The testing that showed various knives having ridiculously low HRC numbers was a bit of surprise, I admit. I mean, I like some LionSteel knives but it seems likely they're doing an utter trash job at heat treating their blade steel. That said, IMO for the vast majority of users and the vast majority of use cases, hardness of blade steel is all but meaningless.
I am unwilling to believe that many are sharpening their knives all that frequently, and the only thing high hardness buys you is wear resistance. Unless you're a cook and we're talking about kitchen knives, or a wood carver and we're talking about carving knives, or some similarly specialized heavy wear use case that falls into the exception, not the rule, I just don't see folks sharpening all that frequently. If you're sharpening once every month, doubling performance only means sharpening every other month instead--big deal. With a little practice a moron could sharpen a dull knife with the bottom of a coffee cup in about thirty seconds (I know from experience, I'm a moron and I've been sharpening everything on coffee cups for a while now) so you're talking about saving a whole thirty seconds every two months in that scenario--not exactly life-changing.
Taking myself as an example, I carry a variety of pocket knives in a loose rotation, and it's rare that any of them needs sharpening. They've mostly got fancy blade steels and because I'm rotating them they don't take that much wear. Even the knives I do use heavily like my overused/abused 150mm Fujiwara Nashiji Petty in the kitchen, or my favorite whittling knives, really don't consume any noticeable time in their slightly more-frequent sharpening requirements.
I mean, do I think a company like LionSteel should do a better job at HT if those numbers are true? Yes. Does it really matter in most practical use? Hell no.
