"I guess I need to build one, beat the hell out of it and see what happens"

You will like it.

"My main point of this post was to honestly get opinions from those who have carried and used A2 blades"

Makers are carry and users too.
And they have valuable customer feed back also.
You have enough input here to just go forward,

And let us know how it goes.

Last edited by michiganroadkill; 02/16/21.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
Albert Einstein

At Khe Sanh a sign read "For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected never knew".