Cold Steel will not generally respond to inquiries about its decision to stop using VG-1, which I think is a fine, underrated steel. Now it's mostly used as the center steel of its San Mai III. At first I thought they'd made it harder and thus more brittle so it would bide a superb inner steel. But it's the same ol' VG-1 used in the previous generation of the Voyager series!
I will say that Cold Steel has excellent heat treat. I bought a few of its folding knives with 440A stainless (Night Force, the early Recon and the Pro-Lite). All three of these knives had blisteringly sharp blades, something I haven't seen before or since (most knives now advertised as having 440 blades come dull and stay dull), but Cold Steel's outstanding heat treat actually caused me to nick myself when I carelessly inspected my new Night Force out of my box. Since then, I've kept it razor sharp with minimal effort and, honestly, the blades act more like AUS8 than 440A, which I ordinarily despise. CS's new 4116 Krupp steel, which I viewed as cheap disposable surgical steel, also has exceeded my expectations. (Many people don't realize that surgical implements come very sharp, but they don't hold an edge well, and that they're usually disposed of following an operation.)
All that granted, CS doesn't seem to have any kind of desire to upgrade it's steel. Fortunately, I bought several of the old Voyagers with the VG-1 blades, and though I don't use them, I got them as keepsakes and I'm glad I did.
