Personally I think if youre really going to beat up your knives (like I do) then it is all about the steel. So far my favorite is the relatively new S30V. Benchmade, Buck and a few others have a couple of S30V blades on the market. I go for RC 58+ on almost all my knives these days regardless of the material. Of course fixed blades take a beating better than folders and full tangs take beating betting than other fixed blades.