I don't believe Samael was boasting about performance, I don't remember ever reading a post ever that he was.
He wasn't, others were in this thread. I tried to explain what I was objecting to(again), I have no issues with Randal being perfect choice for many people.
...taking into count most people don't know how to sharpen a knife or just plain don't sharpen their kitchen knives.
but they last forever! And don't need sharpening...
Also some extremely well known Custom knife makers have been and still are using some pretty low alloy steels in their knives and demand some VERY high prices for those said knives and boasts of high performance also.
If(or when) kitchen knife is properly used, well made and HTed low alloys work very well. Normally, there isn't much abrasive stuff in the food.. Can't comment on 10xx series, never had them in kitchen knives, but AEB-L, Shirogami 1/2, 52100 do perform at very high levels with thin, polished edges. Although, not when at 56-58HRC... Well, the price alone doesn't determine much and I've seen the same alloy perform differently in two kitchen knives from different makers.
Absolutely correct.
And stop calling it 440A. It's forged, high-carbon 440B.
I didn't mean you said it, it was what I was objecting to in this thread, not the fact that lots of people are happy with Randalls.
High carbon or not, 440B is still 440B, not a performance benchmark, compared to newer alloys. If you go by specs, 440A is also, "high-carbon stainless" steel

440B has a bit more Carbon in it and that's all. In theory, two alloys with identical composition could be 440A and 440B, with exactly 0.75%C.
I'm not quite sure I understand what your argument is. Nobody is questioning neither Randalls popularity, nor the fact that lots of people are happy with them. Neither of those facts(unfortunately) can be used as an argument to prove their knives are using high performance steels.