Personally, I like Cold Steel. In the length you describe the SRK is an excellent knife. In a folder the Voyager series is also very good, I wish it had take down capability for cleaning. I don’t like serrations.
When I was younger/poorer, all hunting and outdoor chores were done with a Kabar, a Buck 110 and a boy’s axe from Westlake. In retrospect nothing I use now works that much better, except the quality of steel in the blades requires less sharpening. I still use the boys axe.