poll: edge retention or ease of sharpening.?

I go for edge retention. Sharpening "super steels" like ZDP, or S90V isn't that bad. Old ones with bad reputations for sharpening like Vascowear don't bother me either. Why? Diamonds.

What bothers me is cheap steel, soft and prone to rolling. Give me hardened M2, or Super Blue, or ZDP any day of the week. Joe
 
I'm gonna go with ease of sharpening to. On a SAK or Opinel I'm able to put a decent edge with a rock that I pick up from the ground. Or shaving sharp on the bottom of a cup. Its nice to be able to touch them up in a few seconds on almost anything.
I can't do that with D2 s30V and the like. I have to use normal stones for that.
 
My keychain is a mini folding DMT that can be got anywhere for $10-$15. Very light and flat, goes with me everywhere, and there isn't a steel on earth I can't touch up with it--whether just pulling an edge straight or actually removing metal. A piece of 3M sandpaper with your leg as a backing works great to strop on, too. If I can remember to bring a knife along, no reason I can't remember to bring that along.

Of course, the secret is, don't let them get all that dull to begin with. If you let an edge really start to dull before you bring it back up to speed, you're likely going to be into serious metal removal because you've had to push very hard on it to keep it cutting, and this accelerates damage of rolled areas and other minor deformations.
 
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