O1 makes a very nice kitchen blade, whether 3" long or 9" long. With proper heat treat you can get a blade with Rc63-64 hardness that will hold an edge for a long time. O1 is tough enough at this hardness to take a very fine edge. It is much easier to work with than 52100(do not need to normalize) and 1095 and W2(any medium speed oil works well). O1 is easy to find in thickness from 1/64" to 1". If you shop, you will pay about $3 for the steel to make a blade with 4"(1.25 width) edge and 4"(0.75" width)tang. Heat treat for 3/32" or less is quick and easy, heat kiln to 1475F/800C, add knife, monitor until blade is even temperature, soak 6 to 8 minutes, quench in 120F oil, temper at 300F for an hour, cold water quench and scrub off scale, temper for final hardness, for me 350F yields Rc62-63. For small knives, grind style makes a big difference. I prefer a scandi grind with total edge angle between 15 and 20 degrees. Even with 1/16" material, you will have a very stiff blade that will slice almost anything in your kitchen.
For those who want something more exotic, try 1.2519/ 110WCrV5 tool steel, a chrome/tungsten cold work tool steel that is close to O-7. It is recommended for industrial blades, taps, dies, and reamers. typical composition:
C: 1.10 Si: 0.25 Mn: 0.3 Cr: 1.20 V: 0.20 W: 1.30
if you do some exploring, you will find the composition very similar to Hitachi Aogami1 or Aogami2. It seems about as easy to find and cheaper. i guess you could call it super O-1 or 52100 on steroids. Heat treat is the same as O1.
JMHO of a tired old sailor glad to be home from the sea.