rust is not a issue. i was looking a D2 steel but heard story's of it chipping and breaking
INFI steel used by Busse Combat is probably one of the best steels around right now, but the price reflects that. The heat treat is a HUGE part of the toughness of a steel. A good heat treat can make a bad steel a good one, or a good one a great one. I personally prefer 1095. It's a good ole tool steel on the lower end of the price scale and it holds up well. I've always had good experiences with 1095.
The very best is Damascus steel or the composite samari blade. Talk to the American Bladesmith Society if you are interested in forging your own or buying a forged blank and making the knife yourself. D2 and other similar tool steels are generally not a good choice because they can not obtain very high hardness but they should be tough (resistant to cracking) if they were heat treated properly. There are more ways to heat treat wrong than there are to heat treat right. Although you say rust is not an issue, 440 stainless steel is commonly used for commercial knives, it does not rust, holds a good edge, and is pretty tough.
Ok, lets define what is Damascus steel. The modern Damascus is basically any steel that shows a pattern. Patterns are accomplished by 1. manipulating the crystal structure or 2. by combining 2 or more different alloys together. The blade you are looking at is referred to as a pattern welded blade. Damascus is only as strong as it's base components + heat treat and design. The strongest will be obtained by combining high carbon and low carbon steels. I do this by using steel cable. The patterns aren't real bold but are interesting none the less. To break it you must brake the hard steel and tear through the soft iron. The laminated stuff works the same way. For greater edge holding I use all high carbon, varying alloy content from simple carbon to chromium/nickle alloys. These are what you normally find in pattern welded blades. A fine pattern that has many lamination's crossing the edge will offer the best edge holding. Properly done one can get the DCE or damascus cutting effect where the soft layers wear away faster than the hard layers almost making the blade self sharpening. Is that blade good? Buy it if you like it, it won't compare to a well made hand forged blade but is much cheaper. sorry for the overload.
