Boise:

In that hardness range, I would recommend L6. It is not stainless.

There might be something better now, but L6 was originally used for hand saw and cross cut saw blades, and the non-carbide toothed Skill saw blades and band saw blades, but I don't think they were quite that hard.

I might have mentioned this before, but I have a friend who made knives from the super steels for a wealthy collecter, who always took a variety of them to Africa. He said the skinners don't carry sharpening stones, but pickup up a stone off the ground to touch up the blade when it needs it.

He said the D2 blades and other hard blades, when they did get dull, the skinners were unable to sharpen them, and, for all practical purposes, were useless.

I recommended he make a blade from L6 in the hardness range you mention, and he did and the hunter took it to Africa. He claimed the skinners thought it was the best knife they had ever used.

Because the animals lived in a sandy and gritty enviorment, and some of them wallowed in mud were were coated with dried mud, even the hardest and best steel would dull quickly. The L6 blades did too, but the skinners were able to re-sharpen them on with a rock.

O1 would be another good one, also.