OP are you open to Africa?
Kigali, Rwanda is a great place to live. It’s very safe and close to an unimaginable amount of nature. I’ve heard good things about Namibia and Botswana as well. If you don’t mind safety precautions (i.e. don’t be irresponsible) then South Africa is awesome too.
Can a rock or another piece of metal work? If it’s a bad knife then i imagine the metal will be softer. You’d need one for high quality stuff like Damascus steel of course. You might know more about knives than me tho