>>64414788 (OP)
I'm not a knife nerd but there's charts of metal qualities for knives. If you get a reputable brand name just shop for the steel you like so you can avoid cross-checking 10,000 forum opinions and end up with an inferior steel for more money. The charts in the link was some autistic guys measuring cutting rope over time, hand sharpening, destructive prying, and checking for corrosion over years on different metals.
https://www.bladehq.com/blog/knife-steel-guide
As a baseline, I shop knives 60-200$, look at the shape and then look at the steel. I compare the random steel against the three most commonly used work knife steels.
>1095 steel
Flexible springy steel that's very tough and easy to sharpen. It's for bushcraft knives where you need it not to fracture and can field sharpen. It does not hold an edge super well.
>440C steel
Classic hunting knife steel. Good for its time. Inferior to modern super steels but very cheap now.
>S30V steel
The first common super steel optimized for hunting knives through I think Cabelas. There's better now but it will stay sharp through an entire deer and they're fairly cheap. If you can afford better that's great if not it's still the best you'll ever need.
I've gotten several guys into hunting and updated my own equipment following this and through experience I can verify the different metals handle exactly how the chart says. With a hunting knives, I've found carrying two and no sharpener to be optimal but Im also carving up multiple game animals over several days. On 4.5" medium spine drop point and one 3" skinning style. The bigger tougher steel makes the entry cuts into the fur and prys around the bone while the harder steel smaller knife is for meat and cutting the hide back around the head for shouldering the animal. Sharpen during down time.
