John in NM
As you say though, they draw them down pretty soft, probably on the advice of some lawyer or another who lies awake at night fearing a liability suit from a brittle knife injuring the happy homemaker I would imagine some of the professional, expensive blades are harder, but I don't have any of those.

Along similar lines, the yellow handled Stanley chisels are quite useful if rehardened, drawn to maybe 400 F, and rehandled. I had one I did that with and it was then a decent chisel for the hackenter box that went to jobsites.

We also have a stainless knife that is very thin. Blade is hard and thin enough to ring when you tap it, so it's one I like ok. Good for slicing ham thin.