>>674479Oof. Can of worms here. The answer is "Whatever qualities you find more important versus others, that will give you your answer."
This guy's got a good idea,
>>674481from what I can tell, so maybe I'll expand off of that and give you a more full answer.
>>674481I agree, 440 C is the best of the 440 line, but that's because it has Carbon in it.. this makes it more durable, but also more rust prone. With 440 of any kind, you dont have to worry about that very much. I think 440 is a fine choice for a kitchen knife or a knife that processes meat, because you dont need much more than "stainless and wont crack if you hit bones (though it will chip, fyi)"
Yes, he's right - there are semi stainless steels too, most of which I really like. I have a d2 knife that I carry a lot in the woods, and I like it quite a bit. The biggest beef I have with d2 is that it is a little harder to sharpen than some of my other knives.
Yes, and I would not recommend H1 for anything but industrial environments, where you need these extremes in corrosion resistance. I also think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone that thinks that H1 is a good steel for an all around survival knife, because its edge retention is poor.
An aside on super steels: they are often very enticing, because they boast everything people want in knives (edge retention, fine cutting edge abilities, semi or stainless properties, durability), but are also MUCH more expensive than other steels.
If you want an answer without doing any real research, I would say that some cheaper (though still very good) steels I'd recommend for a survival knife would be 01, D2, A2, and in some cases 1095 (I am not crazy about it, but other people really like it for reasons I wont get into here). Some high end/super steels/expensive steels would be s30v, VG10, ELMAX...
Also, an idea to keep in mind: HEAT TREATMENT/TEMPERING IS OFTEN AS IMPORTANT IF NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE STEEL ITSELF. (more..)
