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Here is the usual process.

- forge to shape
- anneal
- grind / file
- heat treatment (quenching)
- tempering (straw color)
- more grinding / sanding / polishing

If you only do stock...

Possibly. But otoh O1 is very easy to do, and if you are not paranoid about getting half point rockwell hardness predictability, it is pretty much foolproof.

No that's not quite it.
If you don't have an old file on hand, just buy a piece of O1 online. It's dirt cheap and at least you'll know what you are working with is good steel.

Then you heat to...

Are railroad spikes made from steel that has enough carbon content?
You can try to harden it and spark test. Even then, turning a railroad spike into a flat bar is a significant task. Starting off...

Not.

Or rather, nothing fancy. What I do is I flatten a coffee canand insert that in the fire. Then the knife slides into the can. the flattened can will prevent air from blowing over the piece...

I've found O1 to be nearly foolproof. Very easy.

It doesn't have to be 10xx if you have trouble finding that.
O1 is an excellent razor steel as well, and should be available pretty much everywhere that sells steel in the US.