Why are newbs obsessed with 1095

[gammarad]

I think a better question is 'why do noobs want to HT their own steel'? If you send it off you can use what ever you like, within reason. I think they might use 1095 purely because they think it's the best steel they can HT themselves.

Again, I can answer from my own experience.
I particularly like the metallurgical aspect of the hobby, and doing my own heat treating was my goal from the beginning. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe is the scientific aspect of it that I dig. There's also the reward of knowing you personally executed all steps in the process.

Everyone enjoys more some parts of the making than others. If I had to choose between outsourcing heat treating vs outsourcing scale fitting, I would choose to outsource the latter.