Stainless steel strengthened: Twisting creates submicron 'anti-crash wall'

One of the things I've become more aware of lately is the fact that hardened steel eats through cutting tools like candy, so the solution is to anneal the steel, do most of the shaping, harden it again (temper it for as much as 24 hours in a very smart oven that slowly slowly drops the temps), and then finish the piece with sanding and grinding tools instead of cutting tools.

I wonder if this treatment survives annealing and hardening cycles or if that just destroys the structure.