I actually went with another 8cr13mov knife an AG Russell cowboy knife since I was eyeing the rancher for a long time and a few days it stopped being listed on the website so I jumped on picking up the yellow delrin cowboy (sodbuster pattern) knife so I dont lose my chance on it like I did the Queen Country Cousin sodbuster.
Sharpening is easy enough and not a factor anyway, I have diamond stones in, c/f/ef diamond cards I could use at work. Than a 70grit diamond benchstone, etc I have at home. All a wear resistant material means to me is it can take a little longer to sharpen or I use a coarser stone like I used to do with my d2 knife I used before.
I have a AG Russell 3in lock back knife in vg10 but I haven't used it much as it's blade shape seems very fragile and I will snap the tip in my job so it has only seen occasional cardboard duty. It takes a sharp edge quite easily but otherwise wasn't a huge difference between my aus8 knife in real world use in edge retention. D2 has actually held quite well in my experience in noticeable edge retention compared to others, no rust, and ability to take abuse as well as anything else I've tried.
My primary concern for starting this thread was if Bucks s30v chipped easily which I kind of doubted with the reputation of the Bos heat treatment but I wanted to hear from others as I heard of s30v from other manufacturers having occasional chipping issues.
Realistically I'm going to end up with at least one of these knives before the end of year despite the recent one I just acquired.
