david weaver
I have a desire to potentially make a few pocket knives with it. If the plane iron doesn't turn out, I'll still have three quarters of the billet.

Rob is right about O1, it can be unstable. I'm not bound by a lot of the things manufacturers would do (full hardening schedule, worrying about decarburization, surface grinding after the fact, making every one of them exactly the same dimensionally), so I can experiment. I don't expect instability like O1, but there is always the potential of making an iron that's not even as good as O1.

I'm pleased with the O1 iron used in these tests, but it'll never last with a V11/XHP iron that's done remotely well. I cannot make an O1 iron better than this one, but there's probably a tiny bit more room for someone who would cryo treat. It's not practical for me. XHP is also greatly improved by that in terms of hardness per temper. Like a full point or point and a half without giving up toughness, but same thing - it's not practical in the garage unless you have a whole bunch of stuff to do and a market for the results. I do have a huge piece of flat bar stock aluminum and may experiment with quenching in between aluminum pieces with compressed air.