I carried, for nearly ten years, a BM-Emerson 975. That's a folding tanto designed by Emerson with about a 4.25" blade. The steel was ATS-34 which Benchmade has replaced with 154CM.

I'm with what the others said: no more tantos for me. THe blade design is all but wasted for most chores. Each to his own....if you really like them, I'll give another vote for Benchmade or Emerson knives. BM has the Axis lock and Emerson has The Wave.

Like someone else said, don;t worry too much about the steels. I wouldn;t go so far as to say the new steels are a fad, but there really is very little practicle difference for us normal users. Still though, I really like 154CM and S30V semi-stainless.... they're easy to sharpen and tough.

A tanto blade is NOT easy to sharpen (or at least not easier than a standard drop or clip point)...unless you know some trick I'm unaware of. There are two different "knives" to sharpen in a tanto, and the edge angles are rarely the same.

Good luck