditions, but takes a bit too much maintenance for use in hardwoods. That's my experience, at least.

Very nice knife and it arrived very sharp. Not "scary" sharp but sharp enough to cut my arm hair and slice easily and cleanly through the cardboard and paper it came with. Not nearly as dull as many people are saying. Maybe Narex sharpens it more now because of complaints and reviews. Of course you will need to sharpen it to your own standards either way.