Personally I am a fan of INFI for a big hard use knife steel.
Other than that I have had good experience with 5160 such as Himalayan Imports khukris.
Tho rolling is better than chipping on harduse knives.
INFI is top notch, I also like SR101 & SR77 too, basically anything Busse is good to go.
No love for S90V? M4? M390? CTS-BD30P? CTS-20CP? ZDP-189? Haha, the list never ends!
Were can you buy these types of steel? Sorry for thread jack..
I myself like a good high carbon steel for a hard use knife. 1084 for a good chopper size. 1095 or O-1 for a 8-10 inch knife.
Paul
I could do everything knife wise that I need to do in life with 1084 on a big knife and 1095 on a little one.
Amen!
It's unfortunate that 1095 is so rare in inexpensive knives, since it would be relatively cheap to make them. When Schrade went belly-up (the real Schrade, not the company that bought the rights to their name and trademarks), they took the last of the inexpensive 1095 knives with them. The model 8OT stockman may be the best value in modern times on a pocket knife that would get really, really sharp.