I think you're wondering if Busse has followed the Cold Steel model where "Carbon V" was reportedly several steels over the years. The difference between the two companies (yes, I know I said "the" even though there are several differences, but I'm just referring to the pertinent one) is that Busse is an actual knife manufacturer, whereas Cold Steel is/was a designer who farms out production. That isn't meant as a negative towards Cold Steel, by the way---ESEE knives farm out their production and are absolutely top-notch blades.
Besides, the rather unique thing about INFI is its combination of toughness with corrosion resistance, and I have one or two uncoated safe queens that--except for occasional fondling--have lived for years in their leather sheaths (in Alabama) and never shown a sign of spotting or darkening, and yet their user brethren go out and behave like L6 with a set of steel testicles (which is saying something as L6 has brass ones to begin with). In the cutlery world, that's unique, and massive changes to composition would not deliver the same result.
I think the answer is a qualified "no" except for, as others have mentioned, possibly a change in the temper for the big blades versus the small. Seems like I heard about that somewhere else (other than this thread) but damned if I can remember where...
I do have to take issue with one other thing, and I mean NO disrespect to the asymmetrical grind as I have a few of those old guys and love them. There is no, repeat no, repeat-again-for-the-hell-of-it NO difference in edge strength, edge retention or anything else that derives from the shape of the grind. It's all about the quantifiable geometry itself. Whether (as was the case with the old Busses) the grind has no symmetry because it was done on purpose or because the person who sharpened it doesn't know how to maintain a bevel, it does not yield to it any magical properties. Thick edges last longer than thin edges, in ALL applications. They wear longer, they're harder to deform, they take more abuse, etc. because there is more steel there. On the other hand, they don't cut as well as a thinner geometry. The older Busses were sharpened with thicker edge bevels than what is coming out of the factory now, on average at least. Mostly, I think this was in response to customer demand (lots of sad tales about apples being crushed during attempts at slicing), and let's face it---to the uninitiated (read: almost everybody who wasn't a Bladeforums/Knifeforums member) it did look kind of a like a mistake to have one side ground four times as high as the other. Sarcastic though that may come off, I'm genuinely not knocking it. The 'raise a burr and strop it off' thing did absolutely work with the asym, because it's easier to raise a burr with a flat bevel and easier to strop on a convex. But I've heard the claim before about asym edges lasting longer and it just simply isn't true. Thick edges last longer---and if I were to grind a traditional V-bevel even thicker than the asym, it'd have even higher edge durability, with a corresponding loss in cutting performance.
) was so close to perfect, that it couldn't be improved. Or the other way 'round: if the competition was so far away performance wise that there was no need to react.
