I used to hate 440 as well. BUT if you have any benchmades, depending on which model chances are it might well be 440. My Griptilians are both 440. As are a couple others.

440C is a good steel IF the heat treat is correct, that's the important part.

My Chris Reeve knives are S30v and it does pretty nice I think. Sharpens up nicely on my Diamond sharpeners and holds a good edge. I like it. But I wouldn't pass up a good carbon steel no matter where I was. I spent 3 years in the Philippines and only had carbon steel knives. Every time they started to get rust I just jammed them into the ground a few times until the rust was gone. Before long the rust problem went WAY down.

Ive heard really good things about the Esee Heat treat. Seems like they could probably do a good job on 440c. I just finished sharpening up my Sog Seal Pup Elite. It gets really sharp but I dont think that AUS8 is going to hold an edge as long as my Muppy will.

Don't have any Benchmades, just a Gerber and a Schrade. The Gerber has particularly bad steel.

I think that INFI would do pretty well with oxidization, at least that's what's been said.

I have put a fair amount of blades to the test. Some made it some did not. Corrosion hasn't ever been the problem with any of them.

I dont know. I will probably buy an Esee 5 first. And if I like that enough I may go with a stainless 4. I would like to get that survival kit and then sell the 6 and trade or buy a 5.

Anyone seen the Esee 6 signed by Ted Nugent you can win? I knew he was an avid outdoors man, it looks as though he may have good steel taste as well. He lives like down the road from a kid I work with.

I don't own any Esee products. Price wise and for what you get. The yard and the swamp are more to my liking. The only thing esee has in its favor is availability.

I like low maintenance in my belongings.
I've also never lived more than 6 miles from the pacific ocean.
Until this year, all my blades have been stainless.

I bought tuffcloth for rust abatement

If you use it hehe it won't rust!

If you go to most jungle areas of the world, the indigenous people almost always use carbon steel knives (and machete/variants)
Rust isn't a real problem for them because they use the blades all the time.
The only carbon blade I ever had pitting from rust is my Bark River Bravo 1 and that was only because my daughter let it soak in the sink for a couple of hours before washing it.
This knife was made sometime between 1936 and 1938, I have owned it for 30 years.
It is my favorite hunting/camping knife.

Same knife but cleaned up