Cars rust too... Would you turn down a great truck because it could rust?
Paint scratches, steel stains and or rusts, some bolsters or fittings tarnish, screws come loose.
The only right answer for any tool is that it works for what you need it for. Same for hardware or power tools on to what color and material you want your overstuffed electronic laz-boy recliner.
If you have a jacked back, chances are your choice in recliners is going to be pickier than an 18 year olds.
Sooo many hobbies/interests/obsessions out there... So where to start with knives?
Pretty simple, I had cheapo pocket knives as a kid, they cut stuff and cleaned under my nails, perfect! Right?
Later I found Benchmade knives at a gun show, looked good, felt good, cut really well, I wasn't a sharpener then and I shudder now looking back at what I subjected my knives to.
Now, I like M4 steel, I like 400 and 600 grit edges. I like being able to make mirror edges and I really like sharpening friends knives.
Good steel comes from a good heat treat from 440c to whatever latest and greatest steel there is, blade geometry plays just as large a roll in performance as steel, not really for edge retention but for ease of use.
I think of bats, how nice would it be to have a bat so wide and perfectly balanced and weighted so that you could virtually never miss the ball? Same for knives, a blade so thin that you could slice anything with ease, that's the geometry, you don't want a thick knife, you want a thin knife, a knife that stays sharp and when it starts to dull still cuts well... Think of those serrated steak knives, years of cutting on plates and still cutting.
If someone made an Opinel in M4 steel, I would buy it, carry it every day and put the rest of my knives in a box, better yet an Opinel with g-10 handle and axis lock, my quest would be over until I found another better steel.
But don't get too hung up on the stats.
However, I have a lot more info on steels here - http://zknives.com/knives/steels/index.shtml, including online version of the db you have on the phone and other resources.
