100 new knife models come out every month and no one complains. We get two new steels within a few months and the response is, “The knife steel market is oversaturated with choice.”
Seriously.
People bemoan when a knife is released in "yesterday's" steel and cast dismissive glances at many very good steels but when a new one is released, people come out of the woodwork to criticize it.
We have two significant players in the cutlery world teaming up to formulate a new,
knife specific steel. That's just good for everyone involved in this hobby, whether you will ever buy the steel or not. I won't because my knife tastes have moved to traditionals but I'm excited for Spyderco on this. Most steels we use were not designed specifically for cutlery and have been adapted so when we see things like this I say heck yes! Knife steel innovation is awesome.
As
DeadboxHero
has been trying to point, this steel has
potential that may exceed what an initial paper review might suggest. Will it live up to that real world? That remains to be seen but we should at least let, ya know, a single knife hit the general public to start deciding that. Yeah, you're probably going to need to know how to sharpen to take advantage of it. If you don't sharpen, or have someone sharpen your knives, then I don't see why you care all that much about a given steel anyway.
Further, it's an American company working with an American company. I don't get too concerned about such things but it sure seems to get a lot of press around here but in this case, bah. Marketing BS! I don't get it.
I'll choose to celebrate the effort regardless of the end results. The market will sort that part out.