Carving knives have narrow, thin blades and pointy tips. The narrow blades, which are narrower than a chefs knife, are meant to reduce the amount of resistance as you move the back and forth. Compared to a chefs knife, which is quite thick at the spine (the part of the blade opposite the cutting edge) the blade is much thinner. If you compare this to even a very sharp chefs knife, which many people substitute, you see that the wide blade and larger surface area making contact with the meat or poultry produces drag, hampering the slicing and reducing the ability to produce uniform, and thin, slices.