There are too many good blades in that size range to tell anyone what exactly to choose. For an allround fixed blade I'd just say, pick a good reliable steel that is easy to sharpen in the field, not thinner than 3 mm and not thicker than 4 mm, with a fairly high grind so it will slice well enough. Sharpened prybars with obtuse scandi grinds are horrible with tomatoes and carrots, and in the end you will use it a lot for preparing food. It should be as tough as possible without being too soft, which for me means a high-carbon tool steel. None of that nonsense of 'it's better because it will bend, not break'. It should do neither during hard use (not abuse!).
If I would mention a specific brand/model from my own little arsenal, I would take my Terava Jääkkäripuukko 140. Pretty much indestructible and still very useable for large and smaller tasks down to food prep. I use it for delimbing, making pointed sticks, kindling, scraping off paint and moss, searching for chestnuts and wriggling them open on the ground, clearing away vines, whatever. It will cut bread and butter it, too. And pry out U-shaped nails of the kind used for barbed wire. Or dig out a root without any parmanent damage to the blade.
If 140 mm is a bit too long and you want a more rakish tip, from my small pack it would then be the Peltonen M07 Ranger, Mark 2 in 80CrV2 tool steel, 4 mm thick like the Terava but a higher grind so a better food slicer/hunting knife I guess.
Otherwise I'd invest in a decent Finnish-built short 5 to 6-inch leuku with a nice stabilized curly birch handle and a blade by Laurin from 80CrV2. Just for the looks and the classic leather sheath.
Concerning US made blades I can't give any advice whatsoever. None of the above are very expensive, you would have enough for a second blade, as one is zero and two is one. If you want a two-blade system, get a matching set of a short puukko and a leuku in a combined double sheath. Or a US made alternative to that.
Have fun. ;-)
