I believe I read somewhere, not sure where probably a knife forum, that Tim does make his own damascus. I'm not sure about Nate though. But I'm sure growing up with his father making razors that he was put to work forging billets more than once.
The heat treat would be the least of my concerns unless they are using a forge. Once you have the recipe for heat treating a certain steel in a oven, all you have to do is set the temp and hit start, let it soak and quench it. Should be the same result every time. This being said I have never heat treated a forged blade, I only have experience in stock removal or bar steel and ready made damascus.
The grind and overall fit and finish is what I would be more concerned about.
Everyone I have heard of that has one of his razors seems to be very happy with it. And a damascus razor at this price point is hard to beat by any of the well known makers.
I would love for there to be a poll or voting next time but not everyone has or will get to use the razors in the voting. So I don't see how this would really be feasible because we would pretty much just be going by pictures.
I would assume it would be people voting for products they had experience with. I don't expect people who don't own any custom razors would vote for the custom razor they think looks best. Most likely they'd abstain. Yes, this would favor products that have a larger number of customers, but that's not a bad thing. If 100 people have a product and like it, that's worth knowing. Is it more valuable than if one person with a lot of experience has a product and likes it? In some cases it is, but people have to decide that for themselves. Recall amazon reviews. If there's a product with single digit reviews and a five star rating, you're not going to assume it definitely deserves that rating, but it will get you to look into it. If there's one with four digits of reviews and a four star rating, that's also a product worth looking at.