Over on [Stuff We Like](/stuff-we-like.html) I put up Montana Knife Company, and I stand by every word of it — I've been to the shop in Missoula, the people are great and the knives are fantastic. They are also not cheap. So here's the other end of the shelf. **[This D2 fixed blade](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G9H15L73)** is what I'd hand somebody who wants a real knife without spending real money. I own one. It's a good knife. It is not a lifetime heirloom and nobody's pretending it is — but it takes an edge, holds it through actual work, and costs about what a couple boxes of broadheads do. If you're new to hunting, or you just want something in the pack you won't cry over if it walks off at deer camp, this is a genuinely good answer. --- ## What "D2" means, since it's on every listing D2 is a **high-carbon, high-chromium tool steel** — roughly 1.5% carbon and 12% chromium. It was a die steel long before it was a knife steel, which tells you most of what you need to know: it was built to stay sharp while grinding through material all day. **What that gets you:** excellent edge retention for the money. D2 will hold a working edge noticeably longer than the soft stainless on most budget knives. You can break down an animal and still be cutting cleanly at the end of it. **What it costs you — and this is the part listings skip:** D2 is only *semi*-stainless. Twelve percent chromium sounds like a lot, but a good chunk of it is locked up in carbides and isn't available to protect the steel. **D2 will spot and rust if you leave it wet, and blood is worse than water.** That's not a defect. It's the trade you're making for the edge retention, and the same trade sits behind a lot of premium carbon-steel knives people happily pay hundreds for. You just have to know it's there. ## So take care of it Nothing elaborate. Three habits and D2 will outlast your interest in it: - **Wipe it down before you put it away.** Not tonight — right then. Blood left on the blade overnight is how you get pitting you can't polish out. - **Dry it properly, then oil it.** Any light oil. Some folks use mineral oil since it's food-safe. - **Never sheathe it wet.** Leather holds moisture against steel, and a wet knife in a tight sheath is the single most reliable way to ruin a blade. Two more things worth knowing: **Sharpen it before it's dull.** D2 is stubborn to sharpen once it's genuinely gone — those same hard carbides that hold the edge fight your stones. Touch it up while it's still mostly sharp and it's easy. Let it go completely and you'll be at it a while. A few passes on a strop after each use goes a long way. **Don't pry with it.** Hard, wear-resistant steels trade toughness for that hardness, and D2 can chip if you treat the edge like a lever. It's a knife, not a pry bar — true of most steels, more true of this one. --- ## Where it fits If you're doing volume, or you want something that'll get handed down, buy the nice knife. That's a real category and it's worth the money to the people who want it. But if you're processing a couple animals a season and you'd rather put the difference toward arrows, this does the job and does it well. Sharp is sharp. A well-maintained fifty dollar D2 blade will outcut a neglected premium one every single time. **What's in your pack?** Curious what everyone's actually carrying — and whether anyone's found a budget knife they like better than this one. Fixed blade or folding, and does anybody still bother with a replaceable-blade setup? --- *Nobody paid for this and nobody asked me to write it — same as everything on Stuff We Like.*