Just to add a bit to what James said. Forging todays steel does absolutely nothing, zip, zero, zilch, nada, to improve it. Forging is simply one of three basic ways to form steel today. In the end, with cast steel as an exception, but not as much an exception as many might think, it is the heat treat that determines the performance of the steel for a particular use. Only in cases of radical bends in a product, does forging help by being able to turn the object in a curve and have the grain follow suit. As in a crankshaft. Even then it is not as important as once thought, but will give a small percentage of added strength. In a knife blade, it is of no consequence as to following shape, unless the shape is very radical. Grain in steel is much like flake board, except it runs in one direction, which cannot be changed within the bar, as it is directionally set when the steel is rolled at the mill. but is still like flakeboard. Steel grain is shaped similar to an egg. It is only oblong by a little bit. The size and number of the grains can be changed, but only by heat for the most part. To a large degree, the smaller the grain, the stronger the steel, but again, only heat can do that without the steel being stressed and weakened, as in hammering when the steel is too cold. Doing so does also make smaller grains, but makes the grain boundaries larger, thus making the matrix weaker. To sum it up, judging the quailty of any product of steel, depends much more on the proper heat treatment of the steel than how it was shaped.
