Why no Victorinox Steel Upgrade?

DocT said:
So, what I understand you all saying is that if Victorinox would offer a little better steel in their knife blades you would not be interested. Do I get that right?
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I certainly would, but I doubt non-steel-nerds would care. Nor would a portion of people really into SAK's, I guess.

It depends on how much it would raise the cost. If it brought my Huntsman from $40 to $115 for M390, I'd take it. From $40 to $90 for S35VN? I'd still take it. More than that? Eehh
 
drail said:
The steel Victorinox uses is actually very good stuff for an EDC working knife. Quick and easy to hone and I've never seen one chip.
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I've had my main blade chip before, but that happened while pulling a jammed brass casing out of a rifle with it lol.
 
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DocT said:
So, what I understand you all saying is that if Victorinox would offer a little better steel in their knife blades you would not be interested. Do I get that right?
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No, that's not what we're saying. The op asked why victorinox doesn't offer other steels, a question to which the majority of us have answered 'because their primary sales demographic doesn't care' and 'the steel they use is perfectly fine as well.' Most seem to have been explaining Victorinox's disinterest, not their own.
Asking knife nuts if they wouldn't buy a knife is not a question you'll get many negative responses to.
 
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DocT said:
Why does Victorinox not upgrade the steel in SAKs? There are steels that are tougher and have better edge retention than what they currently use made in Europe. I know they have their current steel made for them and they stamp out the knife blades. I think they could do something similar with 13C26 or N680 (very rust resistant) and others. I am not certain why we do not see at least some special editions with better steels. They have done over priced damascus blades, but really these other steels would be more useful.
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To me it seems pretty obvious. They don't upgrade their steel, because they don't have to and they don't need to. They sell more knives than anybody else in the world. There is no real competition for their style knives. Nobody is pushing them and taking away market share. I'm sure their factory hums like a well oiled machine. Adding a new steel or steels, adds complexity and costs. Bottom line is $$$. It will cost more to upgrade their steel. They don't forsee a cost benefit for upgrading the steel. Don't rock the boat.

If another company comes along, making knives similar to theirs in an upgraded steel, and sells enough of them to affect Victorinox's market share. You would probably see them change pretty quick. I don't expect it will happen.
 
They put out a "year of the rat" knife ,to them it's a big deal and they charge an arm and a leg for the thing...so changing steel is beyond them for sure...I don't mind their steel myself,my wish is that they would go back to the fibrox handles with pins like 1940 or so,now those are some beauties
 
Old Biker said:
To me it seems pretty obvious. They don't upgrade their steel, because they don't have to and they don't need to. They sell more knives than anybody else in the world. There is no real competition for their style knives. Nobody is pushing them and taking away market share. I'm sure their factory hums like a well oiled machine. Adding a new steel or steels, adds complexity and costs. Bottom line is $$$. It will cost more to upgrade their steel. They don't forsee a cost benefit for upgrading the steel. Don't rock the boat.

If another company comes along, making knives similar to theirs in an upgraded steel, and sells enough of them to affect Victorinox's market share. You would probably see them change pretty quick. I don't expect it will happen.
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This sounds like Henry Ford’s rational for hanging on to the Model T. Vic makes infinite varieties of sizes, shapes, tools, etc. All we’re asking for is a knife blade steel option. Even Buck does it on some of their more popular models.
 
drail said:
Eversion - next time use a screwdriver blade. If that won't free it then use a cleaning rod.
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You're totally correct. I tried the can opener first, but it wasn't fine enough, and I didn't have a cleaning rod at the time.
I knew very well the edge would chip. Since my SAK's have two blades, and I carry a standalone knife and a Classic as well, I often consider the main blade on a SAK to be a sacrificial one in times like that.
 
tiguy7 said:
This sounds like Henry Ford’s rational for hanging on to the Model T. Vic makes infinite varieties of sizes, shapes, tools, etc. All we’re asking for is a knife blade steel option. Even Buck does it on some of their more popular models.
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I would agree with you. And when Henry Ford for started loosing market share to competitors he changed and developed a new car.
I'm not saying a knife blade steel option wouldn't be nice. I just don't see them having the economic incentive to do it. I think it's a matter of things are going just fine the way they are. Don't rock the boat. Would be nice if I'm wrong.

O.B.
 
So Henry was reactive rather than proactive. Maybe he got lucky that his company reacted when it did and survived.
 
i m sure a lot of folks would be interested
in better edge holding and all the other
neat stuff one comes to expect of
higher grade steels.
but the fact is victorinox is built on
a production template that has allowed
the company to flourish the ups and downs
of business, meet rising operational cost
and sell stuff still largely affordable to many.
changing that formula, especially in
production cost will be a business
risk eating into gurantted profits or worst.
imho, they probably have tons of feedback
about customer wants.
and one of things they probably hear of is
the request for higher grade steel for the
main knife blade tool.
for a while now, victorinox has been releasing special limited editions which kinda
addresses this call.
only problem is its rather expensive for
most SAKies to consider that as an alternative beater :)
https://stories.worldsteel.org/innovation/victorinox-swiss-army-knife/
https://www.victorinox.com/global/en/The-strongest-blade/cms/campaign-sak-erwin-mueller
 
tiguy7 said:
This sounds like Henry Ford’s rational for hanging on to the Model T. Vic makes infinite varieties of sizes, shapes, tools, etc. All we’re asking for is a knife blade steel option. Even Buck does it on some of their more popular models.
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I hear you, but if you watch Victorinox’s video on how their knives are made I think you might agree that what may seem to be a relatively minor request would throw a monkey wrench into their production model:

 
marchone said:
IMHO putting a super steel blade on a Vic SAK is akin to putting lipstick on a pig. Next some guy will want a clip point pattern blade, or a tanto, or ... and it goes on and on.
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You had me at Tanto!

No but seriously now I always post in these threads because there are SAK's with exotic steel blades.

It always seems to boil down too, "Can I get a nicer steel Swiss Army knife but it can't cost a lot of money. Yeah; that's a no.
 
Frailer said:
I hear you, but if you watch Victorinox’s video on how their knives are made I think you might agree that what may seem to be a relatively minor request would throw a monkey wrench into their production model:

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Well, they’re making custom Damascus blades which are notorious for their non uniform micro edges. I am thinking that for some fraction of the cost of making a Damascus blade, Victorinox could cough up a useful high spec blade for users interested in long lasting edges. The knives are highly modular, so resellers like Swiss Bianco could install a high performance blade. It ain’t rocket surgery!
 
Pretty sure they're using vg10 models for the spyderco mods.
The thing is though, that those spydernox knives are also relatively quite expensive, which brings us back to the point which has been consistently made in this thread: only knife nuts really care about the steel upgrade, and they're by-and-large much more willing to spend big dollars for stuff like that, but they don't comprise the bulk of Victorinox's customer demographic, so there's not gonna be much reward for the hassle.
 
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