Well, just to come back on topic with the Ratmandu, I have been using this and a few other similar sized knives around the kitchen for a few days just to see how they feel on food preperation. I was cutting some white cheese (Wensleydale) with the RMD and noticed a dark mark on the cheese. It looks like the powdered coating under the paint can come off onto the food....so it looks like I need to clean the coating off the sides of the blade. I think you can leave it on the handle and the spine safely .... but after a fair bit of use I think the coating on the sides would be removed anyway...so no problem there.

The RMD works really well though...the edge is great and the thickness is not such that you cannot slice food thin.