woodsmen, craftsmen, carpenters, loggers, trappers, plains- woodsindians, saamis, frontiersmen, chukchis, hunters, fishermen and all sorts of outdoors people have relied on stick tang knifes for centuries. Have you ever broken a stick tang?
If Mors K can thrive with a wooden handled mora, why shouldn't you? Vanity is a sin you know..
Can't blame you really though. We're all sinners on that account I guess.
If you can accept the stick tang I can reccomend Karesuando knifes which are handmade and of good quality for a reasonable price. They are readily available in the UK too, or at least that's the impression I've got. Their place on the interweb:
www.karesuandokniven.com Another good solid outdoors knifemanufacturer is Strømengs, they make larger leukus, not too expensive either. Used by the saamis all over northern scandinavia for centuries (the leuku, not just from strømengs). Search this forum for leuku and you will find a lot of good reviews. Both these manufacturers use carbon steel, wood, brass and antlers.
Regarding midpriced fulltangs, the range is a bit narrow. If I needed a new knife, I would look into the eka W11, which is a scandi ground fulltang knife with the blade made in 4 mm sandvik 12c27 and a handle made from bubinga. I haven't tried one, but I have handled one and it seemed well made and a lot of bang for the buck. The A10 looks good too, but its sheath looks less than satisfactory. Well, it isn't carbon, but 12C27 is a high quality martensitic stainless steel with a carbon content comparable to some tool steels, and for knives it is usually hardened to 57 HRC which gives it qualities far superior to what people used to make their living with in older days. It also has very good wear resistance (compared to cheaper carbon tool steels of similar hardness). My father uses the flat ground H8, and has skinned quite a few mooses and roe deers with it, along with splitting kindling and whittling. It is is still sharp as a razor after a few draws on the strop.
