David Weaver
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the w1 irons are variable and that some are real pearls to use. If they come out right and the stock used is good, they could potentially match she best vintage irons.

Above, where I mentioned buying 1095 for chisels and planes, what I was really looking for was w1, but some places had such a loose spec on w1 composition that I couldn't really tell what it get. One of the retailers for stock said their w1 carbon composition would be somewhere in the 0.6 to 1.3 percent range (!).

1095 is just a way to get a tighter spec range for the carbon. I vaguely recall George saying the same thing, but it didn't sink in until I went window browsing and looked for specs. We'd probably generally see 1095 as a modern saw and shim spring steel.