I have never been very good at testing edge hardness, but a few times when I have polished things I have noticed when edges are super hard. In this case I was not planning any polishing or etching because I would be afraid it would make the small cracks along the edge more noticeable.
There is certainly lamination along the body of the blade and the typical sanmai edge plate. There is also a lighter area along each edge that looks like the effects of differential heat-treating. I have never quite understood why the Chinese did this belt and suspenders approach to edge hardness, when it seems that either high carbon or differential heating/cooling would have the same result. Still it is quite typical. In this case I suspect the edges will be quite hard. The small cracks are what one tends to see on very hard steel. Also the cracks all stop when they hit the softer body of the blade.
Josh
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