I've never really seen a company do that, but I'll take your word for it. Let me ask you if this is a common occurence though, because I think this sort of admission is fairly rare.
More than you can imagine or are willing to accept.
They both still sound like well disguised recalls to me (or things they wouldn't do unless they felt compelled to). . . .
You whine about being insulted, but you insult the fine reputation of two prominent knife manufacturers.
product recall: a request that a batch or an entire production run of a product be returned to the manufacturer.
For the third time, the second example
was not a recall. Instead of going back to reread, I offer. . . .
PROOF #2:
A very renowned knife company produced a line of knives. The issue. . . .the sheath. The owner "hated" the sheath and felt they "looked stupid." He made this known, publicly ! He also announced, publicly, that he would replace the sheaths at NO COST ! When it was done and over with, the company replaced 1,200 sheaths and those that purchased the knives were allowed to keep the sheath that came with the knife !
As you can plainly see, the people that received a knife, with the "less than acceptable" sheath, were able to keep the original sheath and said replacement. No where in the above quote relayed or hinted of any information where the consumer had to return or returned the product to the manufacturer.
Thus, no "recall."
Of course, YMMV in the interpretation of what is in the print above.
Cliff Notes:
1. The owner of said company took it upon himself,
without outside feedback or prompting, to address the problem that
he perceived with the leather accessory that accompanied his product. . . . .a knife.
2. When comparing the financial loss
(this well know knife manufacturing company is rather small and absorbing such a cost would be very painful) to customer satisfaction, the owner of the knife manufacturing company elected to take the financial loss.
3. Could the owner have let the 1,200 sheathes hit the market and not be bothered about the sheathes ? YES.
4. What actually occurred. . . . .the owner accepted responsibility, maintained focus on his consumers, and acted in what he thought was a moral and ethical manner.
Regarding the Cold Steel example: I didn't think I needed to provide you with such a specific example since you didn't provide me any examples of what you were arguing about, but there you go.
Hmmmm. . . .interesting twist.
I wasn't the one emphasizing a negative or derogatory claim against Cold Steel. Providing generalizations and refusing to provide specifics, several times, to support your claim aren't the generally accepted method of proving one's position.
I still think his tests are innovative (not quite revolutionary though), because while the idea of taping is not new, the content of the tests are and that's sort of what I've been trying to get at (by giving you an example of what currently is out there). They are very different from the other tests I have seen. The closest thing I've seen on the net were a couple of videos Cliff made of him batoning a knife through wood. Noss does quite a few other things with the knife and doesn't stop until the knife stops. I'd call that new, or innovative (even if I didn't like it).
Since you're having troubles with this speed bump, it generally helps to categorize innovations in a progressive hierarchy of ascending order. Innovation can be either radical, systems, or incremental.
A
radical innovation is a major breakthrough that changes or creates whole industries. For example, xerography (invented in 1935 by Chester Carlson and became the hallmark of the Xerox Corp.), steam engines, and the internal combustion engine (which paved the way for today's automobile industry) fall into this category.
Systems innovation creates new functionality by assembling parts in new ways. For instance, the gasoline engine began as a
radical innovation, but became a
systems innovation when it was combined with the bicycle and carriage technology to create motorcycles and automobiles.
Incremental innovation continues technological improvements and extends the applications of
radical and systems innovations. Several
incremental innovations are often necessary to make
radical and systems innovations work properly. For example, the development of the ball point pen would be considered a
radical innovation, whereas the development of features such as retractable nib, multiple colors in one pen would be regarded as an
incremental innovation. Other examples. . . .upgrades to software programs and most new mobile phones and new cars.
While much of the
innovation taking place today is
incremental, "destructive testing, batoning the spine of a knife through wood," and the multitude of
noss' so-called testing is not new. Videotaping activities is not new.
Example: If my wife bears two children and I videotape their progress of crawling to walking. One could assert that it's innovative. *sigh* He or she would be in error. . . .even though the leaning process and progression is or may be different.
Well, I would like to continue the lesson, but I find the task repetitive, extremely agonizing, and laborious. On a positive note, be thankful that I'm not one of your college professors. . . .you would definitely end up retaking the course in the future and incur a
substantial reduction in your GPA.
Go back and read the example provided. I believe that I made it perfectly clear that the company's owner made it clear, publicly, that the sheath for a particular knife line "was not a good choice." Jesus H. Christ ! 
:foot: 