Fun video! I wish they had been able to show more of the factory though.
I can understand why folks are clamoring for "better blade steels", but frankly in all the time I've owned SAKs, I've never had an issue with the steel they use. The steel works just fine for the kind of things that blades of that design would be used for. They're thin blades, made for slicing type work, not heavy use, and they work fine for the intended purpose. They take a good edge, hold it well enough, and sharpen easily. Maybe some of their newer, more robust offerings could benefit from a different steel, but their traditional design knives are really ok with the blade steel they're currently using.
Don't get me wrong, I get all excited about the new steels and their capabilities, but ultimately it comes down to price and frankly I think that SAKs are at a good price point for what they are. I don't think it's going to be beneficial to the brand to introduce new, more expensive steels, that provide benefits that probably aren't apparent to the average user, if it results in significant price increases on the models that are providing the bulk of their revenues. Because price increases are immediately apparent to the average buyer, and ultimately, like it or not, most of the Victorinox line is in competition with Chinese knives.
Perhaps a better approach would be offering a custom/semi-custom line of knives with blade steel being one of the options. That would allow them to test the waters--but I think that it would not last very long. My prediction is that they would shut it down for lack of sufficient demand after a year or two.
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