I don't have much experience making knives with a lot of different steels, I have only been making knives for a little over a year. But since this is in the production knives section, I assume that the question was aimed more at using knives, instead of making them. I use production knives a on a reguar basis, everyday. Sometimes only for opening an envelope, sometimes for chopping down small trees and pretty much everything in between. I use S30V, ATS-34, 154CM, AUS-8A, 440C, 420HC, VG-10 and probably a couple more. To be completely honest, I can't really tell much difference between any of them. One may stay sharp a bit longer than another, but other than that, there is not much difference at all. As long as they have a good heat treat, they all work quite well. I sharpen my knives VERY often, I like to keep them sharp rather than let them get really dull and have to put a new edge on them. I don't think that there are really any bad production steels these days, except for maybe the mystery alloy on the Frost Cutlery knives that you can buy for a dollar.