david weaver
I would be pleased if new manufacturers would buy some rikizai (pre laminated) material from hitachi - it's made in droves for knives - and make some of their plane irons from it for an upcharge.

I don't suppose they'd ever feel it was worth the effort, but it's rolled out into pre-laminated sheets or bars and either glued together industrially or forge welded by rollers, and I think it needs little more than just to be cut and then heat treated on a given schedule. It makes a better iron than O1 or A2, and better (if we're being honest) than any vintage iron that I've had. It could be made in a hardness range that most can tolerate (low 60s) and still be better than anything offered.

I understand the idea of skilled labor processing of irons is sort of out (except for the part where skilled labor runs surface grinders, etc), but I think the prelaminated material with a published vacuum heat treat schedule makes it possible to produce irons without knowing that much about them. And it tsunesaburo can sell them for $40-$50 through stu tierney's store front, the material cost can't be *that* bad.