I used to Make my Tools out of Meteoric Iron, since they have pretty high Durability and Meteoric Iron is not used for a lot of Things and is actually quite easy to get as soon as you get to the Iron age.
I keep all the Iron i can find to craft it into steel.
The higher durability is really handy since you won't have to always carry flint or obsidian to make tools all the time.
I'd recommend skipping the Copper and Tin Tools though for the most part.
The Quenched Steel tools are really nice I usually only have to craft new Tools like two to three times a Year.
I'd recommend just Quenching twice, without tempering, for Durability since mining speed doesn't make that much a difference and most of the Tools survive being Quenched twice.
Have you tried grabing a few Spears and pillaring a few Blocks next to the Wolves? normally if they can't reach you and you damage them by throwing Spears they will run away from you and you can go retrieve your Stuff. just wait for a Moment until they calm down before getting of the Pillar.