In the simple tool steels, it doesn't matter one I -otta whether it is forged or stock removal. It has already received all the benefits from the forging process at the steel manufacturer that it is going to get. The best any smith can hoop to achieve is not to screw it up!
Differential heat treat?
Either type of maker can do it.
Forged stainless. Don't do it. Sounds cool. But puts unreal stress in SS that cannot be relieved.
Can't get the wide or broad blades with stock removal? Bull! It just cost the maker Much More. Forging is a cheaper way to get blades from thick over sized bars or rounds of steel.
Tougher? D-2 in the Knife world isn't considered SS. In the Steel industry it is. It is used on punch press and die machines taller than most peoples houses. Handling many tons of shock and shear pressure. Just what does a person need to chop down. If it can shear and mold steel, I really don't think chopping on a little bit of wood is going to impress it much.
And Lastly. We don't make Knifes out of stainless steel. The Chinese do. We don't. We use either high alloy steels, and or high speed steels that are also alloyed with enough C. an a few other elements that also have the added benefit of rendering them somewhat stain resistant. Not stainless. 154-cm, and ATS-34 for instance are jet turbine steel. Requiring shock resistance, and hardness retention to 1000 F. It is very high tech stuff. And there is a lot wilder out there. The heat treat range on these steels do not lend themselves to forging. It is simply too highly alloyed.
Hard to sharpen? Ever herd of diamond hones. The old oil stones were your great grand dad's tools. Get with the moder world! Polish on the palm of the hand? If the chosen steel has so little abrasion resistance that the palm of your hand will change it, It is "NOT" going to handle any type of real work in the field. A Lovett Knife can fully dress out a couple dozen deer in the field. Most knives out there have to be resharpened several times on one deer! Now you tell me. Say it takes one sharpening during the field dressing to get the job finished. Compared to no extra sharpening on 24 or many, many more, with a High Alloy steel. Who is spending the most time sharpening his knife? By the way. None of those winning cutting comp. knives were forged! Nobody wants a differently tempered knife bending the blade in the middle of a competition. It's a neat way to show a hammon line. but of little use with the steels available today. It sounds exotic, but has been around for centuries. It's way old school. It usually means the edge is heat treated and the rest of the blade is nothing more than what cold roll steel is. It has never been thru the transformation to hardened Steel. There are a few that do it correctly, and fully harden and then draw the spine. But very few. This also will not give the new wave wild Harmon. So it has fallen out of favor. Now it is all about looks. Not performance.
