LG&M,
L6 is a great steel. I've played with several of Larry Harley's knives out of L6 and they were superb cutters and very tough. (Of course, he austempers his blades so that helps tremendously) Larry is one of the Kings of L6.
Here is the issue with L6 and many of the other superb knife steels: Getting sufficient quantities and in the sizes and thickness's that we need to process. Many Smiths use L6 as it is readily available in rods and bars which is conducive for smiths. However, it is not conducive for production. It is hard to get in sheets and in the size, thickness and tonnage we require. Also many of the fancy steels require very different processing methods (different grinding wheels, heat treat protocols, blanking/cutting processes; etc. To name a few things). We have the technical knowledge but are not ready to commit large times, monies and effort to large scale production without assurances of good ROI. Remember, we make a LOT of knives, so the scale of economy is very different from the Custom Smiths and Stock Removal makers.
As you can guess from this post and the many others I have posted concerning steel; it's not about the steel. That's the easy part. It's about all of the other ancillary and secondary things that cause the issues. I get steel samples all the time. Love them all. There are a lot of great knife steels out there by a lot of great steel companies. But unless we can figure out all of the issues that are created from adding a new steel, we have to beg off.
Sorry for the long winded explaination. Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives