TomD
"The new PM V11 stuff from LV looks promissing. If it really lives up to the testdata from LV in their sales brochure on the web, it´s going to be a success. I agree with Bill that the planing data with MDF and almost zero clearance angle looks a bit suspicious. I am very curious how this stuff will hold up in real life. I´ve never liked the idea of the PM steels, because they seemingly need a new sharpening regime with diamonds. So now LV comes with a PM steel that's reasonably easy to sharpen, they might have a winner."

One thing to keep in mind about LV was that they solved the sharpening problem 30 years ago. The LV jig with the degree bumps will sharpen any steel I have come across on pretty much any decent stone, in no time at all, with none of the danger of power, and none of the mess of diamonds, should that not be your thing, or with diamonds. And there are other protocols like power and buff that have been in wide use for ever also.

The new PM V11 does not promise to be easier to sharpen, it promises to be the same beast as always with A2, but with less resharpening. IE a complete looser for the average user. The problem for the average joe is not the cycle time. The problem is that he either does not sharpen and perceives that he doesn't want to deal with any "hard to sharpen" steels. Or he sharpens badly, and correctly perceives that he will not get a good edge if the steel he sharpens is hard to sharpen since detecting sharpness and success at sharpening are made more difficult the slower a steel is to come up.

It is probably also the case that if he lives in NA he is not using very hard to cut woods, so further reason not to care about cycle time. O1 is perfectly pro on pine, red oak, cherry, and walnut. Most of america's famous woodworkers make/made their money off of walnut, which is very easy to cut. Most amateurs like cherry. Historically Mahogany (?).

Market resistance is why most sellers either sell O1 or sell both O1 and HSS. All the stuff Bill talks about, HSS, power sharpening, diamonds, stock removal tools, have been around as long as I can remember. 30+ years, it has just never been possible to get people interested in them. PM V11 could be a catalyst to get people up to the next level, it is easy to get there if they want to. Or it can simply be the steel that proves/further confirms LV products are world class in their own way, if you want to go there. But O1 will outsell then 10-1, or whatever. At a practical level, not much rides on it, but it is always nice to see people go to the next level, and have the satisfaction that comes from it.