If you cut Anything, you have 'damaged' the edge.
Oooo... that's where knife blades made from all-hard ~65hrc HSS
power hacksaw blades... come into the picture.
Maybe not the sharpest edge obtainable but will sure as heck get
sharp and cut a lot of stuff before you notice much difference.
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/HSSknife.htm

With the right microscope, you can see the damage. )

Agreed.

Maybe even just one of those "stamp collector" lighted 30x things
from Radio shack after enough cuttin?

A guy can skin-out a whole cow with one of those knives made
from 65hrc M2 HSS and not have to stop to sharpen.

Like comparing carbon steel hand hacksaw blade with HSS or bi-metal
ones. Anyone that's -been there and done- that will recognize the
edge holding potential of a knife made from an all-hard power
hacksaw blade, right away. Industry claims a 5 to 7 times
difference.

"...but there's more!"

Factory made knives aren't 65hrc like the "sorry ass" carbon steel
hand hacksaw blade's teeth are, neither...

Like Brent said (and went on and on about there's more to this
than just sharpness.

Alvin in AZ