The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
It was my understanding that they kept blanks on hand for a lot of knives in case of warranty issues. That pile might be getting a bit big with all these new knives if they are still doing it.
Yes, likely store credit for the purchase price. Just like an old model that they no longer have replacement blanks for. It does give one pause in beating as hard on some of the older ones.