Keep in mind while shopping for traditional slipjoint knives that they are usually listed by their closed length. Some dealers will also list a blade length, but I have seen the blade length listing vary significantly between dealers of the exact same knife.
In general, main blade lengths are about 1" shorter than the closed length. That varies per pattern, though. But if you look for knives that are 3.5" closed or less, you'd be in the right range.
Case Tru-sharp is 420HC. If you feel 440A is inadequate, you won't like Case's 420HC. If you like the steel on your SAK, then you'll like the Case Tru-sharp 420 HC. They seem about the same to me.
Northwoods is a brand name owned by KnivesShipFree, so if you want that brand, you have to buy from them (or via the secondary market). They are made for KSF on contract. KSF does not manufacture their own knives currently that I am aware of. Most recently, they have contracted with Queen and GEC to make their knives.
There are very few volume producers of traditional style knives left in the US, meaning you would have a regularly available supply of a wide range of patterns. You have Case and Buck.
Buck only makes a few traditional slipjoint patterns in the US (their 30x series) with limited handle material choices. Great knives if they fit your criteria. They also use 420HC but do a good heat treat and run it a little harder than Case does.
There is also Bear and Sons. I have no experience with their product but have read enough posts by others to have formed an opinion about them. I will let you do that research yourself.
Queen is still making knives and if you want better steel than what Case uses, Queen offers D2 steel in many of their knives. I own 3 Queen knives but none of them are of very recent manufacture. I think mine are from 2008 - 2012 time frame. There are some discussions here and there about their quality control in recent years. Again, having no personal experience, I will refrain from comment.
There was a period, ending somewhere in 2013-2014 or so, where you could leisurely browse through dealer stock and pick out a GEC pattern of your choosing from recent runs. More recently, GEC's popularity in the market has exceeded their ability to supply, so new runs usually sell out very quickly, and sometimes the only way to get one is to pre-order or participate in a dealer early-reserve program if offered. Because of the demand and interest, past runs tend to sell for higher prices than the original price, sometimes significantly higher for the most sought-after patterns.
If you are looking for a modern steel in a traditional pattern, that is under 2.5" blade length, made in the US, you are going to have a tough time finding something. The annual Case/Bose collaborations are usually in ATS-34 or 154CM, but they tend to cost about $300 - $450 and you get one pattern to choose from each year, and I don't know if any of them were ever in your size range.
Unless every penny is critical to your survival, I would suggest finding a Case knife in your size range and giving it a try. Decent users at a decent price point. That way you can find out for yourself if the 420HC steel is enough for your needs. It certainly is for me, but I have no idea what you put a pocket knife through every day so my experience may not be germane.
Here are three I can recommend that I carry. I agree that the #83 would be a top choice. It's the one I carry the most (obviously). It does sit at exactly 2.5" though (cutting edge), and I'm not sure if you'll find one at retail, but they do pop up here on the exchange fairly often. I've seen them at the big auction site too, but you're going to pay about double what you should.
