Methods of preventing or reducing cutter loss in a steel body PDC drilling tool may include applying a hardfacing layer on a surface of a PDC cutter pocket to form a covered PDC cutter pocket, the hardfacing layer comprising a metal binder and coated tungsten carbide particles; and bonding a PDC cutter into the covered PDC cutter pocket with a brazing material. Steel body PDC drilling tools may include a steel body, a PDC cutter, a PDC cutter pocket, and a hardfacing layer. Methods of preventing or reducing cutter loss in a steel body PDC drilling tool may include applying a hardfacing layer on a surface of a PDC cutter pocket of the steel body PDC drilling tool; applying a coated buffering layer on the hardfacing layer to form a coated PDC cutter pocket; and bonding the PDC cutter into the coated PDC cutter pocket with a brazing material.