I know I spend a lot of time focusing on heat treat and making the blade cut and hold an edge. My heat treat process isn't a mystery, but it involves multiple thermal cycles and cryo quenches which are generally the ideal recommended process to establish the absolute optimal cutting edge as determined by the metallurgists at the steel manufacturers. In many cases, I've actually called the steel manufacturers and discussed with their metallurgists to ensure that I'm getting it as perfect as I can.
Once I've gotten what I believe is as good a heat treat as I can get for a particular steel I follow that same process meticulously every time. I don't think most production manufacturers are putting in the time to do multiple cryo and thermal passes to truly optimize the steel performance. It's too time consuming for them.
