Toughness, not hardness, is what survives batoning. Among the steels we stock, chrome vanadium carbon steel at 48 to 54 HRC and 420HC at 56 to 58 HRC lead on impact resistance, with Nitro-V and MagnaCut the toughest of the harder stainless options. High-carbide steels like D2 and CPM-20CV are the wrong answer.
Batoning applies impact and lateral load. Hard, high-carbide steels resist abrasion superbly and absorb shock poorly, so they chip. Softer, low-carbide steels deform instead of fracturing, and a rolled edge can be steeled back where a chipped one cannot.
This is why axes and machetes are deliberately run soft. Chrome vanadium carbon steel exists for exactly this job.
420HC is very tough and forgiving, which is a large part of why it stays on hard-use fixed blades. Nitro-V is unusually tough for a stainless in its hardness class. MagnaCut is tough and holds an edge, which is what makes it remarkable, at a price.
Avoid thin-ground high-carbide steels for this job regardless of price.
A sabre grind or a convex grind in a thick blade survives batoning far better than a thin full flat grind in the same steel. Look at spine thickness and grind before you look at the alloy.
And baton carefully: strike the spine over the wood, never over the unsupported tip.
Every steel we stock, with its published composition, hardness range and the trade it makes, is documented in the Steel Lab.