The steel used is a major factor as well as the heat treatment.you can have a excellent steel such as O1 tool steel and not get the benefits from it by improperly heat treating it.I recently saw a YouTube video of yet another backyard expert making a knife in a day or something like that that used a oxy/acetylene torch to heat a blade to none magnetic and then quench.He just put out bogus info,O1 needs a soak at 1500 for about 7 min before quench to get the benefits of it to come into play.The heat treat is the soul of the steel.