I'll admit ignorance about exactly how SY's production costs break down, but my assumption is that the cryogenic heat treatment is a much larger expense than the steel. I wouldn't classify other knives as comparable in quality if they don't have a similar heat treat. I used to buy a lot of Cold Steel, and I believe that I own some pretty good Carbon 5 and AUS-8, along with some even better San Mai CS blades, but I don't consider them equal to my SYs.