Thank you all, for the input. I failed to mention that I intend to someday gift these knives to my daughters, who have zero interest in my collection of tactical and hunting knives, with the exception of the automatics by one. They want my cast iron cookware. I want them to have something sharp and pointy to carve up protein and veg to put into those. They also have no desire to do routine maintenance of the basics, so while I can get something special out of AEB-L, perhaps S35VN might be a better option? Or will the end result of going to 1200 grit be about the same, and edge retention similar? Yes, I am a nerd about this.