I've had this knife 30 years, and it's still full of surprises. It does keep an edge better than most.
Once made in Japan, now China, still distributed by Davis.Mine of that design says “Nicro” [CORRECTION: “Telo”] on it and was purchased in 1986 from the Goldberg Marine catalog in NYC before it was bought by West Marine.
My own general understanding is that the "stainless" quality comes from nickel and chromium content, neither of which have much if any magnetic properties. Meanwhile, steel gets its better edge-holding capability from a combination of carbon and silica. So more nickel and/or chromium leaves less room for iron with its carbon and silica enhancements.My general understanding is that the alloys which offer the best stain resistance don't hold a good edge. And vice versa. They also wouldn't temper as well for the spring locking mechanism. The higher carbon steels which harden/temper would also be more likely to acquire magnetism, I'd think.