A little back story; I used to have a Boker Subclaw that I would carry IWB when biking and occasionally when running. The blade would get spots on it close to the pivot washers, and the liner would get a fair buildup of corrosion between it and the scale. I've also had to clean off rusting from VG10 Delica liners that hadn't been in a corrosive environment. I know that pretty much any steel can be used for this, it's just a matter of how much maintenance you want to do. Realistically, it's going to be the handle hardware and not the blade that presents the biggest issue.
The expected end use for this prospective knife is just to have a sharp thing on me. While I carry a knife all the time, a folder to me is a tool to get me to my real tools, something for emergent purposes and not something I planned on using. A few years ago, I remember reading about a car accident where they had to cut the seat belts to get the occupants out of a burning car, and the thought of being unable to do that is something that I don't want to experience. You might say that something like a Res-q-me would be better for this, and while it would be for that very specific purpose, I've never actually needed to cut someone out of a burning car, so it has to have more utility than that. My normal every day use is really very boring and pretty much any normal knife would work, but I like nice tools so I try to find the sweet spot between value and performance.
I have tried carrying a Delica on a bike ride, but the handle just felt too long clipped at my appendix. The weight and thickness were great, but I want the handle shorter, so my initial idea of either a Salt 2 or Native in lc200n were put into question. I don't have the option of handling any of these before I buy them so I just have to approximate what they will feel like. Since the knife will spend more time in my pocket than out of it, I figure how it carries is just as important as how it cuts.
