"I imagine Oetzi with his small flint dagger, a Hoplite with a bronze sword, the blacksmith in the finnish national poem Kalevala (and a good portion of us on severe budgets today) would find any decently tempered plain vanilla 1095 carbon blade a treasured item."

That's funny you mention that. I recently found out that the blade I carried hunting for the last 30 years was just that: a plain vanilla 1095 carbon blade. A Schrade Old Timer Woodsman to be exact. I honestly didn't know I was underequipped until I began making more money. Now I have the werewithal to buy a $400.00 knife. I wonder why I should...

Vince