Thank you for that link.
Not so much for the ZDP189 text, I’m quite happy with my Spyderco Caly 3, it’s simply the sharpest stainless (?) knife I own with the best initial sharpness, the best wear resistance and the slimmest blade beside my carbon steel work knives. I use it to cut off soles as an orthopedic shoemaker and as long as there’s no metal chips or such in the material this knife cuts like through hot butter (and is extremely good to control, just like cutting with your fingertip).
Anyways, the text about Sandrin knives is even more interesting for me, someday I’ll get myself such a tungsten blade if I can get it for the same price as their red gas station knife
The point is that a “$5 Delica” is almost certainly not a real Delica. You are not going to find ZDP-189 on a $5 knife.
What you are likely to find on a $5 knife is 3Cr13. I tend to be forgiving of knives like the CRK-inspired Land knives from Sanrenmu. Those are available in 12C27, which is a decent steel. They say what they are on the blade. What really bugs me is straight-up counterfeits that purport to be made by another company and stamp the names of higher-quality steels like D2, ZDP-189, M390, etc. on bottom-tier steels like 420 or 3Cr13.