I'm not a real knife expert, but I do know a thing or two about good material and production techniques. The metal these knives are made out of seems to be some very high quality, and the edge is sharp and has held up well. This set is a good group of knives. The chef's knife and hollow edge knife are very useful. The bread knife cuts soft bread better than any bread knife I've used. Even the sharpener in this set is a good product. It's much better than many other sharpeners I have seen included in knife sets. I still prefer a honing stone or ultra-fine sanding wheels to get the best edge, but this sharpener will do for a quick fix.