More than 30 years after the Chernobyl reactor disaster, the town of Pripyat, Ukraine stands alone in the forest – abandoned. A brave few have geared up and ventured into the disaster area. According to sources, the full tang blade of the Chernobyl Steel Meltdown was created using D2 tool steel recovered from the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor site. This 9.125″ tactical knife has a 4.3″ blade with both a finger guard and thumb ridges for better control in any tactical situation. The multi-colored super-stabilized G10 handle scales are double-riveted and provide excellent grip (if you decide you actually want to touch it), and if that wasn’t enough, it comes with a military-grade, lead-lined, branded Carrying Case.

Yes, you read all of that right. The D2 steel in this knife (according to everything we can find on it) was recovered from Chernobyl. Yeah. That Chernobyl. The one we keep making scary movies about. The one where no one lives or can live. The one that’s been a ghost town for 30 years.

We dug a little deeper and found some more info on the Chernobyl Steel Meltdown. Here’s what we found.

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The Details

  • Full Tang Construction
  • 4.3″ Blade
  • Made with recovered D2 Tool Steel (from Chernobyl Reactor Site)
  • 9.125″ Overall
  • Multi-Colored Super-Stabilized G10 Handle Scales
  • Double Rivets
  • Chernobyl Steel Shield
  • Lanyard Hole
  • Finger Guard
  • Includes military-grade lead-lined Carrying Case

In case you were wondering, the Meltdown has some pretty crazy warnings too. There are far more at the link below, but here are a few of our favorites.

  • This steel in this knife was seriously contaminated with radiation. Remove it from its lead-lined case at your own risk. In general, you should not pick up, touch, hold, move, or place this knife anywhere near you for any period of time. If you do choose to hold this knife, you should definitely wear a lead glove and lead vest.
  • While the super-stabilized G10 handles have been stress tested while in contact with Chernobyl Steel, they may experience minor melting and shape change over time.
  • Some Chernobyl Steel knives glow. This is normal.

The Chernobyl Steel Meltdown tactical knife is now available at Smoky Mountain Knife Works (smkw.com). You can find out way more about it simply by clicking the link below.

Note: We tried to get Tim the Intern to order a sample, but he chickened out.