I don't think the knife matters that much. I've skinned deer, antelope and elk will all sorts of blades including a Swiss army knife. Elk hair will dull any knife fast in my experience, regardless of steel. If I have it with me, I'll use a gut hook for cutting the hide. After that, every steel does just fine. Bucks 440 and 420 works just fine. I think Swiss Army knives use something similar. Also used ATS34, 1095, CPM Cru-wear (whatever that is), 154CM, and CPM-D2. The Benchmade Anonimus is my current goto and that's got the fancy CPM Cru-wear.
I always have a diamond rod or small diamond flat stone with me. One huge drawback to me is that the newer steels need diamond stones for sharpening. Gone is the Arkansas wet stone.
Yep. The new “super” stainless steels can be a challenge for the everyday hunter to sharpen. Pretty much why I stick with CPM154 and PSF27. The CPM 154 IS one of the super stainless steels but is sharpenable by most folks that use it. You get much higher on that super stainless ladder and it can get iffy. Of course, heat treating, individual edge geometry and other items get thrown into the mix as well.
My blades are sharpened with diamond sharpeners when they leave my shop.
