Check out ESEE knifes ....can't beat their warranty. Also like here, a great bunch of people on their forum.
ESEE makes good knives but they steel they use can be high maintenance. 1095 not one of my favorites.
I actually prefer a good carbon steel over any of the stainless. The fact that they can rust, stainless can as well, is of no consequence to me
I second this. Always have a sharp knife at really a fraction of the cost. I have the Baracuta fillet knife. It's outstanding! Also purchased the deboning blades. I would say get the Piranta for field dressing / skinning. The Baracuta is way to big for that! As for Carbon steel. I think it is good for guys that don't have a lot of experiencing sharping knives and want to learn. One just needs to understand that it is more corrosive, will stain, and won't hold a edge as long as other harder steels. There is a lot of personal preferences to knives. I think a lot of ESEE knife profiles are to thick for skinning / deboning. I would consider most ESEE knives to be more for the purposes of survival or defensive. IMO I don't plan on doing any batoning with my skinning knife. Benchmade makes some great hunting knives. That and in the off season you can send it to them for $5 and they will put a dandy edge on it for you. I do own a ESEE 4 (plain edge) that is affixed to my chest rig.
I can sharpen any blade you set in front of me, regardless of steel. With that said, none of the knives I carry are stainless. I like a patina on my blades. I will agree that most ESEE knives are not meant for skinning. I'm not a fan of either the 3/4/5/6. The izula/izula 2 make decent skinning knives ( I much prefer a smaller blade). For around the same $$ as ESEE, for a more traditional look also with 1095, I would give blind horse a look
