...Their concern was that if they tooled up to make an economy knife, the market would assume their build quality had become lackluster across their line.
So that got me thinking. Have we gotten so critical on social media that the factories don't even want to make a "beater" anymore? I somewhat see their point, but hope this market segment is not lost to only the chinese just because the knives may not be worthy of a pocket dump photo....
Could the market still tolerate a true work knife at a value price point?
I'm in to a working knife at that price point. I wish GEC would put 440C on a bullnose. For the sake of agreement with everyone who loves 1095, I'll say 1095 is fine for a working knife, but better edge retention and corrosion resistance just make sense for a "work knife" of that size. There is nothing about 440C or D2 on a knife like that that doesn't make sense (even sharpenability, because there are plenty of sharpening tools that make easy work of both of those steels to appease all who would bemoan the "loss" of 1095's sharpenability; and aside, when it comes to reprofiling, GEC's 1095 isn't exactly a peach anyhow.)
But a bullnose from GEC, especially one with 440C steel, will never cost anywhere close to $30. It will be at least double, and probably more by about $10 or $15.
So absolutely! Give me a $30 D2 bladed sodbuster. Heck, give me a $40 one. Queen, do another run of country cousins. Or make it with 154CM or even O1 or A2. Whatever. Plenty of inexpensive steels out there that are easy to machine and outperform 1095 by leaps and bounds.
A sodbuster pattern with the traditional thick handle (which is part of it's appeal, in my opinion) is never going to be a gentleman's knife or a dressy knife to my purpose, becaused it's too chunky in some slacks. Case has some slimmer ones, and I really don't mind Case's TruSharp SBJs, but those run $20-$25. Another $10-$20 is well worth the performance increase from the better steel. So it doesn't need to be super fancy.
A knife with solid fit and finish can be plain-jane and unrefined and still imbue the user with the experience of holding a high quality tool.
Now to the profitability - the argument for Case's cheaper steels is that those knives are meant to appeal to a mass market (read: not us on Bladeforums), and so why bother with a materials cost increase for a customer who just wants a knife to cut something on occasion? Well, how does this sound: "Here, we have a Sodbuster Jr. knife. You can have it in stainless or high carbon steel for $25. We have the same knife that will stay sharp for at least twice as long, though, and it costs $35, so you won't have to sharpen it nearly as often."