That statement may be in error. The American Bladesmith Society is very much alive and well making alot of knives from such carbon steels as 1095, 5160, W2, and a bunch of others. Carbon steel is also popular and available from pocket knife manufactures like Queen, Moore Maker, Eye-Brand, and others. Almost all the machetes you see used in places like Costa Rica, ElSalvadore, and other tropical jungle environments are made from simple carbon steel. if there was one place I would think that a stainless steel would be needed, it would be in a hot wet jungle. I'm sure stainless steel could be stamped out inot usable blades for such places, yet they still preffer old carbon steel.
In the kitchen, some of the most expencive Japanese chef's knives are forged carbon. I'm sure a sushi chef has better things to do than groom his knives all day.
I never cease to be amazed at how some people think carbon steel is going to rust away on you in the course of the day. I grew up in an era when stainless steel was known as junk. In the 1940's and 50's there was not alot of quality stainless available. I spent a good part of my early life on the Chesapeake bay, with my grandad his boat the Lady Anne. In those days all the knives we had were carbon steel, both pocket knives as well as the cheap butcher knives that were in the tin bucket used for cutting salted eel and bull lips for the bait used in the crab traps. These knives were wiped off with a semi-dry clean rag and dropped back in the tin bucket they were kept in. They never rusted, but had a almost black discoloration of the steel. At the end of the day they were wiped down with the rag again and that was it. The men that worked there in the waterman trade all had some sort of pocket knife made out of carbon steel. When they cut something, the blade was wiped off on the leg of the overalls or work pants, brushed shut and dropped back in the pocket. The blades may have been a shade of charcoal grey with some darker splotches, but they were not rusty. And this was a salt water environment.
I think too many young guys raised in the shiny stainless steel era, don't make a distiction between rust and discoloration. Actually, discoloring is good for the knife. Working men on the water or land don't have time to fuss over a knife durring the day. They just let it go. At night after supper they may wipe it down with a rag, but thats it. Maybe a little oil now and then. On most fishing boats there is linseed oil, or even a bit of lard from the galley to rub down the blade with.
I've seen more blades worn down to toothpicks from work than I ever saw rusted away. And our grandfathers used a knife way harder that the present suburban generation does.
