Clarifications for:

“or sometimes simply cast in the shape then cleaned up and sharpened. ”
and
“then re-heated in high-pressure containers to create ingots (i.e. the ‘feedstock’)”

Both of these happen by injecting the powered metal into a ‘mold’ of some sort. The powered metal can be heated to a molten form before or during the injection. It varies between manufacturers and the exact metallurgy process used. Sometimes its ‘mold’ can be designed to produce the final shape (i.e. ‘cast’ in the final shape) or the ‘mold’ can produce ‘ingots’ that are then subjected to other processes to produce the final shape.

There is only so much you can do to make polymer and nylon/cordura look like something unique.

At one time it was a ‘gotta have’ to see ‘new things’ in polymer and nylon/cordura from companies like Magpul. And they charged a pretty penny for it too. But for too long Magpul ignored that the market was glutted with ‘new things’ in polymer and nylon/cordura and many of these products were just as useful or lower cost, and sometimes for all practical and essential reasons the same thing just branded under a different name as they were made by an OEM someplace that supplied the same thing to other companies but changed some little thing (i.e. added or subtracted a pocket or rearranged the location of a mechanical item or even added something the Magpul left off). And it wasn’t just Magpul. DAKA, big deal.

“Metal Injection Molding (MIM) has been used to make gun parts for quite a while now, but it hasn’t been sued for knife blades.”

Not really.

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) for knife blades is not new. Its also called by another name of ‘Powdered Injection Molding (PIM)’ that’s been used to make knife blades and other stuff for a while now.

The term ‘Metal Injection Molding (MIM)’ is more of a general thing, in which powered metal is used instead of other materials – the use of the word ‘Metal’ signifies that. The concept is a process in which finely-powdered metal is mixed with binder material to create a ‘feedstock’ that is then shaped and solidified using injection molding – or in other words ‘Powdered Injection Molding (PIM)’. Over 90% of you with EDC knives, your knife blade most likely is ‘Powdered Injection Molding (PIM)’ (i.e. ‘Metal Injection Molding (MIM)’). Lots of knife companies have been using ‘Powdered Injection Molding (PIM)’ knife blades for knives for a while – the exact process varies between manufacturers but always come down to the powered metal being rendered into the knife blade by some other process (i.e. milling or shaping in some manner), or sometimes simply cast in the shape then cleaned up and sharpened. For example, the Spyderco CPM SPY27 is produced like this using the ‘Crucible Particle Metallurgy (CPM)’ process:

The basic alloy composition of VG-10 (a traditional ingot alloy steel) is melted to molten then rapidly cooled with pressurized nitrogen to create a fine powder. This process “locks’ the alloys of the steel in their mixed state and helps prevent segregation (the separation of the alloys that inevitably occurs in ingot steel) and produces a very fine uniform grain structure metal powder. The powdered metal is then re-heated in high-pressure containers to create ingots (i.e. the ‘feedstock’) that are rolled to toughen the steel and mill it into finished form for the knife blade. Or in other words ‘Powdered Injection Molding (PIM)’ AKA ‘Metal Injection Molding (MIM)’.

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) for knife blades is not new.