Tim, You should make a trip out to California and visit with Phil Wilson and then to Oregon and visit with Triple B. Then get back to me about your opinion on heat treating and Crucible's Steel. Seeing that Phil is probably Crucible's number one man. You may also find some great information from
https://knifesteelnerds.com. There is a pretty good size list of makers that are pushing what is capable out of heat treating. Crucible isn't the only high end steel producer out there either. But that is a whole other story. Tim I think you know I like you. Nothing is aimed at you or any other maker on here for that matter. The reality is that there are guys pushing steels in heat treating past what has been the standard.
As for not being able to tell the difference, maybe you can not. But there are guys including myself that can. Sharpen a bunch of knives by hand on stones and a strop with diamond emulsion spray @ 1 or .5 Micron and you will learn to be able to tell the difference very fast.
Have you played with Vanex, Nitro-V, Rex 121, M390, K390, CruWear, Vanadis 4 Extra, Maxamet, 3V, 4V, 10V, 15V, or 125V? Have you heat treated them? Where do you Test your HRC on the blade and what numbers are you getting?
