As for the steels, it is noticed correctly,
some are very difficult to sharpen if at hand there
is no set of 2-5 quality stones.

Very good sharpening is given by diamonds on almost
all steels, but with those that are very hard (REX121),
there may be problems - microdamages of cutting edge,
if the abrasive is too coarse..

At A.G. Russell I like the steel 9Cr13CoMoV and 8Cr13MoV,
they work well enough and stable.
I noticed that they made a very large folding knife and
think it's a bit too big. I should order it and try it
as a folding kitchen knife for hikes
https://agrussell.com/knife/A-G-Russell-5-1-2-Framelock-Flipper--AGYH-FRKY9
for everyday use it is a bit too big for me,
although there may be people with big hands
for whom it will be small, as a knife for a friend
Bob Loveless www.boblovelessknives.com/for_sale_Lawndale_BigDropHunter.html


But again everything depends on the specific manufacturer,
more precisely from the specific quality of hardening.
Many large firms - Spyderko, Benchmade and others
from time to time had setbacks with new steels.
I remember "military" with S30V, which was very fragile
during the grinding, these were the first shipment.
Then, after all, this problem was fixed

p.s.
add little about Michael Walker Lock
www.knife-expert.com/liners.txt