Any maker sell blade only after the fact? Is that problematic?

T

Tseg

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Later this week I have a Grimsmo Rask arriving. These knives historically had RWL-34 steel, but mine, that was produced by Grimsmo just last week, has a somewhat lateral version, with CPM154. Meanwhile I have some older Chris Reeve knives with S35VN steel. As some of these pricier makers, that tend to sell a particular model of knife for years on end, transition to higher technology steel, do they ever allow a blade to be "upgraded"? Or is that problematic as each locking mechanism is somewhat custom fit for the existing blade?
 
CRK will upgrade the blade to newest steel on still in production models. It takes a year to get the blade but they do it.
 
Kettleman said:
CRK will upgrade the blade to newest steel on still in production models. It takes a year to get the blade but they do it.
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Hmm, so now I have to ask myself if $150 for a better steel is worth it even though the current blades look pretty much brand new?
 
Tseg said:
Hmm, so now I have to ask myself if $150 for a better steel is worth it even though the current blades look pretty much brand new?
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Thats the question.
 
cpm154 is a personal favorite steel for a folder user. its a good overall knife steel and no real major downside to it in a folder......

on the other thing....not to me. upgrading blade steels without being worn out and just cause, makes little sense to me. use it. when it's worn out, then upgrade......
 
Are you asking if you should pay $150 to switch from RWL34 to CPM154? If so, I would say definitely not. I wouldn't do that in general when I could just get another knife instead, but between those two steels it's an especially bad deal. RWL34 is supposed to be a tiny improvement over 154CM and ATS34. CPM154 is a powder metallurgy version of that family of steels, so it comes with the typical benefits of that process. However, 154CM is already a fine-grained ball bearing steel, so the powder metallurgy process doesn't add as much as it does in some other cases. Protech, for instance, has stated that they didn't switch to CPM154 because they couldn't find a meaningful difference between it and 154CM. I'm not sure if they tested edge retention or toughness, though (it should improve toughness more than edge retention).
 
CPM154 and RWL34 are basically the same just with different particle metallurgy processes, so no way would I pay to go from one to the other.
 
For clarity, I was curious if a maker upgrades to a better steel/alloy for the same model, can one upgrade the blade on the knife. It looks like CRK accommodates this. It looks like Grimsmo has not done a serious steel upgrade to any of their knives. Is the ability to upgrade common amongst most makers?
 
You say "potato", and I say "zambonie": you can't tell the difference between those steels...
It's not as if they switched from Magnacut; to AUS-8
 
Tseg said:
For clarity, I was curious if a maker upgrades to a better steel/alloy for the same model, can one upgrade the blade on the knife. It looks like CRK accommodates this. It looks like Grimsmo has not done a serious steel upgrade to any of their knives. Is the ability to upgrade common amongst most makers?
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I think the brands that do blade replacements mostly offer that for customers who use their knives too hard and break their blades, or wear them down from excessive use and sharpening. While they may be willing to swap blades for someone who wants the newest steel, I highly doubt that many people do this, and I'm sure they aren't specifically catering to those few people. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to pay for a whole new blade that will be barely any different.
 
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