> Your overall point is well taken, but X50CrMoV15 is commodity stainless steel. Those German knives use it because people leave their knives out wet on their c

> Your overall point is well taken, but X50CrMoV15 is commodity stainless steel. Those German knives use it because people leave their knives out wet on their counters, not because it's amazing at cutting. That's fair - I suppose I oversold "truly high quality kitchen knives". I do think German knives generally tend toward softer steels on purpose to make them more amenable to occasional "abusive" treatment, which seems like a reasonable tradeoff for the average consumer.